Tips for keeping your fridge and freezer nice and tidy, according to one expert

Organizing expert Megan Arthurs explains the concept of thinking of your refrigerator as a 'mini grocery store.'

An organizing expert says maintaining your refrigerator gets easy if you apply certain rules to how you store your food.

Megan Arthurs, who is also the founder of H:OM Organizing, told CTV Your Morning on Thursday that treating your fridge like a “mini grocery store” can help keep it tidy and fresh.

“A mini grocery store is an organizer’s dream,” Arthurs said. “You walk in, there’s departments (and) foods group together. You can see everything. We want to implement that in our fridge.”

The trick is to create “zones” inside the refrigerator, so that certain foods are grouped together in a specific location, she added. This can help with locating the items quickly and lead to better maintenance.

According to Arthurs, the foods can be grouped in beverage zones, dairy zones, sauce zones or a produce zone.

“That way, when you open the fridge, you can see where everything is at a glance,” she said.

“This is also going to help eliminate over purchasing, under eating, and the food waste totally,” Arthurs added.

To tackle the issue of food waste due to it going bad, she suggests creating a “clear bin.”

“Inside of the bin, you’re going to put the foods in your fridge that are nearing expiry, the foods that need to be eaten up as soon as possible,” Arthurs said. “Then you’re going to pop that bin as the shining star in your fridge, front and centre.”

According to the organizing expert, placing the “clear bin” up front acts a “visual clue,” and serves as a reminder to finish all of that first.

“You can even treat it like a little challenge, like ‘what recipes can I make with all the foods in the bin?’” Arthurs said.

She suggested having organizers in the refrigerator to help keep the mess to a minimum and help optimize the space inside it. Additionally, when it comes to a secondary refrigerator – the one kept in garages and basements – using unique organizers can help maintain those well.

Arthurs says resetting the refrigerator every month can cut the hours people spend doing a deep-clean in longer intervals.

“I’m not talking about a complicated reset, like five to 10 minutes every month to check your first bin, go to expiry date, wipe the spill,” she explained, adding that “maintenance” was “key.”