Who knew the old saying “a place for everything and everything in its place” would one day describe a viral social media phenomenon about refrigeration? With hyper-specific containers for everything from pickles to eggs, refrigerator-organizing TikTok — also known as #fridgetok — is a particular type of #foodporn, so perfectly does it depict pristinely and immaculately stored food.
For a busy working person, maintaining this level of organization may feel far too time-consuming and expensive. Yet, Catherine Benson, aka _catben_, an organizational TikTok content creator with 11.5 million followers, said that getting your fridge together can ultimately save you time and money in the long run.
“Spending a few minutes each week to organize your fridge [makes] it easier to find what you need and avoid buying unnecessary items,” Benson told HuffPost via email. “Use clear containers to help you see what’s inside and avoid wasting food. You can also plan your meals ahead of time and buy only what you need, reducing food waste and saving money.”
Kaeli McEwen, a home organization content creator with 13.9 million TikTok followers, agreed, saying that keeping a super-organized fridge is only really cumbersome at the beginning.
“Once you get the main organized flow of the fridge, it’s not a busy task to keep up,” McEwen said. “Just keep putting things where they go and it adds no extra time at all!”
On TikTok, this upkeep is known as a #restock or a #refresh, wildly popular hashtags that have amassed billions of views. While the videos always show different types of foods and kitchens, one thing is generally consistent: clear stacking containers that allow you to maximize your fridge space and see all the things you have.
Rather than playing Tetris with your weekly groceries and trying to decipher if you have any carrots, McEwen says that having designated spaces for everything in your fridge lets you quickly grab ingredients as you need them. Further, being able to see everything in your fridge when you open it speeds up cooking, meal prepping, compiling a shopping list and putting fresh groceries away.
“With the containers that I use and how my fridge is organized, I find it easier to cook and plan because everything is visible and I never have to search for items,” wrote Tawnya Martin, a restock and organizing TikTok creator, to HuffPost. “It is much easier to see when things are getting low and produce might be close to spoiling. Oftentimes, one of us just stands at the fridge looking in, calling out items to Alexa for our grocery list, and it never takes long.”
To help get your fridge looking #restock-ready, these content creators shared their favorite tools for top-notch storage.
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If you're just getting started with organizing your fridge, organization TikToker Catherine Benson recommends getting a set with multiple sizes. "I would recommend starting with clear stackable bins in various sizes, as they can help to group similar items together and maximize space in the fridge," Benson said.
Home organization TikToker Monica Brady, who goes by the handle midwesternmama29, also recommends using different-sized containers so you can better see what literally fits in your fridge and what metaphorically fits in your lifestyle. "I don’t buy thousands of containers…I simply do what I find helps me and my family!" Brady told HuffPost.
Brady added that using dividers and separating foods can be helpful with kids or teens in the house. "Having an organized and prepped fridge provides a more functional space for my kids," she said. "They can more independently get themselves fruits, veggies, snacks and drinks!"
"It's nice for our kids to be able to go to the fridge and find what they need without having to ask for help," she said. "I have a 4-year-old that loves cheese. She's able to open the fridge and know exactly where the cheese is and it's easy for her to get to it. The same thing is true for other snacks and drinks for my older child."
Benson agreed that putting a lazy Susan in your fridge can help make condiments, dressing or any other items easy to reach.
"My pickle flip jars are by far my favorite container and I recommend it to everyone!" Martin said. "They keep my fingers from getting pickle juice on them and I never need a fork. The WhiteRhino is larger and glass. I like to point out that [it's] never leaked."
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