When the kids head back to school, things tend to get a little hectic. Organizing your refrigerator will lower the stress threshold and help life run smoothly. Having back to school refrigerator organization hacks is place will kick start your school year in the right direction.
Your Guide for Back to School Refrigerator Organization
Here are some of the best tips for organizing your refrigerator. These back to school refrigerator organization tricks will streamline your routine and make back to school time a breeze.
Tip #1: Start with a Clean Refrigerator
All good things start with a clean slate–including your refrigerator! Your dream refrigerator is only a cleaning step away. This one step will make the rest of your back to school refrigerator organization much easier.
- Discard all expired, spoiled, or unwanted food.
- Clean shelves and drawers with a food-safe natural cleaner (vinegar spray is cheap and effective).
- Make a list (mental or on paper) of what you have and what you need.
Tip #2: Line Shelves
Photo Credit: A Pretty Life
Although this is not technically required for getting organized, it makes future clean up quick and easy. Lining shelves with a plastic table mat is an inexpensive way to keep shelves clean. You can cut the mat to fit your shelf. Then when things spill or get sticky, just pull the mat out, wash, and replace on the shelf.
Tip #3: Bins & Baskets
Grouping like items together keeps things tidy and organized inside your refrigerator. You can use all kinds of containers for this: magazine holders, baskets, lazy susans, and bins with pull-out handles. Find a place to label the bin so you know the contents at a glance. Some ideas for what to group together would be:
- apples
- mixed fruits (especially round ones!)
- vegetables
- juices
- bread products
- yogurts
- ice packs (for the freezer)
- drinks (get soda can bins on Amazon)
Tip #4: Create Zones
A great life skill for children to learn is self-sufficiency. Teach your kids to make their own breakfast and pack their own lunch. Designate special space inside your refrigerator as a Breakfast Zone and Lunch Zone. Using dedicated zones will make it easier for children to make a quick breakfast in the morning, and to make sandwiches and pack snacks for their lunches the night before. Some ideas for items to include in these zones are below, but of course, will vary according to your family’s preferences.
Breakfast Zone
- Milk
- Jams (for toast)
- English muffins/Bagels
- Cream cheese
- Yogurt
Lunch Zone
Tip #5: Prep Ahead
We all know that a little prior planning can go a long way in making the week run smoothly. Taking a short time on the weekend to prepare items for lunches and weeknight dinners will do wonders for your sanity. Enlist the kids to help! Packing snack bags ahead of time will make lunches quick and easy to prepare. You can prevent soggy sandwich bread by toasting it so that sandwiches can be made the night before as well. After the food is prepped, simply place in your newly labeled bins and into the appropriate zone. Here are some foods that are great to fill snack bags/containers with for grab-and-go lunch prep:
- Carrots
- Celery sticks
- Trail mix
- Homemade fruit snacks
- Grapes
- Apple slices
Of course, all the best back to school refrigerator organization hacks in the world won’t hold up to a refrigerator not running properly. If your refrigerator has not been running like it should, we can help with that, too! Our licensed technicians at Cody’s Appliance Repair will make sure your refrigerator is at peak performance so your back to school time is worry-free.
