10 Genius Solutions for Organizing Food Storage Containers

Food storage containers with lids are a necessary component of our kitchens, but the clutter they cause can be a nuisance. Without a proper storage plan, you can have missing lids and mismatched containers toppling from your cabinets. We rounded up our favorite kitchen storage hacks to solve your food storage container woes. Check out the easy and inexpensive solutions below.

Rescue a Cabinet Corner Shelf

It can be challenging to store bowls or food storage containers with lids in the same place. This can lead to a drawer full of mixed-up lids nearly impossible to keep straight. To help, sort your lids by size or container type and arrange them on a three-tier shelf as you see fit. Print labels to make sure nobody in the house gets them mixed up. Label by size, type, color—whatever works best for your household.

Manage Water Bottles

Find a place for a magazine holder in your cabinet and flip it on its side. From there, it's easy to stack water bottles on top of each other and to keep them from toppling or taking up unnecessary space. Keep your water bottles within reach and in plain sight, plus have fun decorating your magazine holder or purchase one with a pattern you love. Any time you can stack your food storage containers is a good opportunity to save some shelf space.

Install an Undershelf Space-Saver

Large food storage containers with lids take up a lot of room, so gain additional storage space by sliding an undershelf basket into your cabinet. Fill it with sorted food storage container lids, then place the containers underneath their corresponding lids. It's a quick, easy, and affordable way to make the most of a limited amount of space.

Add Sliding Storage Trays

Are you tired of blindly fumbling around in a dark cabinet for food storage containers and lids? Create your own makeshift pullout cabinets by placing lightweight acrylic trays on your cabinet shelves. Cover the bottom of your cabinet shelf with an adhesive liner to make sliding your trays a little easier. Organize your food storage containers with lids as you see fit. Say goodbye to digging through your cabinets when the container you need goes missing.

Flip Book Bins

Keep cabinets from getting chaotic and avoid mismatched items with this easy kitchen drawer organizer hack. In a lower drawer or pullout shelf, flip book bins on their sides and use them to turn your single storage area into several separate sections. Next, stack corresponding food storage containers and lids, and store them together in ready-made compartments.

Hang a Mounted Lid Collector

A wall-mount file holder can be convenient outside the office when you use it for small kitchen organization. Hang one inside a cabinet door and fill it with miscellaneous food storage container lids that are typically hard to find. This will guarantee a lid is always within reach and that your small lids never disappear into the depths of an unorganized cabinet.

Install Tension Rods

Use two tension rods to create compartments in a small drawer for easy kitchen cupboard organizers. Place the tension rods near the top of the drawer, two or three inches apart, to create three compartments: one large, one medium, and one small. Keep your food storage containers in the large compartment, water bottles lined up in the medium compartment, and lids in the small compartment in an upright position to maximize storage.

Try Box Shelf Storage

Invest in a few decorative box shelves to make instant drawer compartments and create a space for your lids without toppling. Get various sizes, drop them directly into a drawer, and keep containers and lids easily grouped in size-appropriate compartments. This method will keep your food containers sorted and prevent stacks of lids from sliding around the drawer.

Incorporate Clear Containers

Declutter your cabinets with a few clear containers—or frosted, if you want to keep things out of sight. Sort by size and type, and keep lids near their corresponding food storage containers. Magazine holders come in handy again here, this time lying flat and storing lids while acting as a shelf for their matching food storage containers. Kitchen organization hacks like this are easily customizable and inexpensive.

Use a Desktop Mail Sorter

Place a desktop mail sorter in a pullout drawer to maximize space with its small, slender compartments. Use the sorter for food storage container lids, and stack the containers by size toward the front of the cabinet. When you're planning how to organize your kitchen, don't be afraid to take cues from other rooms in your home.