If You Still Store Condiments in the Fridge Door, You Should Know There’s a Better Way

Let’s face it: The bottom drawer of the fridge is nothing more than a black hole. We’ve all probably brought home a haul of fresh fruits and veggies, only to find them wilted or worse, moldy, in the same place a few weeks later. The issue? Many of us just don’t eat what we can’t see. Thankfully, one TikTokker has a super-smart solution to prevent food waste: Instead of storing food you want to eat in the drawers, keep them center stage in the door where your condiments go.  

Licensed counselor KC Davis, the genius behind the viral TikTok, says she’s always looking for ways to make her home serve her better. “I spent so much of my life trying to change myself to fit my environment and I just realized this last year that there are no home organization police waiting to bust in and insist I do things the ‘right’ way.’” she says. Instead, she’s reorganizing her home systems to fit how her own, unique brain works best.

Her (amazing) idea to redo her fridge came recently, after she cleaned out a bunch of rotten veggies from her dedicated produce drawers: “I am trying so hard to feed my kids a varied diet that includes veggies but I seem to buy them and then put them in the drawers and forget them.”

According to Davis, that type of forgetfulness — issues with working memory and the need to be visually cued to remember things — can be common among neurodivergent folks, including those with ADHD. Davis wanted to create her own visual reminder, but when she stared down her fridge shelves, she thought she just didn’t have the space to cram more food in. Then, it hit her: She had tons of “front row” space in the door where she had been storing her condiments. 

Voila: Suddenly, the ketchup and mustard had a home in the produce drawers, and the produce was visible in the door. As you can guess, that week, Davis’ family ate so many more vegetables than usual because they were both easy to remember and access. 

Once she posted the hack to TikTok, it blew up — the video has more than a million likes. At the same time, lots of people were concerned about storing their produce in the door, which is the warmest place in the fridge and could cause premature spoiling. Sure: technically, your carrots and spinach might stay fresh longer in the temperature-controlled crisper, what good are they if you won’t see or eat them?

“If you’re considering the brain of the person actually using the fridge, it makes sense to put the produce in the place where it’s going to get eaten. Who cares if the drawers are keeping the carrots fresher longer if they are just going to rot in there anyway?” says Davis. “We should all feel free to design our homes the way that works best for us, and for me, we eat more fresh produce when we see it!”