Freezer organization
The freezer is a great tool! If it is used to its potential, you can plan plenty of great, inexpensive meals and snacks ahead of time. From prepping meals to benefiting from sales at the stores, both or these saves you time and money. That and a lot less stress!
The best way to organize your freezer is to simply do five things.
Measure your available space in your freezer. Regardless which type you have, you should be able to utilize its entire capacity. Be careful to document the depth of the shelves (or drawers) and note the head space that you have to work with.
Determine which type of dividers will work well in your space. What takes up the majority of your freezer space? Meats, frozen vegetables, dinner prep, popsicles or a little bit of everything?
Run, don’t walk, to the dollar store or a place where you can pick up a few dividers. Some of the examples of these containers can be drawers, bins, plastic baskets, crates and the like. Having items separated into sections keeps from losing food before it expires and assists with your creation of menu planning. If you can’t see it, you don’t have it. Is that what they say? Well, regardless, you know what I mean.
Remove everything from your freezer. Place them on a counter or an island where you can see everything that you have. Clean out the freezer with some all purpose cleaner and, if need be, pull out the vacuum. You may have crumbs that can be easily vacuumed. Once the freezer is clean, it is time to decide which foods will be grouped together. Consider grouping ingredients for food prep together. Also, place all prepared meals in another container. Label these containers so that the kids looking for popsicles are not digging in the “food for dinner prep”. Keeping them in a small part of the freezer gives them little to no chance to accidentally lose any items.
And this brings me to labels. It may seem silly to use labels, but it works. If you are tired one day and you ask someone else to put the food away, labels will assist in having someone putting it in the correct location. You will also be able to determine at a glance if you are completely out of something. NOTE: place these labels on your containers before they go into the freezer. The labels tend to stick better if they are not placed on cold plastic. So try to place the labels on the containers while they and the food are out of the apparatus.
Included in the Cuisine Binder is an information sheet on Freezer Expirations and additional information. The sheet alone is available by digital download here. A Freezer Inventory Sheet is also available here.
If this has you inspired to organize your freezer, then watch the video below for additional ideas on how to make the most of your freezer and save money in the kitchen.
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