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Organizing meal ingredients together inside the fridge.

For the last few months I’ve been organizing meal ingredients together inside the fridge. For me, it has simplified getting dinner on the table and (this was an unintended but welcomed benefit) it has helped cut down on food waste. Today I wanted to show an example week of organizing our fridge + cooking meals with this strategy! 

Note: Not all meals and snacks from our week are shown below. I’m a 2-4 snack/day type of person, they were eaten, but I didn’t take photos of them. I also didn’t show when I went back for seconds, since this post is simply a strategy for getting meals on the table easier…not necessarily about permission to get seconds, which I’m all for! Of course! But it’s not what I’m highlighting here. 

So basically I use corners, drawers, and shelves in the fridge to stack up the ingredients that make up the meals we have planned for that week.

Below is salmon + corn + bread for one night and tofu stir-fry for another night.

Below was the ingredients for pulled pork sliders. I love this recipe for pulled pork, it’s just a can of Dr. Pepper + a bottle of BBQ sauce + pork shoulder put in the crockpot of low for 8 hours. We served this with sweet potato fries, but those were in the freezer so not pictured here.

Eggs + cinnamon rolls

Another thing I’ve found with this meal organization strategy is that is cuts down on food waste since most things in the fridge are allocated for something. So as I’m organizing the ingredients into meals I can be like, oh we have half a leftover bell pepper and 2 random carrots, those can go in the tofu stir-fry.

As shown above, the bottom drawer of our fridge lately has become a place for all the leftovers we have / ingredients not designated for a particular meal, so I know what we have and can roll those ingredients into lunches. As seen with a lunch salad below made with arugula, pepperoni, chicken, Hawaiian rolls and a bunch of other leftovers.

Other meals we had that week that weren’t organized in the fridge for one reason or another…

a father’s day meal of filets, veggie kabobs, sweet potato fries, cherry dr. pepper + ice cream for dessert

An easy lunch with the girls on a rainy day of eggs + toast + strawberries.

Nachos that used up our leftover chicken and cheese + cherry salsa (<–love that stuff) + strawberries.

This meal strategy has been helpful for us! Another good thing about it is Andrew and I can both easily start dinner without asking the other person what the plan is, since everything is grouped together it’s very clear what the meal is going to be. If you try it out, I hope it simplifies getting meals on your table during covid life. Andrew and I have decided our motto is “just get thru this year.”

11 comments

  1. This is brilliant. Also one hundred percent with you on “just get through this year.”

  2. How did you make that slaw on the sliders? It looks so good! I have trouble using up a whole head of red cabbage since it’s only 3 of us. 

  3. I love those kitchen chairs! Where are they from? I would love to try this method to cut even more down on food waste. Thanks for the idea!

  4. I love this idea!! Thank you for sharing.l!! I love the simplicity of your meals!Totally my style!

    Since you mentioned soda ;). What are your thoughts on it with intuitive eating? I don’t crave but my hubby does at least one a night. Totally okay? Also do you recommend a certain amount of water to drink each day? My water intake has gone way down after disordered eating and I currently drink mostly carbonated water.

    • I have a post on soda and diet soda coming up at some point. But for now, as long as a person is in tune with how their body feels in response to eating or drinking a certain thing (soda) or not eating/drinking a certain thing (water) and then making the choice that is right for them based on that… then I think it’s fine. Nice and vague lol. The post will be better than my reply here haha.

  5. That is awesome that you have discovered a system that makes cooking & meals easier for your busy family….in normal times, but ESPECIALLY now!  We moved out of our house in February for a total redo and have been at the lake since then. It is really hard to get motivated to cook these days…perhaps this mite help!!!  :)  I feel your motto!!! ?

  6. I love this post! Honestly, I just love looking at peoples’ fridges; something about it feels so voyeuristic ? we do something similar, but instead of grouping things in the fridge, we keep a chart on the front of the fridge. We write down our breakfast options, snacks, meals, etc that we planned. That way, we know exactly what we have. Like you, we’re working on reducing food waste (Partially for the environment, partially because we’re only grocery shopping every two weeks), and it helps to do a good inventory. It’s fun to see how other people organize their meals!

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