Alton Brown's Genius Hack To Organize Your Fridge

The only thing that gets messier faster than your hallway closet is your refrigerator. You may have the best of intentions when you get home from the grocery store and meticulously put everything in its rightful place — the cans of Diet Coke neatly lined up in the door, the vegetables properly sealed and stored in the crisper, and the yogurts stacked in rows on the shelf. But within a few days, your fridge is in a state of disarray. Everything has been haphazardly shoved inside with no attention to its proper placement and trying to find what you're looking for is a nightmare.

Fortunately, if you've ever opened Pinterest, you know there are plenty of refrigerator organization hacks out there. One of those helpful hints comes from Alton Brown. The Food Network star has a secret for keeping one particular section of your fridge organized and mess-free all week long. Here's what he suggests.

All those half-empty ketchup, mustard, and Ranch dressing bottles you have sitting in your refrigerator door tend to get knocked over easily when you're opening and closing the fridge, which can lead to messes and spills. Not to mention a pile-up of bottles hardly looks organized or clean. Fortunately, Alton has a simple solution, which he explained in a YouTube video. 

Simply cut an egg carton in half and place the bottom in your refrigerator door shelf. You can then stand the condiment bottles upside down in the empty egg cups. The carton will hold the bottles securely in place and prevent you from having to shake that ketchup bottle for what feels like the hours just to squeeze a little out.

Kitchn writer Lisa Freedman tried it for herself and said her life — and more specifically, her fridge — has never been the same. "With the egg carton in place, everything really does stay put when I open the door," she raved. "Thanks, Alton!"