Open Up A World Of Fridge Space To Store Leftovers With A Sheet Pan

We've all been there: You open the fridge, ready to pop in your leftovers, only to find there's no room. Sure, a quick game of Tetris can solve the problem — but that means pulling out most of your groceries just to rearrange everything. What if the answer to this problem hides in your pots and pans?

A sheet pan is the perfect tool to help organize and separate leftover containers without too much effort. Simply, balance the sheet pan on top of stored canned goods or those containers stuffed in the back of the fridge. You can experiment with different-sized baking sheets, stacking multiple items on top, etc. — just make sure whatever it's balanced on is sturdy enough to hold it. You can even use that gross baking sheet you've been avoiding. Since it's not directly in contact with food, but rather sealed containers, why not? Whether it's a bottle of your favorite steak sauce, a batch of overnight oats, or a casserole dish covered in foil, using a sheet pan to create extra space in your fridge is a simple, yet effective way to maximize storage in your fridge.

While this hack is effective, it does have some downsides. Though any size baking sheet can work, smaller ones are often more practical (depending on the size of your fridge). If you don't have a quarter or eighth sheet pan, balancing a larger one can be tricky. The benefit of more storage quickly dissipates if it causes other items to topple. A larger sheet pan can also make it more difficult to grab anything underneath.

That said, sheet pans are useful in other ways. They can double as a craft station, as a place to lay out your project before gluing it down, or as a surface for organizing loose items instead of letting them disappear into the junk drawer. They're also handy for decluttering and organizing different parts of your home. For example, bring a small sheet pan into your bathroom and use it as an organizer for your cosmetics — goodbye, overpriced vanity trays. All this to say, a smaller sheet pan works great as a makeshift shelf in the fridge, creating space for leftovers while making your fridge look tidier and more aesthetically pleasing to you or whoever else opens it.