Make It Simple (4) - Refrigerator Organization

I laugh writing this post because a week ago, when I snapped this picture, I had obviously just grocery shopped. (A full fridge makes me so happy!) Today, a week later, our fridge is empty and my kids so eager for some decent food that while at a friend's house this morning (we stopped there en route to Trader Joe's—I promise I do feed my kids!), Trenton said, "Maybe they have some food!" and ran off to ask. They acted like the goldfish my friend gave them was mana straight from heaven.

Incidentally, they love food so much that they act like that practically anytime someone feeds them, but it sure made me look like I'd been withholding food, especially since I had just been joking with my girlfriends about how empty my fridge was. :)

But moving on to the actual organization—

A couple of months ago I bought two deep fridge bins from Crate & Barrel with the plan of moving my fresh fruits and vegetables out of their depressing spot at the bottom of the fridge. Even if produce drawers are intended to keep produce fresh, they also ensure that produce stays out of sight. And if you're like me, you might just forget to feed them to your family unless they're staring you in the face every time you open the fridge.

So I moved produce up, as pictured, and I assigned dairy products (mainly cheese & eggs) to the lower right drawer and meat / poultry products (lunchmeat, bacon, marinating chicken breasts, etc.) to the lower left drawer.

Free space is occupied by rotating items like leftovers or casseroles (which I actually rarely make).

Then at the end of the week, it looks more like this:

The only good thing about an empty fridge is that is is easy to wipe down before filling up again!

Is your refrigerator organization working for you? (I wish I could see into yours!)

And now the boys and I are off to the grocery store so that they will start liking me again!