My Simple Refrigerator Organization Project



I never thought I’d be writing about how to organize your refrigerator, of all things, until I became a woman with 99 refrigerator problems that caused me to misplace food, have to clean up spills, or have to pull everything out of the fridge to find what I'm looking for. I went through a bit of trial and error to get things under control, so I thought I'd share what I learned and maybe save some of you some time and money along the way.




Even though I’m always sure I’ve sealed my baggies, things spill, leak, and drip onto the shelves below – sometimes without me noticing. On more than one occasion, I’ve found a disgusting puddle of goo collecting at the bottom of my fridge under my crisper trays. You might want to stop reading here and go take a look at yours, just to be on the safe side.

Stop Misplacing Food



Moldy, petrified lemon that fell off the back of the shelf in the fridge and got lost.
Another thing that gets me steamed is losing (or forgetting about) food inside the refrigerator. I would sometimes take chicken breasts out of the freezer and put them in the refrigerator to be eaten in a day or two. Then life would happen. I’d go out to eat unexpectedly and bring home doggie bags to last a couple days. Or I’d go grocery shopping and put new food in the fridge. Or, I’d swear that I already thawed something, but since I couldn’t find it, I’d thaw something else. A week later, I’d stumble across the thawed-out chicken breasts I’d forgotten about underneath or behind something a week later and I’d have to throw them out – a huge waste of food and money. After this happened to me a couple time, with the expensive, organic, hormone-free, boneless chicken breasts, no less, I was determined to never let it happen again. Plus, raise your hand if you’ve ever bought something at the supermarket only to find out you already had it at home, but just didn’t see it?
You know what else?  I’d had it with my frozen food falling on top of me whenever I open the freezer door. Most of my frozen food is in bag form, not boxes, and my strategic piles of Ziploc bags were no match for gravity.


Lastly, I was sick of having to pull everything out (whatever didn’t already fall out) to find what I was looking for.

So I turned to refrigerator organization bins [Amazon] called Fridge Binz, by Interdesign. They’re BPA-free plastic bins that came in all different sizes, and they have changed my life. They have handles so you can easily slide them out to get to what you want. They’re clear, so you can see where everything is. And the ones with lids are meant to be stackable, to save space. Ready to get your refrigerator organized? Here’s what to do:



 Fridge Bins $11.99 - $20 on Amazon


Measure Your Fridge and Freezer Shelves



To make sure you can use these get a tape measure and measure the depth from the back of your fridge shelf to the front, closest to you. These containers are about 14.5" deep, so make sure your shelf can accommodate.

Next, measure the width of your shelves so you know how many you can put side by side. The bins come three widths: 4, 8, 12 inches.

Finally, make sure your shelves are positioned where you want them, and measure the height between your shelves – especially between the bottom and the middle, and the middle and the top shelf. Keep in mind that you don’t want your bins to take up the entire height, because you want to be able to reach your hand in to get things without having to pull the whole bin out every time. I found the medium sized bin to be the best size for the middle shelf in my fridge, but YMMV.

Repeat these steps for your freezer.

Pre-sort Food into Bins & Measure the Widest Item


This bin is a catch-all for loose items to keep them neat.

Now, it's time to figure out how many bins you need and which size.

I physically grouped my items together and measured them as a group to estimate what I needed. You can do the same thing on paper with a list, but you should measure the widest item in each group to see which bin will fit it.

Measure containers of hummus, your go-to Tupperware containers, and anything that can't safely be turned on its side. Anything too wide for the 4-inch bin will have to go in an 8-inch, shown, left. When you're done grouping and measuring, count up how many bins of each size you need.

Organize by type: One system that might be helpful is to group like items and plan your bins accordingly. For example:

  • Cheese Bin: mozzarella sticks, Babybel, shredded cheddar, block of parmesan, cheese spread
  • Snack Bin: Yogurt, applesauce, baby carrots, celery sticks, cut fruit

Organize by meal: Another option is what a friend of mine does. She's a busy mom of three, and she organizes her bins by meal. She preps meals in advance and stores them in a breakfast bin, a lunch entrée bin, and a lunch snack bin, so her kids can grab what they want and go.

Or, you can use them as a catch-all for loose items, like I did with one of them in the photo above.


Sketch Out Your Fridge Layout



The last step is where we put it all together. Now that you've got the list of bins you need (snack bin, lunch sandwich bin, etc.), make a rough sketch of the inside of your fridge, to make sure your plan will work.


Keep in mind where the experts say food items should be stored for safety and where you want items kept for convenience. Draw a diagram of where you want bins to go on each shelf, being sure to leave room for other items, such as a gallon of milk, a carton of eggs, or a casserole dish.


How I Organized My Fridge


I decided on two bins for loose items and one bin for meat in the fridge, and four bins in the freezer, where I don’t really want anything to be loose.

My refrigerator and freezer shelves were able to fit the 14" deep bins. I stuck to the shorter, 4-inch bins [Amazon] for the fridge, since I needed to be able to reach in and grab things, and got taller, 8-inch bins [Amazon] for my freezer so that I could store bags of frozen vegetables on their sides. I also got a bin specifically to serve as a meat tray (to catch drips), since my fridge doesn’t have one, making sure that it was big enough to store a family pack of chicken after a trip to supermarket on the bottom shelf.

I’m happy to report that there have been no more lost chicken incidents or baggie avalanches. I can see everything that’s in the refrigerator, and what I’m running low on. I can quickly and easily grab what I want, and my freezer has never been neater. I've since moved onto my cupboards. I use the 10-inch version to organize snacks, baking supplies (breadcrumbs, brown sugar, etc.) and my bags of bulk Penzeys spices. I also got 3 of the spice racks that and have alphabetized my spices. They slide right out so that I can easily reach what I need.


Best bin for raw meat and poultry:
This tray [Amazon] will allow you to lay unopened packages of meat and chicken flat.


Best bins for the freezer: These bins [Amazon] hold frozen meat, bags of frozen veggies, and frozen dinners and lunches when turned on their side.


Best bins for smaller refrigerators: If your shelves are too shallow for the 14-inch bins, try the 10-inch version [Amazon].

Best bins for cupboards: The 8-inch bins fit neatly inside my smallest cupboard, so they these should work for you.

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