HOW TO ORGANIZE PRODUCE IN THE REFRIGRATOR

There is a right way and a wrong way to organize and store different types of fresh produce in the refrigerator. Here are the best tips for taking advantage of the organizing solutions built-in to your refrigerator and how to find the best solutions to maximize the rest of your refrigerator space to keep produce fresh and easily accessible. And, did you know, you can also organize your spaces according to your organizing style? You can find out what your organizing style is here.

Before organizing your produce, you must purge the produce that has gone bad (see this post for important tips on how to stop wasting food and money). List out what produce you typically consume and the quantity you resonably consume. I share more detail on this in the next section below.

In my freebie library here, I include guides which help walk you through the organizing process and help you decide what to purge and keep. I also include my declutter and organizing challenge calendars and guides to help direct you through each area of your home. These guides ensure you get through every nook and cranny and finally get to the other side of clutter … an organized and functional space!

In this post, we focus on how to organize all your produce in your refrigerator. Below, I share ideas on how to organize and store your produce with different types of organizing solutions that will work for your organizing styles and spaces. (I share how to organize drinks, snacks, condiments, and dairy products in the refrigerator, as well!)

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How to Configure Your Refrigerator Setup to Properly Organize Produce

Newer refrigerators these days have all kinds of built-in organizing solutions. From the crisper drawers to the butter compartment and everything in between, your fridge already has humidity-controlled compartments to take advantage of. If your produce is overflowing from your crisper drawers, depending on the types and quantities of produce you consume, you may need some organizing solutions to help keep your produce fresher for longer. Here are two key things to help you determine if you need organizing solutions at all, what kinds you need, and how many:

• Meal plan: getting into the habit of meal-planning helps you to reduce food waste. Stop throwing away produce you don’t end up using in time due to lack of meal-planning.
• Create a master list: listing out what groceries you typically purchase and how many servings of each item your household consumes per week will help to determine if your refrigerator already provides the organizing solutions you need. If you find that you do need additional organizing solutions, the following section breaks down what types of containers work best for different types of produce.

The Best Organizing Solutions for Different Types of Produce for the Refrigerator

Keeping your produce organized and properly contained is actually really simple. Though there might be all kinds of fancy and/or super specific organizing solutions available for every type of produce from berries to broccoli, you only need to consider three different types of organizing solutions depending on what you are going to store:

• Open container
• Sealed container
• Sealed container with drainage

From your master list, you can look up each produce item on the internet to see how it should be properly stored. I share as many types of produce as I can think of below. For any items I’m missing, do a quick internet search and you can determine if you will store these items in an open container, sealed container, or sealed container with drainage.

Produce to Store in Open Containers

Produce that you can either store loosely on a shelf in your refrigerator or within an open container include avocados, oranges, lemons, mangoes, squash, and peaches. Avocados, mangoes, and peaches should be stored at room temperature until ripe. Once ripe, you can store them in the refrigerator in open containers like these (found here):

Produce to Store in Closed Containers

Two types of produce you do not want to store with any other type of produce are apples and pears. These fruits release gases that cause other produce to wilt, ripen, or sprout. So, you want to store these in sealed containers. Other produce to store in closed containers include ginger, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, beets, celery, and cabbage. You can store cabbage whole without containment until cut. A container like this with a flip top lid makes things easy to access quickly (found here):

Produce to Store in Closed Containers with Drainage

Moisture can cause produce like berries, lettuce, kale, bok choy, some fresh herbs, and cucumber to mold quickly. These should remain unwashed until ready to consume. If your produce somehow became wet (maybe they were set under sprayers at the grocery store), it’s important to completely dry these types of produce off completely before storing them. It is even suggested to wrap them in paper towels or cloths. Using containers with drainage racks help to keep moisture off of your produce (found here):

Remember to utilize what your refrigerator already provides. Also, you may already have open and closed containers you can repurpose to organize produce in your refrigerator, if you need additional storage. Then, you can decide if you still need additional containers to properly store specific produce for extended freshness.

I hope you found some ideas for how to organize your produce in your refrigerator for your organizing style and/or the space that you have! In my next post, I share ideas on how to organize snacks in your refrigerator. Don’t forget to grab my free resources from my freebie library here. Let’s get to the other side of clutter … an organized and functional space!

Happy Organizing!