Mine is a disaster zone. Today and Tomorrow I'm planning to tackle that bad boy. Eveyrone had such great ideas on Pantry organization I thought maybe you'd have ideas for organizing the fridge. I just have a standard freezer on top model with three crisper drawers. Lately I'm the only one whe can find anything in it. So much is going to waste or getting duplicated. Do you keep things in the containers they came in? Do you pre-prep any ingredients for meals? Do you keep a list? Thanks for any suggestions.

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Nadene

ours is so small for the 6 of us. It's a wonder I get anything in there at all. Mine isn't organized, per say, but everyone knows where everything is in there.

Does the fact that I have 3 opened jars of picante sauce in there tell you anything??

DH does not believe in looking to see what's in there first...there is so much b/c it's a small fridge, it's crowded...maybe that'll go on tomorrows to do list.......

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Does Money Matter?

Just about everything in my fridge is in Tupperware. It keeps it very organized.

Only problem we have is when people are too lazy to toss out leftovers that have become science experiments.

Oh my other problem in the fridge right now is that the chickens are laying a dozen or so eggs a day and I'm running out of room for them, I've already run out of Tupperware egg containers, now we're just filling bowls full... eggs anyone??

I break some large packaged items down into single use sizes (we buy lots of things in restaurant size bulk) and freeze what I can. If an item is in a container that is questionable about keeping something fresh I will put it in Tupperware instead.

I have an erasable fridge inventory board on the fridge, but I'm usually the only one who updates it.

The rule here is that the person who has garbage duty for the week is supposed to check the fridge for any UFO (unidentifiable food objects) and toss them out when they take the trash to the corner.. but everyone tends to ignore the rule and I don't know they did until I open the gross containers.

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WAHM of 7!

Well now you have prompted my Sat to become clean your fridge day!

My fridge has become a lot more organized since I stopped 'overbuying' food. I did a major overhaul about a year ago and totally cleaned every inch of the fridge and threw away a bunch of stuff. (I have a side-by-side) I now keep in the door all salad dressings on one shelf, all sauces on another shelf, drinks to go - juice boxe, capri sun, water, etc, on another shelf and one for tortillas, cheese, salsa and other misc. With this system, we don't have to search for the ketchup like we used to because it's always in the same place. I also don't have 3 bottles of the same dressing open because they are all together. The top main shelf has breads, bagels, butter, cream cheese, lunch meats, stuff like that. The bottom shelf is all drinks - pop 2 liters, large juice bottles, milk gallons, etc. and the 2 middle shelves are leftovers, canned fruit, eggs, yogurt, etc. I TRY once a week to clean out old leftovers from the fridge - doesn't happen every week but most weeks.

I also decided to stop 'collecting' produce and start actually eating it! What a concept! I used to buy lots of apples, oranges, salad, etc. and it would just rot in the drawers and then I'd try to stuff more on top of it. How absurd!! Since I stopped doing this, my food bill has gone down, I can see what's really in the drawer since there's not very much, and I actually eat what I purchase.

For me, having a somewhat organized fridge has saved me money and saved me time. It also helps me actually eat what's in the fridge to begin with. HTH

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Better to give your kids the values you have
than the valuables you can't afford.