Last year, I organized my fridge top freezer so that I would stop losing things that got tossed around while my family looked for a popsicle or breakfast sandwich.  This system worked at the time, and it continues to serve us well.  With this system of baskets in place, I can always find what I want in the freezer.  The best part was that  the cost for this system was only six dollars plus tax.  Recently, while visiting with a friend who has a disability, I was helping him to clean his fridge.   He has only a small fridge with a freezer on top, but in the back of his fridge, I found a carton of yogurt that had expired a year ago.  He told me that he has a hard time keeping things in place in his fridge and freezer and that things “get lost.”

I offered to help him organize his fridge for under ten dollars, and he agreed.  Once we assessed his needs, we went to the dollar store to get our containers.  Red is one of his favorite colors, so he chose red containers.

In the freezer, we decided that he really only needed two containers.  We got a larger one for meat, and a smaller one for his frozen vegetables.  The frozen breakfast items were all grouped together on the lower shelf, and some shelf area was left open for items like ice cream, frozen pizza, and  pies.   In order to help him remember what goes where, the baskets were labeled.

In spite of living alone, he often had a huge collection of beverages in his fridge that ended up taking over the small space.   There were bottles of water and containers of yogurt in the crisper drawer.   This excess of beverages was one of the reasons why food items would get lost as they were pushed to the back and buried under his burgeoning collection of drinks.  After some discussion, the small fridge was fitted with 4 of the smaller baskets.  One of these was dedicated to holding bottles of water and another was dedicated to holding cans of fruit punch, juice, and soda.  The third basket was dedicated to holding small containers of yogurt, pudding, and fruit.    Packages of dips and spreads were placed into the fourth container on the day we organized the fridge, but we didn’t label it.   Our reasoning was that we weren’t certain that this was something that he would want to have a dedicated space for in his fridge.

Over the last month, this system has helped my friend to find foods in his fridge with ease.  It even helps him to be able to locate his yogurts and puddings, and helps him see what he needs to buy on his next trip to the store.  One of the best things is that with the new organization in place, he is able to actually put fresh fruit and vegetables into the small crisper drawer instead of having it piled full of yogurt and drinks.  This is a good thing because he said his doctor says he needs to eat more vegetables and fruit.

We still haven’t dedicated the fourth  basket in the fridge.  It’s contents fluctuate between lunch meat, dips, spreads, etc.  On occasion,  it’s removed from the fridge entirely when the space is needed, and it has no contents.  We have discussed maybe getting a couple of smaller containers to hold things like his slices of cheese,  but we aren’t certain that he needs them.  The current system allows him to still have room for a gallon of milk as well and orange juice on the bottom, and room for a cheesecake or other dessert on the top.

The cost for this organization was only $6.00 plus tax, and my friend agrees that it was money well spent.  Personally, I’m not loving the red baskets.  I prefer white or blue, but it was his fridge, and he loves red.    He also loves his new organized fridge.

We encourage you to consider organizing your fridge and freezer.  If it’s easy to find the contents, less food gets lost and spoils, and it’s easier to get food on your table.  In our opinion, that makes this money well spent.

Thanks for visiting Patty Cake’s Pantry.