Organizing your freezer can help you keep track of what you have and use it in a timely manner, avoiding waste.
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Having a deep freeze can be a great way to save time and money in the kitchen. Not only can you stock up on items on sale, but you can also practice freezer cooking where you store in the freezer a number of meals for later use.
Freezer meals have saved my bacon on any number of occasions.
Keeping your frozen assets organized can help you use them up before they go bad.
There are two types of freezer: upright and chest. There are pros and cons to both kinds of freezer.
We have had the same chest freezer for the last 12 years. While it is a little bit of a pain to defrost periodically, the Pantry Challenge helps me do that AND make the most of what we have.
It’s also been a little tough to keep organized. Until now.
Last weekend I strategized with hubs as to the best way to put some order in my freezer chaos. We agreed that bins would work. He preferred metal baskets — at twenty bucks a pop. I favored plastic — for well, cheaper.
An hour later I came home from Target with these babies:
The green plastic baskets are from the dollar section at Target, for, well, a dollar. The black stackable bins were $5. So, I spent $25 to get our freezer in shape. I suppose that sounds expensive, but not compared to the $100 I might have spent at Home Depot. And seeing as I spent $200 to buy this baby in 1999/2000, I think we’re good.
Now, since I’m in the middle of the Pantry Challenge, I did not empty and defrost the freezer. I didn’t wipe up the spill I found on the bottom of the freezer. But, I did put things in order.
Each basket contains a different kind of item: beef, pork, chicken, fish, bacon/sausage, baked goods, vegetables, sauces, etc. I just started filling the baskets and it was all categorized in a matter of minutes! I did leave “freezer meals” on the shelf of the freezer since those are fairly varied and stack well. Thankfully, they were labeled!
When I add items to the freezer, I just need to sort them into the appropriate bin or basket. Here’s the Beef Fin.
Hubs is not convinced that the plastic will hold up for very long in the freezer. I admit, I am taking a risk. But, I’m guessing that all 9 of them won’t break at the same time, so I will be able to repurpose the remaining baskets if one does prove that they aren’t freezer friendly.
In the meantime?
I’m good.
quinnee
I have used club pack cereal boxes after removing the flaps. I have 3 large ones and a small one. I have done the same thing, one for beef, chicken, pork and the smaller one for fish. I put baked goods in the basket and bread products on the shelf. I was warned against plastic in case it breaks. This was free and easy to replace should a box lose its integrity.
Angela Rajnus
My husband just stumbled upon this idea. It is also a great idea and bigger kids could help.
http://lunchinabox.net/2007/04/03/magnets-to-track-freezer-inventory/
Robin
We have our chest freezer organized with CANVAS BAGS. I have about six differently colored canvas bags (green, red, blue) and group similar items in each bag. Green bag = frozen vegetables, red bag = ground beef, blue bag = bacon, etc. The bags hold up just fine in the freezer, and don’t take up much space when they’re empty. 🙂
charlie
I did a similar thing with my freezer. I had an abundance of reusable heavy duty grocery shopping bags, like Trader Joes and Shoprite. I separated all of my meat in those the same way that you did with your bins.
Vikki
When you freeze burger feeze it flat and then when its frozen line it up like books. 🙂
Amy @ A Little Nosh
Such a great idea!
Erin
The dollar section of my Target had wire mesh baskets and magazine files for $2.50 each. I picked up a few baskets last night and used them to contain all the miscellaneous packets that slide around our freezer, and I’m hoping to use the magazine file in some way too…maybe sauces frozen flat?
Jessica
That sounds like a great idea!
STL
I was wondering if cardboard boxes would work too–I may just go with those, even though they won’t be as pretty. I might try the cloth shopping bags too since I have them around already. I think if I just had things grouped, I would be satisfied. Although I love the idea of having a big organized upright freezer, it’s not practical or economically reasonable for us right now. I got our chest freezer for about $100 at a scratch and dent place several years ago and it has been great–fits in the small space where we have it and holds what we need. If I had an attached garage (ours is a bit far from the house and we live in an area with some heavy snows and such), I would prefer the upright though–it would be so handy in that situation. Thanks for all the good tips.
Pamela J
An organized freezer is a beautiful thing! Love it.
Sharon
We are in the process of eating-down our frozen foods so to defrost the freezer and repack it. Thanks for the encouragement!
We use cardboard boxes for bags of veggies–tho I really like the shoebox idea!
I have saved old refrigerator drawers as well as well-used roaster pans and re-purposed them to store other items such as meats and chicken.
maxie
I do what Bethany does except my bags are a mesh weave. I used to use baskets similar to yours, but I think the bags work better. Because of space issues, we have two small chest freezers–one for elk and salmon; one for everything else. In the summer, we can consolidate everything into one freezer and defrost the other; I just have to keep track so each is defrosted at least once every other year.
Rachel
We use plastic file crates/milk crates to organize the freezer. One for butter & baking supplies, one for meats, one for fruits & veggies. I’ve had them in there for 3+ years and they haven’t cracked. Right now we also have LOTS of chicken in there from a Zaycon order, so that is bagged in meal-sized portions and all those ziplocs are kept in extra cloth shopping bags we had around the house.
marisa
Anyone have ideas on what to do with the huge boxes of frozen foods you get at Costco etc? I would love to organize with baskets but should I empty the big boxes and save any reheating directions? Thanks for any ideas!
Jessica
@marisa, that’s what I would do. You could either tape the instructions to the bags or just store them with your cookbooks. Those boxes are bulky.
jess
@marisa,
I usually cut the prep instructions (and nutritional info grid), and stick them inside the resealable plastic bag (or, if they don’t come with one, inside a freezer quart or gallon bag) with the food. (I do it even for non-costco sized foods – regular packs of freezer waffles stack SO much better out of the cardboard box.
claire
I am so doing this! Great idea! I hope the plastic works out.
Julie H
Our freezer is pretty large and the top has 4 large metal baskets {all well filled, ahem} and the bottom is where I need to do more organizing. We have a deer head in there {yes, but well wrapped up so I don’t see it}, a HUGE picnic ham…have no idea how I’m going to cook this baby, and misc. wild game from my husband {I let him organize that}. But, I will say, we have used lid-less cardboard boxes in the bottom to hold smaller packages of meat and it has served us well. It’s not very eye-appealing but we’ve had one box in there for at least 2 years and has held up very well….and was free! So just in case the plastic doesn’t hold up, cardboard does. 😉
KimH
@Julie H, Im envious of that picnic ham. I found one this year at Christmas time and I was tickled pink! It was the second one I’ve seen in about 13 years.. Im not sure why, but they dont seem to like them in this part of Ohio. 🙁
KimH
I had a chest freezer for years and I vowed to never own one again.. I bought the largest upright freezer you can buy.. and I LOVE it.
Its not difficult to keep it organized. The top shelf is meat, more meat is on the second shelf, along with already prepared meals Food Savered. The next shelf houses mostly vegetables (lots of frozen boxed veggies gotten with coupons & sales ? ) and then I have a large pull out drawer that has a lot of fruit, cheese, frozen popcicles, ice cream, and other garbage foods. 😉
The bottom pull out basket has lots of bags/blocks of frozen cheese that I got last year free.. I think there are still about 50 or 60 of them. I have some bags of cranberries down there too.
In the door compartments are lots of nuts, flours, almond & corn meal, chocolate bars, & frozen liquid coffee creamers.
Everything is pretty easy to find and I love my freezer.. Only problem is.. I want another one. 😉
Pamela J
@KimH, Just a thought, I know they are frozen, but in food handlers class they taught us to put the “dangerous” or raw foods at the bottom and “safer” foods at the top. That way if your foods do thaw, you don’t have raw meat dripping on breads, for example. I don’t have a stand-alone freezer but my refrigerator combo does have frozen poultry on the bottom and things like frozen veggies and breads above. Hope this makes sense.
KimH
@Pamela J, Thanks, good food for thought, no pun intended. 😉 Makes perfect good sense.
Jessica
@Pamela J, that is a great point! Thanks for sharing that one.
STL
I have been thinking about this topic recently, for the past month or two, and had decided I was going to do just what you did, but I haven’t yet done it. I find that your blog addresses many of the topics I care about or am thinking about again and again. Thanks for the inspiration. Up until now I’ve been putting things in grocery bags, but I didn’t like that system, if you can even call it a system. I think you could find similar bins at the 99 cents store.
Jessica
@STL, my previous system was to toss the stuff into the freezer. So this is an improvement. LOL
Susie E
I use the recycled fabric grocery bags…color code green for veggie, red for beef, tan for chicken…etc for my chest freezer. I’ve also used an old dorm fridge as a freezer for short term freezer items. If you crank the dorm fridge down to the lowest setting it will keep frozen things frozen. (but you need to freeze the items BEFORE storing them in a dorm fridge. Timing is everything for finding an inexpensive one. Look on Craig’s list at the end of the semester. I got an almost new one for $15.
Courtney
That is Awesome! I needed this example. Now off to Target (soon…)
Martha Artyomenko
They might not last, but maybe we can get them cheap!! Looks great!