Organized Freezer

Did your Mom used to send you to the freezer as a kid to find the vegetables or some other item?
Did you used to turn the bags and boxes of frozen stuff over again and again and still could not find the sought after food?

Did you have to go back to your Mom and say "Mom, I can't find it."  Then she would tell you to go look again.  Mom's efforts to have us learn some initiative and problem solving skills such as "look again" if you haven't found something often ended up with her getting cross that we can't find it.  She probably thought I wasn't trying very hard.  LOL!

This scenario always ended in my Mom going to the freezer, irritated with me, and by then I had tumbled the contents of the freezer so much that the very item I couldn't see had been tumbled to the top of the pile.  Mom would grab the bag of strawberries for dessert right off the top of the pile and say "HERE IT IS!"   I would walk away feeling sheepish that I couldn't find it, and Mom found it first try.

I don't think there were as many baskets and sorting products on the market back then for families to organize their freezers with.  I can say this with confidence because anyone I share this story with laughs a knowing laugh and has a similar story of their own.

Today there are numerous products on the market to organize with and many of them are very inexpensive thanks to the good ol' dollar stores.

Here is my freezer with a simple, basic system of baskets that can stack on top of each other.
I had a tough time with the photos and lighting so I apologize that the pictures aren't the best quality.
(I also need to de-frost the freezer.  It's an older model and it resides in our garage.  The heat of summer has caused a build up of frost on the edges.) 

As you can see the baskets make it very easy to move the contents around and quickly locate what you want.  These were dollar store baskets I have owned for a while now.  They were approximately $1.50 each. That makes this freezer solution $9 + tax.  Not too expensive and makes the freezer a pleasant place to visit. 

Our freezer has the meat on the left under the basket with the fun food for lunches when someone is home. 

In the middle is a box of hamburgers, also for a quick lunch.

On the right the bottom 2 baskets hold frozen veggies, and the top basket is some oven fries....again simple quick lunch food for kids home on summer holiday.

To the far right I keep my bread & buns.

Steps to an Organized Freezer: 
1. Measure the inside of your freezer to determine what sized storage containers will work best for you.
2. Purchase storage baskets or containers (try dollar store first) to contain items.
3. Store like items together so you know when you are running low.  i.e. meat items together, vegetables together, berries together, oven fries and convenience foods together.
4. Keep your freezer tidy, defrosted.
5. Be sure to rotate and use up food often to avoid freezer burnt items.

Note: This task takes only about 15 minutes to accomplish once you have the baskets in the house.  You'll wonder why you ever waited so long to make your freezer so easy to use!  ENJOY!

Thanks for reading,

Cassie

p.s. today I am linked up with the following blogs: 

http://tolovehonorandvacuum.com/?cat=25