As drivers, you know that there is an art to stocking and storage in your mini fridge. Just how loosely we’re defining the term, “art” is left to your discretion – in our opinion it ranges the gamut from diligent stacking to stuffing your fridge full and correctly timing the door slam in order to keep your cold items contained. Regardless of your organization style, here are a few food stocking tips!
Use up your door space for bottles and quick-grabs like fruits and small snacks to save precious shelf room! Consider your needs, vices, and condiments – as these are best fitted for the available space in the door of your refrigerator.
Start with the healthy stuff! You should reserve two spaces for bottles of water (keep the rest of the case next to the refrigerator and replenish as your inventory disappears). Consider reserving a spot for a carton of milk and a small bottle of juice – we also suggest you place your apples, oranges, pears etc. in this space. Another great item to keep there is yogurt! Save a spot or two for your must-have items such as your daily soda, energy drink, or chilled coffee. Last but not least you’ll want to keep your sauces and condiments in this area – as ketchup, mayonnaise, and mustard make great additions to sandwiches. (*Another alternative is to collect extra condiment and sauce packets at restaurants (for free) an keep them in a Ziploc bag – this reserves more space for the items mentioned previously or for things like chip dips and salsas.)
 Put these in your door space:
- Â 2 Waters
- 1 Carton of Milk
- 1 Small Bottle/Can of Juice
- 2 Apples/Oranges/Pears
- 1 Carton Yogurt
- Ketchup/Mustard/Mayonnaise or Salsa/Dip
If you’re lucky enough to have a freezer compartment, do your best to neatly stack its contents. Boxed frozen meals can easily be stacked, however if you’ve brought a frozen meal from home this might not be so easy. If you’re freezing something malleable in a freezer bag such as a soup, gently press on the bag as it a few times as it freezes so that it flattens into an easily stackable shape.
 Put these in your freezer:
- Boxed Frozen Meals
- Frozen Meals From Home
- 1 Ice Pack (You never know when you’ll need to use a cooler for something!)
Ration the precious shelf space in your refrigerator wisely! Oftentimes the best thing to do is to keep your cheese (sliced or string), deli meat, eggs, and other meats such as hot-dogs, hamburgers etc. on the bottom drawer so that they do not drip down onto other food items. Save enough space on the top shelf for one or two (if stacked neatly) take-out boxes and any of your other favorites.
 Put these on your shelves:
- Â Deli Meat (and other misc. meats)
- Cheeses (sliced and / or string)
- 1/2 Dozen Eggs
- 1-2 Take-Out Boxes
- *Anything else you can fit!
We would love to know what you put in your refrigerators and how you like to organize them. Tell us all about it – or better yet, send a photo to: [email protected].