Organizing Your Kitchen: The Freezer
Posted on March 13, 2009 by LJ
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In the past few weeks several people have asked me for organizational advice. My super-organized mother instilled it in my upbringing, making it almost second nature to me. But one of my friends complained that she hadn’t been trained as I had, and needed to know how I did it, step by step. Over the next few weeks (or possibly longer), I will lay out how I organize various areas in my house to be effective and efficient.
This week I’m tackling the freezer, because this tends to be a neglected area.
Step 1: Know What You Have
You will need an empty space to do this. The floor in your kitchen will work, or counter space, or a table. Pull everything out of the freezer and place it in the empty space. If you are going to be defrosting the freezer at the same time, have an insulated box or a laundry basket and blankets handy.
Step 2: Purge
As you are pulling things out, purge. Get rid of anything that is not labeled or is unrecognizable or has freezer burn (a layer of ice on it). Also get rid of things that you know you won’t use. Also empty any ice cube trays where the cubes have shrunk. They’re not going to taste good.
Step 3: Sort It All Out
Put all your veggies in one pile, meats in another, novelties in a third. Group things together logically.
Step 4: Purge Or Consolidate Again
Look at what you have. Do you have three half-empty bags of frozen peas? Put them together. Notice that you have a gallon ice cream container that has been in there for six months? Get rid of it.
Step 5: Clean
If you need to clean the inside of the freezer, use a cloth dipped in hot water. Make sure you do not let the cloth freeze to the sides. Pull out any shelves that need to be cleaned and wash them in the sink, drying well before putting them back.
Step 6: List
Make a list of everything you have in the freezer. This will help you stay on top of what you have in there and prevent your buying duplicates. I use a form I made myself, which can be downloaded directly, or accessed from my Ebooks page. I put one diagonal mark in a square for an item, then when I use it, I complete the X.
Step 7: Put It Back And Organize
Put things back logically. I keep all my frozen veggies in the built-in basket at the bottom. I use an old ice cube bucket to hold popsicles.
If you are going to defrost, place your food in the insulated box or laundry basket with blankets on top.
Step 8: Clean the Outside and/or Defrost
Clean the outside of your freezer, wiping down with a cloth. Make sure to clean the coils, as this can make a difference in how well your freezer works.
You can also defrost your freezer if you need to, using pans of hot water (see How to Defrost the Freezer–eHow.com). Do not use sharp objects to chip ice off your freezer as this could damage it!
Tackling Multiple Freezers
I have two freezers, one attached to my refrigerator, and a chest freezer outside the kitchen. I tackle these at one time. I keep things more often used in the refrigerator freezer, like veggies, popsicles and breakfast items. The chest freezer is used for longer-term storage.
By following these steps, you should a clean and organized freezer. The best part: once organized, you can keep it that way with very little effort. Keep track of what you use on your inventory sheet and regularly purge. This will keep the appliance in great condition.
Photo by sporkist
Related posts:
- Organizing Your Kitchen: The Refrigerator
- Stock Up The Freezer For Easy Meals
- Simplifying Meals: Freezer Cooking
- How to Organize Your Dining Room
- How To Organize Your Bathroom
Comments (2)
Nice post and well thought out. you can definitely tell that your mother taught you well. i do a similar organizing technique for my fridge. but i’ve never had enough stuff to have to actually make a list for it.
I’m also impressed that you have a chest freezer. it’s always an indicator of someone who is frugal with their money.
i’ve got several questions for you. 1. what is the purpose of the 12 boxes that are to the right of the main box on your pdf? i’m guessing that the large box would be the area to put a description. 2. Have you considered dating your items? you alluded to it, but i’m curious, especially since you have a chest freezer, as to how you keep track of how old your frozen food is. For me, i often repackage food for the freezer. So these items don’t have a date on it. i’ve considered just using a sharpie to date the items.
i plan on storing more food in a freezer to save money, but my primary concern is making sure everything is dated so that i can rotate food every six months to prevent freezer burn.
Thanks for your post and I look forward to reading more of your articles.
Thanks for the comments. I never thought of having a chest freezer as being frugal (because my mom always had one), but you are right. Having the extra freezer space allows me to stock up on on-sale items, as well as doing freezer meals.
On to your questions:
1. The boxes to the right are for indicating what I have. A single diagonal mark means it is in the freezer, an X in the box means it’s been used. So if I had 5 pounds of ground beef, but used three, the boxes would look like //XXX. I always work back from the end, so if I would add another 5 packages of ground beef in, I would know there are two older bags of meat to be used before the ones at the end, and it would look like this: //XXX/////
2. I date my items on the freezer paper or bags I use to hold the items. I use freezer paper mostly because it does best at preventing freezer burn. But I have been known to double-zipper bag items. Every item is identified by what it is and when it went in the freezer.
(Except when my husband decides to store cut bait in the freezer and I discover the unlabeled baggie with tentacles showing through…)
I inventory the freezers every three months. That way I know what needs to be used, and I can plan a two-week menu cycle on what is coming “due”. It’s important to stay on top of what you have, because even with an inventory sheet, things may get out of whack if someone else accesses the freezer.
HTH!