Creating Fridge-Appeal!

     Since we are going to be hanging out in the kitchen, we may as well spend some time making it work for us. My kitchen isn't that small but the only place I currently have for the refrigerator is tiny. So I can't fit a big fridge in that space. If I want to have healthy choices readily available, like I posted last week, I need to be able to know what it is in the fridge. I can't tell you scientifically how many seconds you have before your brain makes up its mind if there is anything to eat in the fridge but I can tell you the way things got shoved into my fridge in the past I would give up quickly and go to the pantry instead. Sometimes I didn't even want to open the refrigerator door.
   My fridge always started off full of fresh fruits and vegetables but by day three once healthy food was hidden on the bottom of the "Stay Fresh Fruit" drawer or hidden in a plastic sack at the back of the fridge. By the time I found it, it often had shriveled up or grown green hair.  I was throwing out hundreds of dollars worth of fresh fruits and vegetables and missing opportunities to eat healthy snacks between meals and fresh sides with our meals.
   Game over. I decided it was time to get this fridge organized. I investigated different refrigerator organizing systems and decided on a 50ct box of Rubbermaid for $19.98 at Sam's Club. I pulled everything out of the fridge including the drawers and made room for shelves to hold the Rubbermaid containers.
   I gave some thought to what I wanted to see first when I opened the fridge door. I wanted to see the fresh fruits and vegetables but instead all I saw were bottles and bags. The fruit and vegetables were hidden down in the drawers out of sight.
     You know what? I thought. Why don't I put the bottles of condiments and dressings into the drawers out of sight? It turns out I can now pull out the drawer and see exactly what condiments and dressings I have on hand. Guess what I found out... I had three bottles of ketchup and four bottles of Italian dressing that I didn't know I had. Apparently that is why I kept buying more.

   Now I had all this room in my fridge to store what I really wanted to see when I opened up the fridge. I took everything out of their bags and stored like fruits and vegetables together in the see through containers. Make sure the like fruits and vegetables are sealed in together. This helps keep early rotters from igniting rotting in longer lasting ones. So I sorted by type and sealed up fresh everything still worth eating and that which I brought home from the store for this week's meals.
   Now when I open my fridge door, my focus is directed on wonderfully arranged, inviting healthy fresh fruits and vegetables and I can quickly tell what I have on hand to cook with or serve for a healthy snack.