Organizing your RV fridge is about more than just utilizing the space. With any refrigerator, there are different spots that are best for different types of food. You want to ensure that not only are you utilizing the space to its maximum potential, but that you have everything in the correct spot for peak freshness.
Location
Before you start trying to figure out where to put food in your fridge, you should take into consideration that your refrigerator has different temperature zones. Knowing where these zones are and what types of foods they’re designed to hold is important when loading your refrigerator. Let’s go over the different zones and where food stays freshest inside your refrigerator.
The Door
The doors of your refrigerator are the warmest part of the fridge and have the most fluctuation in temperature. This is a great place for stable foods like condiments. Do not store milk, cheese, or any other dairy in the door as it will not stay cold enough. With the door opening and closing throughout the day, any dairy stored on the door shelves will spoil much faster than if it was stored elsewhere in the fridge! So while there may be an area that is equipped to hold a gallon of milk in the door, don’t put it there. Use it for juice or bottled water instead.
Drawers
Refrigerator drawers usually have humidity controls on them. This is simply an opening toward the top of the drawer that you can leave open to let humidity out or you can close it to keep the humidity in the drawer. Typically vegetables need high humidity and fruits need low humidity, so store them in separate drawers. However there are some fruits and veggies that let off ethanol gas as they ripen and cause premature spoilage of ones that are sensitive to it. These spoilers are apples, ripe bananas, cranberries, pears, potatoes, and green onions. Store these away from fragile blackberries, raspberries, strawberries, watermelon, asparagus, cucumbers, lettuce, and peppers, as these are all sensitive to the ethanol gas. So it is best to separate the fruits and veggies into different drawers, and give the spoilers a place of their own where they can’t do any harm.
Upper Shelves
The upper shelves are the second warmest spot in the fridge, but the temperature is consistent. This is a good spot for things that do not need to be cooked, such as leftovers, lunch meats for a Campfire Panini, and cans of soda. You can set some of the sensitive fruits and veggies here to keep them away from the ethanol and within easy reach for snacking!
Bottom Shelves
The bottom shelves are the coldest area of the refrigerator. This is where you should store your milk, cheese, eggs, and raw meats. When storing raw meat, keep the packages contained inside plastic bags or bins so any juices that escape won’t come into contact with any other food.
Organization Accessories
Now that you know what should be stored where, it’s time to get things in there in an organized fashion. There are tons of great things out there that can help you get your fridge organized so that more fits in it and to keep things from falling over when going down the road. The way to do this is to compartmentalize things. All you need are a few accessories to make this happen.
Bins
We love bins! Every RV should have bins for bathroom storage, kitchen storage, refrigerator storage, and more. Their neat, compact design helps corral small, awkward-shaped items that can’t fit neatly into a space. For the refrigerator, bins help keep things from rolling around as you’re traveling down the road and they allow you to stack items that would otherwise take up a lot of room inside a small refrigerator, such as pop cans. These refrigerator Binz from The Container Store come in different shapes and sizes to give everything a place of its own! You can also find bins at a dollar store or in the organization aisle of larger stores. These will prevent breakage and spilling and will keep your refrigerator neat and tidy.
Tension Bars
Adding small tension bars inside your RV refrigerator can help divide the inside into small, tight areas that will hold food containers snugly. These Camco Double Refrigerator Bars are perfect for securing items on the shelves so that when you open your refrigerator door after traveling, all of the contents don’t spill out onto the floor.
With an organized RV refrigerator, preparing and cooking meals will be easier and faster. You’ll know right where everything is when you want to make Mason Jar Strawberry Cheesecakes for your hungry little campers. Organizing the inside of your fridge is just one more step you can take in making sure your RV getaways are relaxing and stress free!
Do you have any RV refrigerator organization tips? Let us know in the comments section!
