An often forgotten space in the kitchen is the freezer. So out of sight out of mind that we almost forgot to talk about it!
The promise of “soon I will get to organizing the freezer” is a common promise we all make to ourselves. We say it out loud or in our head, but the fact of the matter is we can’t close our freezer door, find the item we are looking for or recognize the random items in our freezer.
We put stuff in the freezer with good intention to use it later. After time, without a good system you’ll find pile after pile of items in your freezer which can turn it into a nightmare for our cooking time and our budget. So roll up your sleeves and get on with it.
Empty everything out of your freezer. To prevent defrosting, you can do small piles at time and rotate the piles. Get rid of anything that is old or unidentified. If you don’t know what you just dragged out of your freezer today, you won’t remember it another day, so just toss it.
Consolidate items as well using repackaging in your advantage. (i.e. If you have two boxes of popsicles with only 2 left in each box, get rid of the boxes and store all 4 in one plastic baggie.) If you are using plastic baggies to repackage and store items, make sure you make them as flat and as air-tight as possible. When storing them this way, it’s much easier to stack them, plus they won’t take up as much space. Larger packages can be split up into meal-sized portions, which are easier to store, grab, defrost and use.
Use freezer baskets and shelves to maximize your space. Dividing, adding levels and containing are your goal to get the best use of every little space.
Restock your freezer keeping your items grouped together. For example, store poultry, meat, and fish in separate packaging in one section of your freezer. Likewise, keep frozen vegetables, leftovers, bread, and desserts in their own space. No more wild goose chase in your freezer.
Here are 3 useful quick tips:
- Store beer mugs, martini glasses, or your daily use items such as juices in the freezer’s door for fast and easy access.
- Label every item you repackage into freezer bags or Tupperware. Label them with the specific name of the contents and the date you froze them.
- Rotate. Always bring the older stuff to the front or top shelf and store newer stuff in the back. This is a zero-waste plan!
If your freezer doesn’t have an ice maker, use trays that stack on top of each other. Keep an extra plastic baggie full of ice in your freezer so you always have extra ICE! You don’t always have to go with traditional trays; check out this multi-purpose ice cube tray that does it all in one convenient package. Pretty cool!
With an organized freezer, the next time you’re making that smoothie, it will go so fast and smooth that you might offer to make them for your friends as well. We’ll take one!
