Hey team! So you may have seen some of this in action on my Instagram story earlier today - fun fun fun if you followed along! You will have seen such highlights as the decrepit strawberries (they were hiding behind the beers, clearly need to to work harder on staying hydrated!!) and the floppy carrot. Floppy carrot syndrome seems to happen much more frequently now that I don’t use plastic bags for my produce - they just don’t stay fresh as long in the fridge any more… I have learned that storing them in a Tupperware container keeps them fresher for longer - not sure about the pros and cons of that approach though… However, I digress! You may have noticed that I neglected to share a before photo - don’t worry, I did take one. I just forgot to add it to my story. You’ll see it hanging out over there to your right >>

So before I kick into the ins and outs of the revamp, cast your mind back to my previous blog about the work to be done prior to starting the 30 minute revamp. I did my prep as follows:

I took stock to confirm what I had that would need a new containment, and mentally grouped like with like.
I measured my fridge and purchased appropriate containers.
I had a good clean out. And unearthed some doozies!
I gave the shelves, drawers and walls a really good wipe down. Voila - ready for restocking.

Something that I neglected to include in the pre-work was having a think about what was currently problematic in your fridge - no point in changing it if everything is working well, right? So my biggest concern was the beer shelf - now easily within Otis’ reach and actually something of a miracle that he hadn’t already pulled one onto himself. So that needed to change. Along that same line, I needed to reorder the things currently on the bottom door shelf as there was potential for glass bottle breakage there (my precious Astrolabe Sauv, noooooo!). And obviously we had a problem with food getting “lost” in the fridge - I hate food waste, so something had to change there. So there are the two key things I wanted to achieve in my revamp - less opportunity for Otis to be hurt due to falling/breaking items, and less food waste. Let’s go!

I decided the first change I’d make would be to put the beers in one of the vegetable drawers. This is great on three levels:

Too heavy for Otis to pull out, so no chance of breaking beer bottles.
Too heavy for Otis to pull out so can't be used as a ladder to get higher in the fridge.
No chance of strawberries rotting behind them any more, haha.

Mama 1, baby 0. Mwahahahaha!

Now rather than go through shelf-by-shelf, I’m going to trust that you can appreciate the pics and figure out what is where; instead I’ll make some notes on strategic choices I’ve made, and my tips for you to try at home.

I’ve added two “Eat me first” containers (let’s call them EMFs, because I love an acronym) to help us in our FIFO* efforts. FIFO in action in my home means my newest produce goes in the vegetable drawer, and I move the older produce into the large EMF basket. Because I’ve labelled it, there is no doubt in anyone’s mind about what to do here - eat from that basket first! Obviously Otis is an advanced reader and regularly helps himself to apples.
The small EMF basket is for opened products or those with a short shelf life. Pop your products in there (free range ham, I’m looking at you!) and when I’m casting about on the weekend for something to throw together for lunch or dinner, I know to look there first.
We don’t have a lot of dairy, but I’ve grouped everything together in a dairy container for ease of use. My precious Puhoi yoghurts get their own container as we eat quite a lot of this, so there is usually a spare waiting in the background (FIFO!).
My tall condiments I keep in the door. My short condiments I have moved to a short container on the second shelf. I prefer to keep the shorties in clear view so they don’t lurk below the top of the door shelf, wasting away into oblivion.
If you’re rocking a Sodastream but don’t have a system to ensure you always have cold water to fizz up, here’s mine:
- Have at least two bottles (I have three for maximum H20 consumption).
- The already-fizzed bottle (#1) lives closest to the outside of the fridge - the most recently filled water bottle (#3) lives closes to the inside of the fridge. The middle bottle (#2) is in no man’s land for now.
- When the fizzed bottle (#1) is empty, fill it with tap water and send to the #3 position. The #2 bottle is cold and ready to be fizzed next so moves into #1 position, and the freshly filled bottle moves into #3 position - and so the rotation continues. Does that make sense? I feel like I should be writing plays for the All Blacks with this technical data, haha.

Products

Handled fridge basket (used for cheese and large EMF). Buy from Kmart.
Clear can holder (used for Puhoi yoghurt). Buy from Kmart.
Clear narrow drawer (used for short condiments and top shelf vitamins). Buy from Kmart.
Clear deep drawer, narrow and tall (used for dairy and small EMF). Buy from Kmart.
Stackable soft drink holder (used for lime cordial and water bottle). Buy from Kmart.

Any eagle eyes out there might spy two glasses on the top shelf. Yes, we keep glasses in the fridge - I like the added coolness. Yes I’m a bit odd. We do wash and rotate them (we aren’t heathens)! You might be surprised to learn that this household rocks mismatched glassware; I’m quite happy for things not to be matchy matchy if they are still doing their job.

One fridge revamp - done! We are halfway through Kitchen Month now, and dare I remind you there are less than six weeks to Christmas as of tonight. Eek! There is still time to get your kitchen - including pantry, fridge, tupperware drawer and more - whipped into shape before the family descends on your place like Santa down the chimney. Call me - I’m here to help.

*FIFO - first in, first out. I learnt this as a teenage McDonalds employee (#GfieldMaccas4lyfe!) many moons ago, and the principle as stuck with me. A recent conversation over on Facebook confirmed I am not the only one!