Organize Your Fridge Like a Pro

If you've recently cleaned out your refrigerator, then congratulations. You've just completed one of the most tedious and disgusting chores you will probably need to do. Here are a few ways you can organize your fridge to make the next clean-out a little bit easier.

The Upper Shelves

Whether you're organizing a small refrigerator or a larger one, you will want to put leftovers, drinks and ready-to-eat foods such as yogurt and cheeses on the upper shelves. You will most likely need to access these foods more often than anything else, so you will want them to be easily reached.

The Lower Shelves

Your refrigerator's lower shelves should be reserved for raw ingredients that you use for cooking. These ingredients tend to be larger, so the extra space that most fridges have on their lower levels will be welcome. You won't have to worry so much about not being able to access these foods as easily since you won't need to reach them until it's time to cook your next meal.

The Door

The door is the warmest part of any refrigerator, so only keep condiments there.

The Drawers

Drawers can be a little tricky. They're designed to store fruits and vegetables at specific humidities, but the very fact that they are placed on the bottom of most refrigerators means that whatever you put there could be contaminated if you put raw meat on the shelf directly above it. If you have two drawers, use one exclusively for meat and one for fresh vegetables. If the drawers are stacked on top of each other, place your meat in the one on the bottom. If you have only one drawer and cannot avoid putting raw meat above it, make your own meat drawer with a plastic bin to keep it from dripping on anything below. In any case, you should be cleaning your meat drawer more often than the rest of your fridge.