Plastic-Free Fridge Storage & Organisation Ideas
Over the past few weeks, we’ve been relying on our backyard veggie garden and produce boxes from a local food co-op I recently joined, for fresh produce! When unpacking veggies from our produce boxes, or picking lemons from our lemon tree & harvesting veggies from our garden, I needed to find storage solutions for these package-free items. Because of this, I’ve thinking more about how we organise our fridge and store our food in general.
Here are some greener storage ideas I’ve come across, instead of wrapping everything in plastic bags which is what I grew up doing.
GLASS BOXES
I have found glass boxes to be really useful in storing our fragile produce such as salad leaves from the garden, mushrooms and other veggies that would otherwise be bruised if they were in bags or other less structured storage solutions! These glass boxes with the bamboo lids are from IKEA - they’re the IKEA 365+ range of food containers and I love how they’re so easy to clean and look so neat when arranged together. Plus, I’ve taken a huge liking to glass containers lately as they also double up as great oven-to-table use. The other day, I made pies for dinner and used the square and round glass containers to bake them in - once they were done, we ate straight from the glass container!
GLASS JARS
The longer I have my mason jars, the more ideas I come up with as to how to use them! Glass jars are always found floating around our fridge. We use them to store pickles, our homemade water kefir, things to freeze and lately also winter soups and freshly picked parsley and herbs from the garden. The glass jars we have at home are either old pasta sauce & olive jars, or ball mason jars in various sizes which I bought online here to supplement our existing repurposed jars.
SILICON ZIPLOCK BAGS
Prior to getting silicon ziplock bags, we’d often find the need to reach for a plastic ziplock bag for storing various things. These reusable silicon ziplock bags are from Kappi Life - you can get them in a bundle of various sizes here for a good price. These ziplock bags are great for storing fresh produce, snacks and even liquids as they are leak-proof and completely airtight. I’m thinking they are also great for using in the freezer to store things like frozen lemon slices that I often prepare after picking lemons from our tree.
produce bags
If you’re going to the supermarket, don’t forget to bring your own produce bags so you can pick up things like apples, mandarins, peas and other veggies in our own bag rather than using the single-use plastic ones provided. When you get home, simply transfer them straight into the refrigerator! You can find produce bags in most eco-stores, including Seed + Sprout who do a great farmers market set here or Ever Eco who do various mini sets here.
PAPER BAGS
For things like mushrooms and medjool dates, which I often buy in a paper bag, go straight into the fridge as is. I find the paper bag helps keep the moisture away and the produce fresh.
SILICONE STRETCH LIDS
As you know I’m a big fan of these silicone stretch lids and if I’m ever needing to put a lid on a bowl, I’ll reach for this. I love how these lids are structured in design making it easier to handle when using, as well as easier to wash and store. These reusable silicone stretch lids from Kappi Life come in six different sizes which fit on a large range of bowl sizes.
