Hoarder Heaven

 

We've seen people doing the absolute most in terms of organising their kitchens on TikTok. From buying food that comes in plastic packaging and putting it in even more plastic, to now what is known as "fridgescaping".  I had no clue what this was and honestly thought it was very ridiculous. Maybe it's because we don't have pockets as deep as the people who are now aestheticising their fridges? You're probably sitting there thinking well, what gives? Why would you waste time doing something like this? Jokes aside, fridgescaping is a practice in which you put plenty of random decor inside of your fridge to make the food inside look more appealing, more aesthetically pleasing so you actually eat all of the fruit you bought last week. (talking to those like me with rotting strawberries at the back of the fridge...promise I'll get to them soon!).

It's weirdly enough, putting food on a pedestal with some even taking it as far as adding flowers, picture frames and fairy lights. Fridges are not necessarily supposed to be aesthetically pleasing. Clean and organised, of course! However, I'm not sold on consuming more stuff just to put In my fridge, not food but random junk. You're not even seeing the inside of your fridge most of the time, that's why to me fridgescaping is dumb and ridiculous.

Fridgescapers are now a genre of influencer on TikTok, many creators are filling up this niche with some even creating weekly themes for their fridges. One creator did a Bridgerton theme, calling it "fridgerton". What timeline are we living in? Did the big sea combined with being in lockdown just push us into a completely different parallel universe? I don't understand putting junk in your fridge and calling it fridgescaping. Dementia patients are treated for this kind of behaviour, yet it's glorified on the internet. I think if you have the time to decant your milk into a pretty pink jug you are rich and out of touch and an overconsumer. Framing photos too? The amount of decor is honestly giving off hoarder vibes. It doesn't make sense, it is absolutely not practical whatsoever to have flowers, picture frames and fairy lights in front of your eggs. 
Where does all of this decor go once it's all said and done? Constant themes every week must rack up somewhere in the house and in price too. It cannot be cheap at all to do this. These kinds of aesthetics encourage the masses to go out and play pretend and repeat and do exactly the same thing these influencers are doing, which doesn't make sense to me. I feel like that Is one of the places in your house that you do not need to decorate, you don't need every single part of your life to be aesthetic.

Overconsumption has been such a wide topic as of late, and for good reason. It's one thing to have multiple aesthetics in terms of your clothing style, but you're going to wear those clothes. But you can't exactly eat that framed picture of a horse that is sitting in front of your juice carton. Those flowers should be out where you can see them and admire them not rotting in the fridge. Let's be honest, you're not going to be fridgescaping all year round. There is a generational crash out coming...




So why do fridgescapers do this, what's the motive? A TikToker said "1. It helps me keep better track of my produce". I have to ask how it helps, there's so much junk that you have to shuffle around when you want to get to the lettuce. Moving the picture frame when you want milk, nobody is actually doing that. It's funny to me when influencers promote this lifestyle because they can only do this because they have the time and the money, the average person can't do it. "2. it encourages me to try new foods". This intrigues me, as the person admits that they buy aesthetically pleasing foods for the sake of it matching the aesthetic of the fridge. At this point, you're only buying food to match what's inside of the fridge. But I guess if it's encouraging them to try new foods then I'll shut up. "3. I cook more than ever". You have to, you have to put all that food to good use. "4. I have less food waste". I refuse to believe that putting tonnes of TK Maxx decor inside of your fridge creates less food waste, if you had a lot of food wastage prior to fridgescaping then that's not the fridge's problem, that's a you problem.

It doesn't stop there, the general practicalness of fridgescaping is quite low. If someone has money pumping through their veins and all the time in the world then they can go ahead and do it. There is often more decor in their fridge than actual food, it's no longer a fridge but a cold display case, that after the tiktok is filmed and finished, is going to be taken out. It kind of paints a picture as to why I think some of these people are partaking in this trend because unfortunately, inflation is so rampant. The cost of living is abysmal at the moment, to say the least. People are having to go home with not as many groceries as they used to be getting. So when it's time to put these away, there's not much to put away. It is sad, its scary to see that your fridge or pantry is not stocked with enough food. So, what if the people who are partaking in this trend are filling up their fridges with useless junk because it makes them feel better about having a fuller fridge as opposed to the fridge being empty with just milk and cheese or some other mere basics. Fridgescaping takes them away from the reality that lies ahead of us, it's not the entire reason fridgescaping exists and is a thing on TikTok because a lot if not most of the fridgescapers you see on tiktok are rich, very very rich. This level of consumerism is dangerous in my opinion, especially because we know companies are moving incredibly quickly nowadays when it comes to pumping out 'what's new', 'what's trending' and things 'as seen on tiktok'. Such as when the 'very cutesy, very demure and mindful' trend came about a few weeks ago, brands were quick to start sending out emails using this phrase with a '5% off' sale, to try to entice people to buy from them because they know what is trending at the moment. 
For example, the conversation around Shein mass producing every single microtrend on TikTok is an old discussion as we are very much aware of that today. But any and every trend you see on TikTok, you will see that product the very next day. There will come a time when we start seeing fridgescaping collections and decor, specifically made for fridges, that to be honest don't need to be produced. As human beings we are already producing so much waste, especially at the moment we are encouraged to consume products constantly. If none of these decorations look aesthetic, pretty or trending then people would be called hoarders and told to get help for it. Yet just because there are cute little mushrooms and pretty bowls and fairy lights, it's okay. 

One of the most popular fridgescapers on Tiktok was just featured on Inside Edition. "the most popular fridgescaper" shouldn't even be a sentence. It's getting quite dystopian now, first people were buying "trashcan covers" to aestheticise their trash because they didn't want an 'ugly wheely bin'. To now people trying to aestheticise what is inside of their fridge. 

The main issue I have with this trend is that it is going to die out very quickly and people will move on. All of this stuff people are buying is going to very quickly end back up at flooded thrift stores and will end up at the tip. And nobody who does these things seems to be aware or care about that, and there is some sort of nihilism in it, where people are like 'We're not going to be alive forever, so oh well'. But the more this happens, the faster our planet is going to be destroyed. Unfortunately, we are going to be seeing the consequences of it even quicker, so while we won't live forever, we will probably face those consequences in our lifetime. A lot of these people think it's just going to affect future generations and not us, but they shouldn't have to suffer that just because we don't know them. Those future generations are our children and so on, so we should be doing everything we can to make sure they don't suffer.

In conclusion, whilst yes, the fridgescaping fridges are pretty it is just not real life. It is not practical, long-lasting or sustainable. It is simply just a microtrend that people are running through. Look at Stanley Cups, another overconsumption trend, nobody is really talking or raving about them anymore because they were also just another trend. Nobody is lining up for hours outside of a store in the freezing cold and fighting over cups anymore because nobody cares anymore. 

So, put your food in the fridge and just eat!