This “Quadrant” Fridge Storage Trick Is So Ingenious, I Had to Steal It (I’ve Saved Food and Money!)

Lately, my refrigerator resembles my closet: I have an idea of where everything is, but it’s going to take me a minute to find it. I’m OK with forgetting about a shirt that’s been pushed to the back of my closet. But I’m not OK with perishable food getting lost in my refrigerator, and realizing upon rediscovery that it’s past the expiration date. 

This method divides the refrigerator into four main quadrants: prepared food, cooking ingredients, beverages, and leftovers. Where you put the “quadrants” will depend on the layout of your refrigerator and personal preference, but I found these four broad categories made organizing my fridge both quick and easy. 

Refrigerator organization starts with removing the contents of your fridge and cleaning the shelves. Pro tip: Do this step before you go grocery shopping. Not only is it easier to clean out a nearly empty fridge, but you can compile your grocery list while you’re at it. Once I wiped down all the shelves, here’s how I reorganized the contents:

This section has the ready-to-eat foods, like yogurt, sandwiches and salads from Trader Joe’s, and anything else you might term “grab-and-go.” I put everything in this category on the upper two shelves because they’re at eye level.

My husband loves to cook, so our refrigerator is often filled with produce and defrosting protein (from our loaded-up freezer), along with condiments, sauces, and other jarred ingredients. The drawers, a lower shelf, and most of the shelves on the refrigerator door constitute Quadrant 2, by far the largest of the four.

It might sound like a no-brainer to group beverages together, but our refrigerator had gotten so out of hand that there was a drink of some sort on just about every shelf. I chose a lower shelf that was deep enough for our Brita filter, then corralled the rest of our beverages, including containers of almond milk and green tea, and a few bottles of ready-to-drink cocktails, all on the same shelf. Our flash-brew iced tea pitcher is too tall for this shelf, so we keep it on the bottom shelf of the door, along with a few bottles of white wine.

Whether it’s a to-go box from a restaurant or a storage container with the remainder of last night’s dinner, it all goes in the same section. I opted to use the lower part of our refrigerator for leftovers, as well as any defrosting protein that we can combine with those leftovers to create a new meal.

This reorg journey was not only a success from a visual perspective, but when my husband brought home a haul from Trader Joe’s, we were able to load up the fridge and keep it organized in no time. I’m so glad I tried it out!

One of the biggest rules of organizing is that whatever the system or method, it has to make sense and work for you — otherwise, it won’t last. Good news: You can adapt the quadrant system to whatever categories work best for your household. You might opt for a quadrant dedicated to food about to go bad, or items ready to toss in kids’ lunch boxes. It’s all about organizing your food so that it’s easily accessible and nothing goes to waste.

Regardless of how you ultimately decide to organize your fridge, I highly encourage you to take everything out, clean the shelves, and then put the contents back. By touching and looking at every single container, jar, and item, you’ll get a sense of what you’re overbuying. Case in point: I found four bottles of salad dressing, two containers of jam, and three jars of pickles in the back of my fridge. My husband and I appreciate options, but this is a bit of overkill for just the two of us. No more new purchases of any of these things until we finish what we have!

While I was on a roll, I also reorganized my freezer into two simple sections: proteins and packaged frozen foods (think: waffles and precooked Trader Joe’s meals). Our refrigerator is still looking neat and clean a few weeks into this new organization method, and I think it’s simple enough to keep it that way. So, what are you waiting for?

Would you try the “Quadrant Method” to reorganize your fridge? Let us know in the comments below!