Fridge Tetris

It’s a week before Thanksgiving.  I point this out because, if your household is anything like mine, the gasket of your refrigerator door will be in serious danger of exploding.  You’ll need a bungee cord to keep the freezer closed.  You’ll have to unscrew the lightbulb to make room for one last storage container.  At the very least, you’ll have to put on a Tchaikovsky playlist while putting away the leftovers, to set the right mood for the game of Fridge Tetris.

Fridge Tetris is a part of the greater discipline known as Pack Fu, or the applied science of spatial relations.  The idea is to fit everything into a confined area with the maximum finesse.  Done at the highest level of expertise, everything is not only stacked in the most streamlined manner, but also arranged in such a way that the things that will need to come out first are the easiest to reach.  Accessibility is a key component.

Everyone in my family has highly refined Pack Fu skills.  Fridge Tetris is a sort of holiday game for us.  Packing up and putting away leftovers is a multi-player affair, almost as inherently fascinating as loading the truck for a camping trip.  Getting everything in there without bending any shelves is cause for cheering and high fives all around.  My husband’s family also places great store in Pack Fu, and it’s hard to say which of us is better at it.

There are five things you can do today to prepare for the Great Thanksgiving Weekend Fridge Tetris Championship.

1. Open your refrigerator door and assess the available empty space.  Don’t cry.
2. Clean out the fridge.  This has the potential to simultaneously free up space, return some food storage containers to circulation, and prevent anything growing in there from evolving to the point that it develops its own writing system.
3. Sort your food storage containers.  This job is suitable for very young children.  Try to match the lids to the containers and find a reasonable way of stacking or nesting them.  If you can do it, go ahead and fill out that application for engineering school, because this is basically the greatest problem of our era.  Both containers and lids are prone to melting and cracking, so chances are there are orphans in your collection.  They may be recyclable in your area; they are in mine.
4. Make a meal plan and shopping list.  I always try to load up on everything but the fresh produce as far in advance as possible.  Any grocery store in the three days before Thanksgiving has all the wrong things in common with roller derby.  At least I can go in and come out with some Brussels sprouts in under three hours.
5. Plan this week’s meals around using up or finishing off as many things as possible to make room.

The top shelf in our fridge is set up for Things That Need to Get Eaten.  That means leftovers or produce that only has a couple of days of vitality left.  I have this shelf set on the highest set of notches so it doesn't have enough room to get too full.  I also keep a crisper drawer empty for things like jars of jam or pickles: things I will hunt down but that don’t expire quickly.  If you can move enough things around to free up an entire empty shelf, you should be in good shape, no matter which shelf it is.
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I keep a roll of masking tape and some markers in the drawer closest to the fridge.  I put a strip of masking tape on anything that goes in a container and write the contents and the date.  This has made life SO MUCH EASIER.  We virtually always eat leftovers before they spoil now.  All our storage containers are from the same set, so when stuff is stacked up in the fridge, it’s like so many Legos.  Which one is the cranberry sauce?  Which one is the gravy?  Literacy is my super power!

The main reason that we need to be so good at Fridge Tetris in my family is that we all cook like we’re getting ready to cross the continent in an oxcart.  It’s routine for us to have 16 people at a casual family dinner.  Sometimes it’s easier (and it’s definitely cheaper) to cook at home than to try to find a restaurant with a big enough table.  Even with this crowd, there still tend to be enough leftovers for at least a second day, sometimes three.  For most of our marriage, I have not only done a Thanksgiving dinner, but also hosted a party the following Saturday, and I might wind up making 20 different dishes in three days.  It takes a broomstick to stuff all the leftovers in the fridge afterward.  A different family might plan more sensibly and make only double the necessary amount of food, instead of triple, but where’s the fun in that?

At this time of year, it’s important to keep our priorities straight.  Or should I say – PIE-orities?  A table creaking under the weight of a bounteous buffet is a great way to keep everyone’s focus on eating rather than directing conversation to the most sensitive topics.  Don’t irritate – masticate!  Then put on “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy” and compete to see who gets the Fridge Tetris trophy this year.

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