Organization

Kitchen organization & Storage solutions

We spend so much time in our kitchen. I always feel so much better when my kitchen is not only clean but organized. I wanted to share a few things I have learned over the years and what makes my life just a little easier. I broke this down into 4 easy categories.

1. My favorite Tips for Organizing the Fridge

I was determined this month to get this fridge organized. It inspired me to share other areas that I have also organized and have been able to keep organized since I did it. I can’t wait to show you. For this fridge refresh I did the obvious first and took everything out and cleaned it really good.

When we bought this fridge I also bought shelve liners from Costco. This turned out to be the best idea. I cut them to fit on each shelf. So when I cleaned out the fridge I just took the liners out, wiped them down. No need to clean the shelves, they were perfect. You can find the liners in the isle where you buy Tin Foil & Saran Wrap. Its something they carry all year long, or at least my Costco does. I also used this to line all my kitchen drawers and cabinets.

BEFORE

I did buy some plastic bins a while back and they worked out really well, I just want to place them in a different spot and get some labels on them.

I did have to buy a larger one for meat. No one likes to have meat juice run all over their fridge so this is the perfect solution to putting your meat in one container for the week. Its also a good place to store the meat while its defrosting. Did you know that they recommend you to defrost your meat in the fridge and not at room temperature? I learned this when I was learning to cook years ago, but I’ll admit I don’t always follow it.

I have a cabinet full of random mason jars. I love learning on Tiktok and someone taught me how to properly store asparagus. You can’t see it in the picture below but I added a couple inches of water. They will last longer this way and not wilt so quickly.

We’er fortunate enough to have chickens and I don’t have to buy eggs. It’s the best thing, they taste amazing. I found these cute egg holders at HomeGoods a while back. I also have a wood one that I love and its even cuter, I use it if we have more then the two dozen. Our chicks better get to laying! ha!

So in all I have 5 clear storage bins in this part of the fridge and 2 in the deli section. With kids and a husband who helps put groceries away this will make it so much easier for them and everything will have a home and no more just tossing things in the fridge

Now that I’m writing this I actually have an idea, what if I take one of these containers and put the jars that I least use and put it in the garage fridge. I do have a label that says “This or That”. It will free up a lot of space I think. What do you think? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.

After

We are so bad when it come to waisting food. It really bothers me actually. I want to make a conscious effort to do better. Now that the fridge is organized and labeled it will be easier to see what we have and hopefully eat ALL the leftovers.

Look at these awesome wood containers! When I found these I was instantly in love. Such nice quality. I thought these would be perfect for lunch meat and cheese.

I rounded up all the organizing goodies I used. For the fridge and freezer.

2. DIY Simple Spice Organizing

I just love this idea so much. It was so quick and inexpensive. First order of business is to check all the spices to see if any are expired and throw those out along with any spices you no longer want. Then go through the remained to see how many jars you are going to need.

Here are the jars & labels I used.

1. Jars

2. Labels

Most people don’t have a designated spice drawer like this but these jars will look good wherever you store your spices.

I also had a bunch of these organic spice jars from Walmart. I just took off the labels and used Goo Gone to remove the sticky residue. Most of my metal finishes are black in the house so I decided to spray paint all the lids black, the ones from Walmart were also silver. So I spray painted all the lids. The sticker collection is awesome. It had a spice label for every one I needed. They are round and clear and you can barely see the label once you place them on the lid.

Of course, you can keep the lids silver or you can paint them any color you like to match your house best. The nice thing about the jars from Walmart is they have the expiration at the bottom. The other jars I would just write the expiration date down at the bottom with a Sharpe.

Here is a stock photo of the spice jars I bought so you can see what they look like.

3. How to Maintain the Best Pantry Organization

I have a small but functional pantry. It’s one thing in this house I wish was bigger. One day I plan on remodeling the inside and putting up real wood shelves and laying them out differently. Until then, this is what I came up with. I actually organized this pantry back in 2019 and It’s been working out really good as far as functionality.

Im not a big fan of microwaves but my kids wanted to have one. When we moved in it was above the stove so we bought this small one that fits on the shelf. The kids love it because it works with Alexa. They particularly like asking her “Alexa, Make some popcorn”

When we moved in I had random jars and containers that seal well. I couldn’t justify buying new ones that matched so I kept what I had and made labels which are on top of the jars.

I found these cool tote bag also at Home Goods. They are perfect for chips and snacks. I found a similar set of three here.

My favorite is these potato and onion buckets. They really do help them last longer. I found them a Homegood but I found and even cuter set and it comes with a third can to store garlic. I linked them here.

Another thing that helps keep things organized is lazy suzan’s I have tow here. One is Pioneer Women (love her) and the other one is clear and keeps everything nice and tidy. Linked here.

The gray baskets I ordered on Sams Club website. They come in a set of two and come in a couple colors.

4. Kitchen Drawer Organization Tips

I also bought all of these drawer organizers when we first moved in. My favorite is this stunning silverware divider. Its one piece but its expandable to fit your size drawer. If you do have the smaller drawer you will loose the space where I have my serving spoons. Its made out of wood and it’s surprisingly really good quality. I’ve been using this for 2 years now and its in perfect condition no scratches or anything. Over time crumbs typically show up in everyones silverware drawer, its nice the flower pattern does a good job hiding them thill I get around to cleaning it out.

• Silverware Drawer linked here

Even though this drawer is huge this will also work with standard size drawers which most people have. If these drawers didn’t have these organizers it would be a hot mess. Something so simple makes all the difference.

Side note, that red thing is the best kitchen invention. I found it at Walmart hanging of the food isle. It was one of those impulse buys that turned out to be a great purchase. Now your probably wording what it is, haha. We cook hot breakfast for the family on the weekends and our favorite meal is to make sausage and eggs. When putting sausage in the pan its a pain to break it up with a wooden spoon so this breaks it up in record time. Works good for hamburger meat too.

I call these my miscellaneous drawers. If you notice I have the same liners in these as I do my fridge. Then I have a few clear drawer organizers. I probably should get a few more. I liked to go through these drawers about once a year and trash or donate anything that I don’t use or even double of things. Except scissors, you can never have too may of those, they are the first thing to always go missing.

If you have made it this far reading this blog post, thank you. I hope you found some of these tips helpful. Let me know in the comments below what your favorite tip was and if you are planning on implementing any of them in your home. Happy organizing!

Jessie Thomas