You're probably stacking your fridge all wrong

First step: label everything 

If your fridge is in disarray, chances are your life is too. Here, an organisation expert shares her go-to guide to tidying up your fridge, which can have knock-on effects your entire state of mind.

When it comes to kitchen organisation, the pantry is often the star of the show. Matching jars of coloured pasta, packets of snacks ordered by their place in the rainbow and spices placed in racks with printed labels for easy identification.

The pantry does require organisation, but since the items often have a long shelf life, there’s often not a huge amount of rotation. The fridge however is a totally different ballgame.

With a high turnover brought about by short expiry dates and fresh produce, running a tight ship in your refrigerator is not just recommended, but essential. 

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Organisational expert Steph Pase – who is essentially the Marie Kondo of Australia – is a fierce believer in the power of fridge organisation. 

“The fridge truly is the focal point of the home and our lives really” she tells Body+Soul. “So when it’s in disarray, likely, so are you. It can throw your whole entire routine into chaos.” 

It’s not just for mental wellness either – having a disorganised fridge often leads to making poor food choices, and spending more money. 

“When your fridge is a mess, you find yourself resorting to having ‘girl dinner’ (often not nutritionally sound) every night of the week,” she says. “ You end up spending $20-30 a day on work lunches, which can add up to over $8000 per year.” 

“You discover that you have three bottles of aioli because each time you go to the shops you buy another and you wind up chucking out what was perfectly fine but is now mouldy food. Not only contributing to the overall stress of your own life, but also the environmental impact of food waste.” 

Khloe Kardashian's pantry is the gold-standard. Image: Hulu

Organisation ‘porn’ has been a long-time favourite for people browsing content online. Watching experts come into homes and bring order to the chaos is immensely satisfying, and also serves as inspiration for those looking to level up their own homes. 

Khloe Kardashian’s epic pantry, as shown on season one of The Kardashians, is the perfect example, and its TV debut ignited a craze around dry goods organisation. But according to Pase, as clicky as the content may be, it shouldn’t just serve as a fad. 

“In short, an organised fridge will save you time, money and reduce stress,” she says. “However the benefits of making your fridge a systemised sanctuary can have a trickle down on your whole life.” 

For those who don’t make an organisation their livelihood, sometimes it can be hard to know where to begin. After all, when your fridge has been in disarray for some time, it can seem overwhelming to break the cycle. 

Fortunately for all of us, Pase has put together a step-by-step guide for bringing order to the chaos, including the must-dos and don’t-ever-dos we should all abide by for an ordered fridge, and mind, 

How to organise your fridge, according to an expert

Labels 

First things first, if you don’t know where things go, they won’t stay there. This is particularly important if you don’t live alone, as everyone needs to be on the same page when it comes to where things live. 

“Having labels helps to maintain order in all areas of the home, but especially in the fridge,” says Pase. 

Decide where you want things to go (read on for Pase’s personal method), then print out the labels and stick to it. 

Top shelf: condiments and eggs 

Condiments and eggs are great to have on the top shelf, for easy access. But to level up the ease of use, and so you don’t have to get halfway into the fridge to reach things at the back, Pase suggests getting a lazy Susan. 

“This allows easy access without having to move anything around. You can get these from most kitchen shops, or even Kmart,” she says. 

Second shelf: meats, dairy and fruit

The second shelf is for your big-ticket items, think bulky packets and Tupperware containers of meals. 

“I have a tub allocated for meats, mostly for dinners for the week,” says Pase. “I plan and portion out meat for our dinners into sealed bags which also means that we waste less as all meat is allocated to a meal I have planned” in advance. 

“I allocate another tub for any dairy, which for us is usually just cheese and yoghurt, and on this same shelf we keep any fruit.” 

Pase suggests using OXO GreenSavers to store fruit as it helps to extend the lifespan and also makes it easier to stack. “Anything else that I don’t have a GreenSaver for goes in glass containers!” she says. 

Take a peek at Pase's own fridge. Image: Supplied

Third shelf: Snacks, lunch and veggies 

For lunches, Pase uses a tub with handles, where everyone’s lunch for the day is pre-packed and stored together. “This way, every morning everyone can reach in and grab their lunch out and it’s ready to go! It’s also obvious when we’ve run out of lunches, so I know to top up.” 

She keeps snacks like cheese and crackers and yoghurt punches in a long clear tub from Kmart, which is also easy to keep an eye on, for when it needs to be restocked. 

Just like fruit, chopped-up veggies go in OXO GreenSavers and any leftovers again in glass containers.

Fridge drawers: fruit and vegetables 

The crisper in the fridge is designed to keep fruit and vegetables fresh for longer, so this is where Pase keeps hers. 

“I use the fridge drawers for any fruits and veggies that haven’t been prepped and chopped and will typically last longer,” she says. “I will then cycle these out and prep them when doing my weekly meal plan.” 

Fridge Doors: Supplements, Drinks and high-priority perishable foods.

Drinks, supplements, fresh herbs and ‘miscellaneous’ items are kept in Pase’s fridge doors, in the shelves that best suit their size. 

However, to decrease food wastage, she also created a shelf specifically for products to use up first. 

“I did this because there have been so many times where I would go and open a new kids yoghurt or packet, and then realise there was one already open,” she says, which has already reduced a lot of waste. “ We put any items that need to be used before others after they have been opened, like deli meats, kids’ yoghurts, sauces, et cetera”.

For more of Pase's organisation tips and tricks, head to her Instagram.

Originally published as You're probably stacking your fridge all wrong