14 Tips To Organize Your Fridge Like A Professional Chef

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Learning to organize your fridge like a professional chef can bring order and keep all your ingredients at their best. After all, these pros keep restaurant kitchens in tiptop shape. And there are plenty of strategies out there, like using a file folder to organize fridge drawers or even strategically organizing your refrigerator just like Chrissy Teigen. However, chefs tend to keep things as simple as possible while thinking about food safety and accessibility. That's why their kitchens run smoothly, and very little gets wasted.

At home, applying this same mindset can make everyday cooking feel easier and more enjoyable. From setting up clear systems for where items belong to creating habits that keep food moving, a chef-style fridge helps you save money and time. Plus, you'll be able to clearly see what needs to be used, helping you cut down on waste.

While you can adjust the temperature inside your refrigerator to stay nice and chilly, certain parts of the appliance are just going to be a touch warmer than others — if only because of their location. Because of this, chefs recommend that you don't store anything but condiments in the door. It's the warmest part of the appliance because of all the opening and closing. However, condiments aren't as susceptible to the temperature changes. As in, your ketchup isn't going to go bad and give you food poisoning from a little variation, but raw meat or dairy just might.

Think of the fridge door as prime real estate for mustard, hot sauce, and other sturdy items that won't be ruined by a little fluctuation in chill. That way, you'll free up the safer, colder spots inside the fridge for more sensitive foods. Plus, the narrow shelves on the fridge door don't tend to be big enough for much else, anyway. So you'll save yourself the annoyance of trying to shove in things that won't fit.

To keep your fridge extra organized, some chefs recommend removing certain foods from the original packaging to make them more visible for everyday use. This way, you are more likely to use them before they expire and have more room in your fridge to boot. This tip works especially well with eggs. "Most people don't remember how many are left in the carton — you might find only two when you need half a dozen," JJ Johnson, Chef in Residence at OXO, explained. "Eggs last a while, and buying 18 or two dozen at a time is cheaper."

So instead of keeping bulky egg cartons in your space, grab a sleek container so you always know exactly what you're working with. The RoskDeewat Store Egg Holder has a rolling design, so the oldest eggs roll to the front. You reload from the back, ensuring you use them in an order that makes sense. Another option is the Utopia Home Egg Container, which has a flat lid, making it easily stackable. You can grab more than one if you go through a lot of eggs, or you can easily place other storage containers above or below it to save even more space. 

If you've ever worked in a restaurant kitchen, you'll be familiar with the term mise en place. It's a French phrase that roughly means "everything in its place." Basically, when you're preparing to cook a dish, you get everything out ahead of time. You pre-portion all of the ingredients and lay out all the tools you might need so you can keep a running inventory of what you have while you're cooking.

Applying the principle of mise en place to your fridge means setting it up so ingredients are always accessible and ready to use. Instead of letting half-used jars of sauce and wilted produce get buried in the back, group like items together and keep them in consistent zones: Dairy in one section, condiments in another, prepped vegetables in clear bins. You can even portion out grab-and-go snacks or chopped ingredients into small containers so they're waiting when you need them.

If you often feel annoyed that you can't store items sitting straight up and down, you don't have to live with the frustration forever. Depending on the model of your refrigerator, it may be possible to adjust the height of some of the shelves and, in some cases, remove them altogether. "Look at the interior and gauge how tall or short the storage is — you might want to get rid of some of the shelves that come with your fridge to fit what you need," Chef Johnson told OXO.

OXO sells a Good Grips Fridge Shelf Riser, which is also adjustable for this purpose. This way, you can steal (or add!) a few more inches of usable storage space, depending on your preferences. You can also create storage zones by height. Consider raising a shelf to make room for tall pitchers or meal-prep containers, while dedicating lower areas to shorter items like yogurt cups or slices of cheese or deli meat.  

Professional chefs are often parents, too! To keep kids from rummaging around inside your perfectly-organized fridge whenever they need a snack, chefs agree that you need to make what they're looking for easier to find. "If you have young kids — or even for yourself — you can create a snack container that you can pull out with special items that are stocked and ready to go," Chef Johnson told OXO.

A small plastic bin, like the ClearSpace Plastic Pantry Organization and Food Storage Bin can easily solve this problem. Fill it with things like yogurts, clementines, or even pudding cups and place it on a shelf that your kids can easily access. When they want a snack, they'll know exactly where to look instead of rooting around and messing things up. Plus, this makes it easier for you to do a quick visual check if things are running low. If the bin looks empty, it's time to restock.

Plenty of fridges have two built-in drawers at the bottom for food storage. In some models, these drawers are stacked on top of each other instead. Professional chefs never mix the types of ingredients stored in each drawer for food safety. That is, designate one drawer for veggies and another for raw meat. If the drawers are stacked, place meat in the lower drawer. If they are side-by-side, it doesn't matter which you use for what, as long as you're consistent with what you put in each.

In some cases, you might have such an abundance of vegetables in your home that you prefer using both crisper drawers for them. In this case, chefs recommend storing any meat in a plastic container with a lid. This not only keeps it separate, but it will keep any drips away, too. Keeping meat juice separate is so important because it can carry e.coli. While you can typically cook off e.coli, it can easily contaminate other foods that may be eaten raw. 

You might not realize that the levels within your fridge where you store your food matter quite a bit if you want to make things feel like a restaurant at home. "In a professional kitchen, foods are arranged from top to bottom with foods requiring higher cooking temperatures placed lower," Trung Vu, a chef and an instructor at the Institute of Culinary Education's New York City campus, told Apartment Therapy. "Ready-to-eat foods such as prepared sandwiches and salads, beverages and creamers, or even leftovers that might just need to be reheated take top precedence and usually occupy the top shelf of the refrigerator." 

That is, this system helps keep everything organized, but most importantly, maintains food safety. Storing things like raw meats on the bottom shelf prevents their juices from dripping onto things like leftover pasta dishes that won't be fully cooked again. And keeping ready-to-go items at eye level makes them easier to grab quickly. 

Improper storage of meat is one of the most common fridge mistakes to avoid when organizing your fridge. Within the storage hierarchy listed above, Chef Vu warned that there are even more specific food safety rules that professional chefs follow when storing raw meat. This is because different meats are cooked at different temperatures. For example, "raw beef needs to be cooked to 145°F and therefore should never be placed below raw chicken, which needs to be cooked to 165°F," she told Apartment Therapy. The reason for this is to avoid contamination. "If a spill were to occur and the chicken was dripping into the beef, the beef may potentially never be cooked to a high enough temperature to kill microbes that may have been present in the chicken, and this can lead to foodborne illness," Vu said. 

At home, you can follow this same rule by stacking proteins in order of their required cooking temperatures: Fish at the top, then beef and pork, then poultry at the very bottom. Using clear bins or trays for each type of meat makes the system easy to follow and helps contain any drips. Labeling these bins (or even assigning a color sticker to each protein bin) can turn your fridge into a safer, more intuitive space while protecting against cross-contamination. The Zero Zoo Store Clear Foods Organizers can work well for this purpose. 

One of the biggest mistakes home cooks make is crowding the fridge with foods that don't actually need to be in there. Professional chefs know that refrigeration should be reserved for items that will truly spoil or lose their quality at room temperature. Before automatically tossing groceries inside your fridge after a shopping trip, ask yourself: Does this really need to be chilled? You might be surprised that many everyday items are just fine in the pantry or on the counter. 

For example, ketchup and other acidic condiments are shelf-stable until they are opened, and some chefs still leave them in the pantry after, too. Apples, cucumbers, onions, garlic, and potatoes also keep better in a cool, dry spot outside the fridge. So, dedicate a spot in the pantry or swap out a kitchen drawer for a crate to store your produce. By only refrigerating the essentials (like dairy, eggs, raw meat, and cut produce), you'll create a fridge that's less cluttered and easier to navigate, just like the pros have. 

Chefs know what's inside their fridge at all times. To recreate this at home, thoroughly label leftover items. Always include the date you've stored it, plus what's inside, too. "Chefs swear by this trick, and after working in a restaurant, I do too," former line cook Kelly Vaughan told Food52. "No longer do you have to open a container, give it a sniff, and say to your roommate or partner, 'When did we have these mashed potatoes?'" Instead, a label takes all the guesswork out of the equation.

And while you can certainly purchase a tool specifically for the job, like the WSICSE Store Food Labels, you don't have to if you can stay organized without it. In fact, an organized fridge is no problem with the help of painter's tape. "A roll of blue or green painter's tape on a dispenser and a permanent marker kept nearby can be an invaluable tool for organization," Chef Vu told Apartment Therapy. What's important, no matter how you label things, is that they are marked with the required information. 

Professional kitchens rarely rely on mismatched plastic tubs or bulky glass containers for storage, so you shouldn't either. Instead, use simple deli containers in standard sizes — quart, pint, and half-pint just like the pros. The genius of this system is that every container uses the same lid, so you don't waste time rummaging through a drawer to find the right top. They also stack neatly on top of each other, making the most of your fridge's vertical space while keeping things uniform and easy to see.

At home, swapping your random assortment of containers for deli-style ones can transform how you store leftovers and meal-prepped ingredients. Because they're lightweight and inexpensive, you won't stress about sending leftovers home with friends or recycling a cracked one. The best bit is that you don't have to collect them over time from takeout meals, either. You can just grab an entire set for a reasonable price, like the Dipoo (120-Piece) Deli Containers with Lids set. So if you're seeing signs it's time to throw away your old Tupperware containers and get some new receptacles, consider restocking like a chef by opting for deli containers. 

Restaurant kitchens rely on prep lists to keep everything running smoothly. They use them to track what's been prepped, what's running low, and what needs to be ordered next. Translating that habit to your home kitchen can make your fridge feel more organized. A quick glance at your list tells you what's ready to grab, what's about to expire, and what you'll need on your next grocery run.

To make this work at home, keep a small magnetic whiteboard or notepad right on your fridge door. Note anything that needs to be eaten soon, and cross things off once they're gone. Family members can also add to the list when they notice something's missing, so it doubles as a built-in shopping guide. Some newer fridges even have digital options for this kind of list built in. Over time, this simple system helps prevent forgotten food from languishing in the back and makes meal planning easier, too.

In restaurant kitchens, FIFO is short for "first in, first out," and it's the golden rule. Chefs constantly rotate stock so that older items get used before anything new is opened. This keeps food fresh and minimizes costly waste, which is important for restaurant profit margins, but also for your bottom line, too. Bringing that same discipline into your own fridge ensures you'll actually eat what you've already bought instead of letting it languish behind newer groceries. Think of it as treating your fridge like a mini walk-in: nothing gets hidden, nothing gets forgotten.

At home, FIFO starts the moment you unpack groceries. Slide the newer items to the back and pull the older ones forward so they're the first thing you see. If you decant foods into bins or clear containers, make a habit of emptying the last bits of the old batch before adding more on top. This simple rotation system saves your money and helps you avoid the unpleasant surprise of discovering something expired weeks too late.

In restaurant walk-in refrigerators, chefs often have a clearly marked pan for ingredients that need to be used ASAP. It's a simple but powerful way to cut down on waste and keep food costs under control, too. At home, this same method can help you avoid the dreaded discovery of wilted greens, expired yogurt, or a forgotten container of moldy leftovers hiding in the back of the fridge. 

Implementation is easy: pick a clear bin or basket, place it at eye level, and label it "use first" so everyone in the household knows its purpose. Whenever you unpack groceries, move older items or nearly-expired foods into that bin so they'll get eaten before the new stock. You can even designate a day of the week (like Sunday night!) for cooking from the bin, turning random odds and ends into a stir-fry or maybe even a soup.