Tips for organizing the freezer?

[applestar]

I keep losing things I've put in the freezer. I need help with organizing the freezer.

[gumbo2176]

I have a 21 cu. ft. upright frost free with 4 sets of shelves and 1 pull out drawer on the bottom. It also has 5 shelves on the door that hold quart bags of food very easily. I tend to put beef and pork on one shelf, shrimp, crabs, fish and various seafood stocks on another, whole chickens and other fowl in the bottom drawer and prepared foods on the other 2 shelves. I try to put the newer stuff to the rear and move the older stuff to the front to use first.

I also have 2 fridges, one in the man cave that is mostly beer, sodas, water and large containers of condiments with the top freezer compartment loaded with smothered okra in quart bags for making my gumbos and soups.

Then there's the side by side upstairs in my kitchen with 5 small shelves that hold small portions of meat, seafood, prepared food, frozen fruit and assorted vegetables. I don't usually do much shopping in the summer months to buy bulk food because of hurricane season. I tend to try to deplete what I have in case we have a storm and face a long term power outage. They are all getting emptied a little at a time right now.

[pepperhead212]

For some things in my freezer I use boxes to keep similar, smaller items in. I either find boxes that fit perfectly on the shelves, so there isn't any wasted space above them, between them, or in front of them, but usually I can only find one the right size, then I make one to fit in the other spot! I have one box with all of Foodsavered extra herbs and spices, another with my foodsavered fresh chiles, and another with a bunch of baking items. When I want something from one of these boxes, I simply slide it out, close the door, and find what I want, and put it back in place.

My freezer has two shallow shelves on which I put most of my containers of soups, curries, and other such dishes, to be heated in the MW. Square containers waste less space than round, when doing this. One side of one shelf I keep free, so that I can slide a tray of whatever in, when I want to freeze some food almost all the way, before putting in the foodsaver bags and vacuum packing it. This keeps liquid from being sucked out.

I have two slide out wire "drawers", one in which most of my meat goes into, and all of that gets foodsavered, and each kind goes into those big 2 gal ziplocs, so that it is easy to locate. And I try to rotate the bags, so that the older are always on the top. The other drawer gets mostly grains and flours - the kind that go rancid, if not frozen - and I foodsaver those, as well! The great thing about that is that meats and most things last almost forever, and aromas do not permeate that plastic. I tested it when I first got one, by packing garlic in some, sealing it, and letting it ferment at room temp. I could not smell it through the plastic!

I also have a few dozen quart and pint mason jars on the door of the freezer, with various ingredients.

[applestar]

Thanks, gumbo! Thanks, pepperhead!
Both excellent tips! A rainy day project for sure -- I'll start looking for suitable containers. I've tried putting small bags in larger bag, but they also get lost in the jumble. I think designated shelves and CONTAINER/BOX are key elements.

I need to learn to use the food saver. DH uses it for packing fish. First "foodsavering" project will be all the onions and blackberries.

[pepperhead212]

Apple, if you want to make your own boxes, or strengthen some that you get that are the right size, glue them with some wood glue (PVA type), and they will not come apart! The adhesives in tapes eventually loosen in the freezer. I fold the lids down and glue them to the sides, and for the homemade boxes I look for double thick cardboard. Same kind of cardboard I get for cardboard mulch!

[pepperhead212]

Another thing that I use the foodsaver for, which I forgot, since I don't use it much, is butter! I stock up on butter, when on sale, and pack in three pound batches. It keeps it forever, as it seals it from exposure to oxygen and aromas - I use most of it in cookies at Christmas! And when packing those grains and things like that I use two approaches - things like wheat germ, and other things I'll use small amounts of in recipes, I snip the corner of a bag, and get what I need, then re-seal it, and put it back in the freezer. Things like brown rice, freekah, and other things I use fast enough and frequent enough to keep a quart jar of it out, I freeze it in quart amounts, so when the jar on the shelf is empty, I simply take out another pack of it, let it come to room temp.(to avoid condensation on the frozen grain), then fill a clean mason jar with it. And the Foodsaver bags are reusable, when used with dry ingredients, with just an inch or so lost!