Thursday, April 7, 2016

F: Freezers

It's confession time! How many of you  have that dreaded bottom drawer or shelf on the freezer that - should you brave its frozen depths - might have anything from decade old frozen peas to near desiccated freezer pops?

*Raises hand*

Our freezer has been a bottomless pit that was starting to approach critical mass, but we DID start taking some steps toward making sense out of the chaos. Here are some of the tricks we've used:


From Food and Nutrition
  • Ditch the bulk bags! If you buy a giant package of meat, vegetables, or ANYTHING, take advantage of a vacuum sealer and repackage it into serving sizes appropriate for your family before sticking it in the freezer. This way you're more likely to use it before it becomes a permanent resident of the ice fields, AND you're less likely to risk losing it to freezer burn.
  • Label EVERYTHING. Forget the mysterious packages that you never bother with opening until the power goes out - from now on nothing goes in the freezer without a label AND a packaged on/eat-by date. Decide on the amount of time you're willing to store something and commit to throwing it out after that. Freezers can extend the life of your food, but it's not a magic time machine that will keep it delicious indefinitely. Eventually, that beef will make some seriously manky burgers.
  • Lay bags flat to freeze. If you've ever tried to untangle a mound of frozen ziplocs or pry them out of the bars on the shelves, this one needs no explanation.
  • Use organizer bins. Just like with your closet and bathroom drawers, sometimes breaking up a huge space into more manageable chunks is the best way to keep from losing your mind when you're digging for that one little bottle of vodka. I mean, frozen peas. Yeah, that's it...
This has actually even saved us money by helping ensure we waste less food in the house, and you know I'm all about pinching a penny. If only it would finally stop the freezer from ejecting that one single ice cube into the floor every time we opened it...

If you'd like some more ideas on freezer organization, check out this awesome slideshow from Good Housekeeping! How are your freezers shaping up these days?




12 comments:

  1. Hi Ashley - I have to say I don't know how people cope - and sometimes I see some horrors ... but they have families etc ... and are in charge of their own lives ...

    I'm just glad I can work my way through my freezer and then start again about every six months .. and it's a defrosting one - thank goodness ... Cheers Hilary

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  2. Great ideas. Thanks for sharing. I'll add one more; If you can't remember when you bought it, toss it! https://mhsusannematthews.wordpress.com

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    Replies
    1. That's another great tip, Susanne! Don't eat the mystery meat is my dad's fave *laughs*

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  3. Great tips, Ashley! I am in agreement with putting things into smaller serving bags as opposed to the big bulky bags and packages.
    Many Blessings,
    Lori

    My A2Zs @ As the Fates Would Have It & Promptly Written
    Follow Me (Ravyne) Twitter|Facebook

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  4. I'm a clean freak, I'm afraid and have labels, which are dated, on all items in my freezer. But I don't have kids at home anymore so that helps to stay organised :)

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  5. I need something that can organize my BuzzBallz, I mean um the boxed veggies, yeah that's it! 😜

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  6. Ah, the freezer. A most neglected arena! I just cleaned my freezer out because I bought a new refrigerator. Amazing how much stuff I threw out. I put my other fridge in the garage so now I have two freezers to deal with. I highly recommend having two refrigerators: it's so much more manageable and you can see what you have instead of packing everything into one little space.
    Good tips in this post. Thanks!

    Michele at Angels Bark

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  7. I hate finding mystery packages at the back of the freezer, but it happens once in a while. We try to look at it as "Surprise, it's dinner."

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  8. My freezer has, surprisingly, never really been an issue. Probably because I never keep much more than ice cream in there, and that never lasts too long.

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  9. J here, stopping by from the #atozchallenge - where I am part of Arlee Bird's A to Z Ambassador Team.
    April is here and I'm excited about it. Best of luck to us both on meeting our goals of posting and hopping to other blogs.
    My blog has a giveaway. There's a bonus a to z challenge each day to encourage people to visit more stops.
    http://jlennidornerblog.what-are-they.com
    Tonight's #azchat was super fun!
    I... have nothing of worth to comment here. I don't have a big freezer, and I don't freeze much. There's some ice cream and ice cubes in there. And five ice packs. Oh yeah, a bag of frozen Spinach from Target.
    Umm, yeah. But keep on keeping on. Rock the challenge. Woot.

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  10. Missed this post for some reason. I keep a list on the side of the freezer detailing everything that's in it. The food itself is all labelled. I still have trouble finding stuff I know is there though.

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  11. Great tips! I like to buy meat when it is on sale and freeze it. I often just throw it in the freezer in the packaging it comes in from the store. I think I will start taking the time to package them better. Thanks for sharing. Cassie from Mommy, RN

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Thanks for stopping by the House!

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