The Thanksgiving Fridge Leftoverflow

Looking through the November issue of Martha Stewart Living I learned something new about my sister — for her whole life she has been annoyed by how the leftovers are shoved into the refrigerator after Thanksgiving. I’m like, what? Why even BOTHER worrying about such a minor and short lived detail? But to her, a Classic Freedom, whose personality preferences dictate that she notice such details AND be focused on the present, the crazy mess that is Thanksgiving leftovers is a problem that must be solved.

I think it’s safe to say that this image of an organized refrigerator is appealing to all types and while only Funs and Classics will bother with making their fridges look good at Thanksgiving, the rest of us can take these organizing tips and use them for the rest of the year. There are actually a lot of good ideas here, the first of which is putting your milk and other carton liquids on the door. Why? Because it’s probably what you grab the most often and having it at your fingertips is key. Also, things tend to get shoved to the back pretty quickly, and who wants to bend over and root around for the milk? The other great solution for liquids is the Fridge wine holder for holding wine and soda pop horizontally. Again, you end up using the deep space and don’t lose as much stuff to the back. We’d also recommend a soda can dispenser as well if you tend to have a lot of these. 

What really appealed to my sister I suspect were all those matching stackable plastic quart containers. Nothing like repetition and uniformity to make something look organized. To me, they looked like cheap take-out containers and I worried about their PVC content or whatever that bad plastic stuff is. But I do think the idea of a getting a bunch of stacking PVC free matching containers will go a long way towards making your fridge look organized at Thanksgiving and beyond. Matching is a key ingredient to anything looking organized.

What really appealed to ME was the Lazy Susan for the condiments. I don’t know why I’ve never thought to use one in the fridge, but it’s genius. Lazy Susans are the first thing we suggest when someone is organizing cupboards because it stops things from getting lost in the back. And my condiments are always falling through the slats on my fridge door and there’s way too much crap on that door that we don’t use.

If you’re looking for more ideas for anything Thanksgiving related, MarthaStewart is, as always, the place to go.