Re: Organizing the freezer

Nightowlz · ‎03-11-2010

We have a 21 cu ft upright manual defrost freezer in the garage. I don't want a frost free freezer. I don't want the food to defrost & refreeze over & over.

I had to measure the inside of the freezer so I could see what size containers to use to organize.

Since we just cleaned it out it will be easy to put in the tubs/containers I bought. It's was hard finding something the right size that's freezer safe. I found the plastic dishpans worked for me. I also used some ice cube bins wider & narrower ones.

I vacuum seal all the meat. I organize in tubs by beef, pork, poultry etc.

We prep all the chicken, pork & beef so it's ready to use once we defrost it.

Eileen in Virginia · ‎08-25-2010

I don't have a freezer, but one of my friends does. A few years ago, someone accidentally threw the switch that controlled her freezer and everything defrosted. Unfortunately, she had chicken above ice cream, butter and other foods that didn't require cooking. The raw chicken juice leaked all over those foods rendering them inedible. She wound up throwing almost everything away. You've received a lot of great suggestions from others, but also consider what would happen to your foods if the power was cut off, either by accident or a power outage, and they defrosted.

Lilysmom1 · ‎11-08-2020

I had a 20 cubic ft upright freezer which I replaced with a 13' Frigidaire. Love it. The other was too big. Now I can find things with minimal effort.

mousiegirl · ‎03-09-2010

@Mom2Dogs I have an upright and it is still a mess, a nightmare to get anything out. I wish now that I had gotten a frig with a lower freezer in addition to the upright.

CamilleP · ‎03-09-2010

@Mom2Dogs I have an upright that is so deep I can't reach the back of it without pulling a bunch of stuff out first. Every once in a while DH and I have to go through and re-organize the whole shebang, so an upright is no guarantee of automatic organization. If this thing dies before we do, we plan to buy a couple of the tiny upright freezers that we've seen at Costco, keep meats in one and everything else in the other, etc. I'm crossing my fingers this old one dies soon, LOL.

For a chest freezer, I would suggest that you save clean cardboard boxes and cut dividers to fit in the bottom section of your freezer, so you have subdivided sections for each different type of meat, for instance, or however you want to classify things. That way you can cut the cardboard *exactly* the right height, width, etc. to fit in your particular freezer, keep your divisions the full depth of your space, slide right or left as each section needs to expand or contract depending on how much of any one category you have, and you can write on the cardboard to label things, too. Also, save a styrofoam box or two, so you can cut pieces of it to act as spacers or place-holders to fill otherwise empty space, so the freezer doesn't need to work so hard to keep the cold in. You can also fill freezer bags with water to freeze and act as filler, but be careful the bag doesn't spring a leak. If you take it out to put more food in and plan to let the water thaw, put it in a sink so a leak is channeled down the drain, not on your counter or floor.

Plastic bins are all very well and good, but they are not flexible, and they don't let air flow through as well as cardboard does. Plus, you have to spend money to buy them, and when they break, more money to replace them. Cardboard is usually readily replaced at no cost. Good luck in finding a perfect solution for your particular need.

Mom2Dogs · ‎03-09-2010

@CamilleP Thank you for the reply....our garage is a standard 2 car but we have the back side of the fireplace that sticks out into the garage taking up valuable floor space. It never occured to me to purchase two small units...that would have worked IF they could be stacked.

Who knew that keeping a freezer organized was such a big deal!!!

CamilleP · ‎03-09-2010

@Mom2Dogs I know the small freezers I saw were each about 5 feet tall, so they couldn't be stacked, but two might still fit side by side in the same floor space as the chest, you'd have to measure your space and what sorts of freezers you could see locally to see what would fit. And you are so right, who knew keeping freezers organized would be such a pain!

I didn't grow up using them much, as Mom canned several kinds of fruit at home to store in glass jars, and we bought canned vegetables. The first time I remember using one was as a teenager, a chest freezer we stored only meat in, as my folks would buy half a beef, have it cut up, and store the packages of meat in the freezer. That old butcher's wrap did NOT prevent freezer burn! I think that's when I first remember seeing Mom use pieces of cardboard as dividers.