The Jar Method of Organizing

A girlfriend and I were preparing lunch at my house a few months ago when she opened my fridge and gasped, "look at your fridge?!  It's so beautiful and organized?!"  Her reaction caught me off guard but at the same time I could see why she was impressed.  Having our fridge arranged as we do not only looks beautiful but clearly saves: time, money, energy, and space.  Everything for the most part is organized by category, stored in either it's original packaging or in glass containers.  While my girlfriend was taken with the system as a whole what really enamored her was the side of our fridge door.  There, we have our go-to items stored in clear, glass mason jars.  The produce is already washed and diced, ready to grab and go.  This method - the jar method - has been a life changer. 

How does the jar method work? At the beginning of each week, I wash, pat dry and cut up the majority of our produce before placing it into the jars.  Depending on the item, I may have to replenish the jar mid-week however for the most part all of the items get used up by the end of the week.  Whatever contents are left over I either transfer to a fresh jar or compost. 

• Wash and pat dry your produce before chopping/dicing.

• Store one type of produce per jar. Make sure the lid is secured tightly.

• Organize jars in relation to how you will use them. For example, we store our onions, garlic and celery next to one other because that is often the starting place for the base of our dishes.

• Mason Jars (Regular Mouth 16 oz., Wide Mouth 16 oz. and/or Regular Mouth 32 oz.)

• Cutting Board

• Knife

• Clean Towel

This will look different for everyone due to their particular taste in produce, as well as the size and structure of their fridge however this is what we tend to store in our jars:

• Berries

• Lemon

• Parmesan Cheese

• Baking Soda

• Onions

• Garlic

• Carrots

• Bell Peppers

• Cucumber

There are numerous benefits to storing food items this way such as: our food staying fresher for longer; being able to clearly see what we have and how much we have of it; and being able to easily locate items (they're not falling on-top of one another or getting lost in a corner of the fridge).  When whipping up a dish during the week, all I have to do is to open the fridge, grab the containers I need, sprinkle some pieces out, and I'm good-to-go!

Since I work from home and do the majority of our cooking, I have a fairly good pulse on what type of food we have and how long we’ve had it. If you work outside of the home or just don’t want to chance anything going to waste, one last TIP is to take a piece of tape and mark on it the date of when you chopped the produce.

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• WHERE TO DONATE AFTER DECLUTTERING

• 22 SINGLE-USE ITEMS THAT YOU CAN DITCH

• SUSTAINABLE & STYLISH STORAGE SOLUTIONS

• OUR DECLUTTERING PROCESS: HERE’S WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT

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• HOW DO YOU WANT YOUR HOME TO FEEL?

*This article was updated 1/22

PHOTOGRAPHY: Luke & Ashley Photography