Fridge organisation ideas to prevent food waste

Fridge organisation is an ongoing task, and with food being put in, and taken out of our fridge multiple times a day, it’s not unusual to find food that’s gone bad, due to it being hidden.

In the UK, Tesco have estimated that forgotten food costs families approximately £800 a year in food wastage, which can be minimised in our own homes by having an organised fridge.

One of the biggest benefits of having an organised fringe is that you can see what food you have, so you consume it before it goes bad, thereby reducing food wastage.

This post discusses some additional benefits of fridge organisation, and provides some helpful fridge organisation ideas that will help you to prevent food wastage in your home, as well as keep on top of the amount of clutter your fridge can store.

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Benefits of organising your fridge

Here are a few of the benefits of fridge organisation:

• Save money on groceries by no longer buying food items that you already have
• Food can stay fresher for longer if you organise your fridge using food storage containers
• Food can be replaced before it runs out
• Makes weekly meal planning easier

If you’d love to start organising your fridge, here are some fridge organisation ideas you can try.

Use containers designed to keep food fresh

Using containers is not only a great way to organise your fridge, but can be one of the best ways to keep your food fresher for longer.

In my home I minimise fruit and vegetable food wastage by using this produce container, which prevents food wastage due to its airflow promotion.

Finding and using containers that have design elements to keep food fresher for longer, like filters and vents, can help you to eat food before it spoils.

Organise food in categories

Organising food in categories is my favourite way to organise a fridge, which simply means storing similar food items together.

For example, you can use a clear food storage bin to store breakfast items like crumpets, waffles, baked beans, and yoghurt.

You could use another food storage bin to store all of your kid’s lunchbox snacks, or an additional food storage bin to store lunch items, such as kids school lunches, sandwich meats, and cheese.

If you love labels, labelling your food storage bins, or any other type of fridge storage container that you use, lets everyone in your family know what’s inside it, as well as where food items need to be placed.

Before buying any type of fridge storage bin, container, or fridge organising system, measure the area you want to place it in to make sure it will fit, and once you’re ready to buy something, look for options that look the same, can be stacked, have handles, and are clear to give a cohesive look to your fridge.

Store food in the right size container

Choosing the right size container for food helps you to save space inside your fridge.

For example, half a block of cheese doesn’t need to be stored in the same container it was stored in when it was a large block of cheese.

Placing a smaller block of cheese in a smaller container saves space in your fridge, providing room for groceries that may enter your home.

Cut big items into smaller pieces

Another great way to save space in your fridge, as well as making food quick and easy to eat, is to cut items into smaller pieces.

For example, cutting a watermelon into slices, or cutting broccoli into florets, makes these food items easier to store, compared to when they were large and bulky.

Cutting big food items into smaller pieces makes them easier to store, and makes your fridge look much more organised, and less cluttered.

Create fridge zones

Creating zones within your fridge for certain food types is another great way to organise your fridge.

Here’s how I use fridge zones to organise my fridge:

Condiment zone

I keep all of my condiments in a condiment zone, which is the left hand side of my fridge’s top shelf, in a condiment holder.

As condiments have a long life span, I don’t need them to be front and centre to remind my family to use them, which makes this area of my fridge perfect for condiments.

Drink zone

Water, milk, and juice are kept in a drink zone, which is next to my condiment zone, purely because it’s the only shelf in my fridge that’s tall enough to store them.

Ready to eat zone

I keep all breakfast and lunch items in their own clear food storage bins on the middle shelf, because they’re items that are used daily, so keeping them front and centre allows me to see what I have left, and what needs replacing.

Dinner zone

Leftovers and other dinner food items, such as meat that needs to be cooked, are kept on the bottom shelf.

Keeping dinner items together makes meal planning easy.

Fruit and vegetable zone

Fruit and vegetables are kept in my fridge’s produce drawer, which is on the bottom of the fridge, and I keep items that tend to spoil fast like mushrooms and berries in a fruit storage container to keep them fresher for longer.

Miscellaneous zone

Items that I don’t use daily such as sauces, eggs, and even snacks are kept on the sides of the fridge.

It can be hard keeping food within their zone, but using storage bins, containers, and other fridge organisation systems can help to keep your fridge organised for longer, and helps significantly with reducing food waste.

Fridge organisation ideas – a recap

There are many benefits to organising your fridge, but one of the biggest is that it prevents food waste, which helps you save money when it comes to buying groceries for your family.

Some fridge organisation ideas that you can try in your home include:

• Using containers with design elements that keep food fresher for longer
• Organising food in categories, like storing all breakfast items together
• Storing food in a container that’s suitable for its size, such as using a small container for a small block of cheese, or a big container for a big block of cheese
• Cutting big items of food into smaller pieces, for example cutting broccoli into florets
• Creating zones within your fridge, so certain foods go in certain areas

I hope you’ve found some fridge organisation ideas here that have inspired you to organise your fridge, which will not only reduce food wastage, but will allow you to keep your fridge organised for as long as possible.

Do you struggle with fridge organisation in your home?

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