Why You Can Trust CNET Organize Your Fridge Like the Viral TikTok Videos: What You'll Need and What It'll Cost You
Obsessed with those viral fridge organization videos? Here's how you can achieve the same look.
- Macy has been working for CNET for coming on 2 years. Prior to CNET, Macy received a North Carolina College Media Association award in sports writing.
Transform the inside of your fridge with these easy tips of the trade.
TikTok is great for finding new recipes to try and funny videos that you share with your group chat. But it's also a helpful resource for finding practical -- yet fun -- life hacks and tips to incorporate into your daily routine (can you tell I'm part of Generation Z?).
If you're on the same side of TikTok as I am, you've probably fallen down the rabbit hole of videos of people organizing their refrigerators to achieve maximum aesthetic appeal. These videos show fridges decked out with specific containers for veggies and fruits, racks for soda cans, and shelves all perfectly arranged down to the Lazy Susan for your favorite condiments.
While this may sound like overkill, an organized fridge can save you frustration when you can't find that one particular jar and even prevent you from forgetting expired foods in the back. So, what exactly do you need to achieve this look? And how much will it cost you? I break it all down below.
For more fridge tips, learn the right way to clean your fridge and foods in your fridge you need to throw out right now.
What you'll need to get going
Luckily, it's not too hard to dress your fridge up to the nines. A quick trip to Dollar Tree or Walmart, or a quick scroll on Amazon can secure everything you'll need.
These small plastic containers are perfect for organizing items that are often laying loose in your fridge drawers. Instead of sifting through your produce drawer to find the last piece of fruit at the bottom, you can organize a container to hold apples, cheese sticks or limes, for example.
And they're cheap. For $30, you can get a pack of 24 containers.
While the previously mentioned containers are great for produce and snack items, they're not wide enough to hold cans. If you constantly have canned drinks on hand, I recommend buying several can bins to make room on the fridge door shelves. These storage racks come in packs of two.
If you need some extra storage on the bottom shelf of the fridge, these 14-by-8-inch bins are a great choice. The width makes these bins ideal for yogurts, canned goods, baby food, juices, boxed foods and larger produce like onions and peppers. And their size will allow you to stack two bins on top of each other or have four side-by-side and still fit on the same row of your fridge.
I recommend buying two of the two-packs for four total bins. Plus, these bins are so versatile that if you end up not needing one for the fridge, you can use it for your pantry, cosmetics, kitchen utensils or craft and office supplies.
No need to remove every jar in your fridge just to find that one salad dressing in the very back corner. Adding a turntable is a neat trick to add more convenience while also making your shelves look more snazzy. It's ideal for condiments, jarred foods and dressings.
This turntable fits all refrigerator and upper cabinets with a 10.8-inch diameter.
While storage for your eggs isn't totally necessary since you already have the carton, if you want to achieve the TikTok aesthetic, egg storage is a must-have.
There are cheaper egg trays at Dollar Tree, but the thicker plastic of these trays make them easily stackable without any fear of breaking your eggs.
What's this going to cost?
If you buy the products at the quantities I've recommended above, your total will come right to $99. While that's not chump change, organizing your fridge like the TikTok gurus for under $150 is decent.
Plus, you can often find home storage items at Target or Amazon on sale, and you can always go in-person to Dollar Tree so you don't have to bulk-buy items online.
Get organizing
So, you have everything you need for organizing your fridge. Now what? To get started, first take everything out of your fridge and deep-clean it. If you're wondering if you should toss a particular food item, read our guide on how to deep-clean your fridge.
Once your fridge and containers are clean, I recommend placing the empty storage bins and containers in the fridge to know exactly where you want to put each item, that you have enough storage bins and that everything will actually fit in your fridge.
Now, you can start stocking! The end result should look like a perfectly manicured fridge that can easily go viral on TikTok.
Want more cleaning tips? Learn about the most energy-efficient way to do your laundry and these nine incredible laundry hacks you have to try.
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