Here's How Those Ridges At The Bottom Of Your Freezer Can Be Used To Organize

The freezer is a bona fide kitchen superhero, always there to save food for later and free up space in cramped fridges. However, between all the leftovers you can't finish in time and the frozen foods you should have for cooking emergencies, it's easy for the freezer to become messy and chaotic. To clean it up, try making use of those ubiquitous ridges at the bottom of the appliance.

Most freezers have vertical ridges on their bottommost surfaces, which may seem to serve no purpose. In reality, those grooves lift items to ensure that cold air surrounds them on all sides, including underneath. A flat floor wouldn't allow air to circulate properly, causing uneven freezer temps, frost buildup, freezer burn, and other issues. The ridges can also double as an organizer for thin items such as frozen pizzas, skinny bags of fruits, veggies, cold cuts, and trays of raw meat.

Use the grooves like a file organizer or bookshelf, sliding a few items between each ridge to arrange them vertically in a neat row. The ridges stop them from falling over, and pulling ingredients out when you need them becomes effortless – say goodbye to meat packages and bags of frozen peas falling to the floor. It's also much easier to identify each item, compared to stacking them on top of each other.

If you try this ridge trick and fall in love with it, there's a similar organization hack that makes finding freezer staples easier. Grab some magazine holders and use them to arrange your food and you'll free up even more space. To make the most of these hacks, freeze foods flat whenever possible. Instead of pouring soups, stews, and other liquids into bulky containers, spoon them into zip-top bags and carefully press the air out. The thin bags will fit perfectly into magazine organizers or between those handy ridges.

Want to freeze foods that you can't squish flat, such as slices of pie or chunks of cheese? Instead of cramming them into containers of different sizes and shapes, utilize plastic bins to effortlessly store frozen foods. Your leftovers will be so much easier to stack. Just remember to label your containers so you can tell the difference between frozen Bolognese and chili con carne.

Neat storage tricks aren't a cure-all for mess, though. You need to stop overcrowding your freezer by being selective with what you put in there. One of the biggest mistakes you make when freezing leftovers is storing foods that don't thaw well, like potatoes, cabbage, dairy, cooked pasta, and cornstarch-thickened sauces. Try to consume these ingredients before they go bad, rather than resorting to the freezer to prolong their lifespan.