The Art of Filling up Your Fridge

By Nazar Kostiv

| 2022-09-28

The Art of Filling up Your Fridge

No person is the same, and neither are our fridges. Yes, they may have been designed by the same engineers, made from the same materials or even manufactured in the same factory. But it’s the inside that matters doesn’t it?

This one goes out to all of you food lovers, home chefs, perfectionists and fridge fetishists (I know you are out there). What does your fridge look like? What food is in it? Any rotten lemons hidden deep in the fruit&veg drawer? Are you a ready-meal warrior or do you join the ranks of healthy eaters?

Well regardless of the category we decide to fit ourselves into, we all share one thing. And that is the necessity to fill up our fridge with products obtained in exchange for honestly, or not so honestly, earned capital.

If you want your fridge to look pretty you might opt into sorting food based on category. All the fruits go here. Dairy up there. Meats on the second shelf.

Alternatively, those who have completely given up on suppressing their creative urges might decide to organise the food based on colours and create sort of a rainbowy palette inside the fridge.

Fridge organisation is an art form some may say. It doesn’t have to be, say I.

There is only one thing that is shared between all foods and their packages, and it is the only objective measurement I believe should be used to evaluate the position of a given product in the fridge. And that is the food's expiry date.

If the food is going to expire soon, then it shall be placed in a location that is immediately focused on by our eyes as the first light from a dim bulb spreads throughout the fridge.

This can of course be combined with any other strategy or be morphed into something that suits your specific situation better, as long as the underlying principle remains unbroken.

The strategy I utilise is: Less than one week left — bottom shelf it is. Less than a month left — middle shelf for the rescue. More than one month left — the top shelf is ready my lord.

May your fridge remain clean and tidy and may your food taste delicious.

View other essays by Nazar Kostiv