This Brilliant Chopstick Trick Will Give You More Usable Space in Your Fridge

updated May 1, 2019
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(Image credit: The Kitchn)

Despite the fact that I have a drawer full of food storage containers, there are times when simply none of the available ones will do — like basically any weekend when I’m prepping food for a backyard cookout.

See, I don’t have a ton of larger storage containers, and the ones I do have tend to get spoken for pretty quickly. And the bowls I like to use to serve fruit, salads, and more? Well, they don’t have lids, which means they don’t stack in the fridge.

Which is why this post we found on Reddit is oh-so brilliant.

(Image credit: Joe Lingeman)

Chopsticks to the Rescue!

The post features a super-smart trick for getting unlidded bowls to stack. All you need is a set of chopsticks, which I’m guessing many of you already have hanging in a utensil drawer.

Just break a set apart and rest each chopstick over the lip of the bottom bowl; they’ll create a bridge of sorts that’ll help hold up another bowl that you can just stack on top.

(Image credit: Joe Lingeman)

Why This Idea Is So Smart

Now, Reddit commenters were mixed on whether this was ingenious or not that smart. A few people brought up the plate trick (a similar idea to use a plate to top off the bottom bowl). But to me, that adds bulk and uses up a dish you could otherwise be eating off of, so it’s not really a better solution.

I just love the idea of being able to make, say, pasta salad or chicken salad (so many salads!) ahead of time. Then, you can put them right into the serving bowls, which typically don’t have lids, and stash them in the fridge until you’re ready to eat them. No making it in one bowl, transferring it to a storage container, then transferring it again into a serving bowl.

One More Use for This Trick

This trick made me think of another stacking challenge I’ve had before: getting two big lasagna dishes into my fridge at once. When I make lasagna, I usually make two at a time. This is my go-to New Baby dish, so it’s usually one for the new mom and one for my family (because my kids would be quite sad if someone else got to eat a lasagna and they didn’t!). I typically assemble them ahead of time and then bake them later, and finding enough shelf space for two big rectangular items is challenging. I just tested the chopstick trick and yup, four chopsticks (at angles across the corners), easily stacked one lasagna dish on top of the other!

I knew there was a reason I’ve been saving all these chopsticks from my takeout orders!

How do you create more room in your fridge when you’re in a pinch?