Once a freezer is messy, it is hard to use its contents. Organizing a freezer is a must. Once your freezer is organized, it will be easier to find the food you have purchased and use it! (An organized freezer prevents injuries, too. Do items fall out of your freezer and nearly break your toes on a regular basis? Has your toddler ever sported a forehead bruise from an item falling from the freezer? Now you know the inspiration for cleaning out my freezer AND organizing it.)
Once I married, my freezer seemed to always be full. I buy meat, cheese, and butter only when it is on sale, and I freeze meals and cookies regularly. I freeze pizza and bread dough, cheeses, butter, and more.
Once I married, my freezer seemed to always be full. I buy meat, cheese, and butter only when it is on sale, and I freeze meals and cookies regularly. I freeze pizza and bread dough, cheeses, butter, and more.
some of these ways to help organize your freezer.
Organize with PLASTIC BINSOrganizing your freezer items into plastic bins allows you to alter the freezer's design instead of just using the shelves provided. Before purchasing bins, be sure to measure width, depth, and height of your freezer space and have a plan on how you will use them. We use both plastic storage bins without lids (made by Sterilite) and locking, freezer-safe plastic storage container (similar to SnapWare). By storing all of our cookies in the plastic storage container, it keeps them safe from freezer burn but is so much neater than zipper freezer bags.
Organize with LABELSJust as an organized pantry or closet benefits from labels, your freezer does, too. My upright deep freezer has nice labels on its bins. However, when I wasn't prepared for using labels when I fully emptied the freezer. Since I wasn't prepared, I just used white paper and a Sharpie.
I use packaging tape to place labels on bins. It will remove much easier than adhesive labels. Before placing labels on your bins, be sure there is no moisture on them.
Two shelves in our side-by-side freezer do not have bins. These two shelves are labeled on the side wall. This ensures that my husband will place frozen food items in the appropriate place instead of the easiest shelf.
The two shelves in my side-by-side that get labels but not bins are the bread and dough shelf, along with the dairy shelf. You can see my homemade biscuit dough along the upper shelf. Super easy!
In my upright freezer, my bins are labeled with Pork/Chicken/Beef/Fruits & Vegetables. I should create another one for bread, but bread tends to share wherever there is room since we sometimes have more than five loaves in the freezer. I keep things like applesauce, homemade strawberry jam, and flour in the freezer door.
In our side-by-side freezer, the bins are labeled with raw meat & potatoes/prepared meat/cookies/veggies, and then the upper shelves are for bread dough and dairy.
See also...
Storing Freezer Foods Effectively
Coat Closet Organization
Small Pantry Organization
Come join us this weekend for the Weekend Wind-Down Link Party. I co-host with seven other bloggers!! All family-friendly posts are welcome!
~ Annette {This Simple Mom}
Eventually on my to do list. I need to regain control of my pantry first.
ReplyDeleteGreat tips!
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