Confessions of a ‘fridge-scaper’

First came tablescaping — dressing your dinner to Instagrammable standard — then the sinkscape (esoteric hand soaps and a personality splashback for the ultimate bathroom “shelfie”). Now, hold on to your condiments because the latest social media focus is on the aesthetic curation — and mildly neurotic organisation — of your fridge.
That’s right, not even your cheese is safe from prying eyes (and, by the way, it should be kept neatly in a sealed container at the very least). Some TikTokers shelve their soft fruit in decorative ceramic bowls, others lay their veg in woven baskets as though their Bosch is a classy farm shop (I worry about the wicker becoming damp, but don’t let me spoil it for you). With no plastic packaging in sight, everything looks wholesomely field-fresh, even though it came from Tesco Express.
• The automatic kitchen hob that’s as cool as James Bond
Some take it further (too far, arguably) with artistic fridgescapes involving fairy lights, vases of flowers and uniformly pretty produce, but I assume they are Americans with enough capacity elsewhere to have a dedicated “show fridge”. Nevertheless, the middle aisle of my local Lidl knows what people want: this week it is full of £2.99 two-pack “fridge organiser” trays. The woman in front of me picked up three sets in various sizes.
I suspect one’s view of fridgescaping depends on how nice your fridge is. I recently bought a shiny new one, so the algorithm is waterboarding me with clips of other people’s groceries bagged, boxed and displayed like police evidence. Our last fridge was so gross, and I want to keep this one as pristine as possible: consider me fridgefluenced.
Ancient twisty tomato puree tube, be gone from the allocated jam zone! I’m swapping Cellophane for sealed tubs. My husband’s selection of hot sauces now queue up in order of pain magnitude. He scoffed when Ulrikco’s stackable fridge organiser set of seven clear boxes with lids arrived (£21.99, amazon.co.uk), but has since admitted he loves them.
Owing to their airtight freshness, we have stopped chucking sludgy salad bi-weekly, and our chilli peppers can remember Rishi Sunak’s premiership. Better still, the back of the top shelf no longer resembles Narnia reclaiming the contents of the wardrobe. A friend recommends an in-fridge lazy Susan for precisely this problem area, but I’ve had my head turned by a “herb saver”, which looks like a speculum but promises an extra two weeks on your coriander sprigs.
• Luxury kitchen trends, from walk-in pantries to Shaker style units
It’s an upgrade on our current “herb coffin,” a large Tupperware in which they sit between sheets of kitchen towel (two days max), but the real fridgeheads are shelling out for a Dro!d, a rechargeable gadget that vacuum-packs fresh produce at home to prolong its lifespan (£319, bipod.it).
Before you ask what has gone wrong in my personal life that I should find such joy in curating a salad drawer, I am not alone. The rise and rise of household storage hacks on the internet is a cost-of-living-era phenomenon that speaks to people hunkering down and controlling what they can. I’ve done my under-sink recently too. Next up: the linen cupboard.