[erp0620]

Welcome to your frugal freezer! After you've submitted a recipe in the Cook's Corner, maybe you'd like to let everyone know how well it freezes and how you do it! Maybe you have a home remedy that lasts forever in the freezer...if so let us know that too! How do you keep your freezer stocked but organized? This is a forum that is for more than just food. I'm sure there are lots of ways to cool your dollars down but heat your savings up. Let us know how you do it making the best use of your freezer!

[TAMMY77541]

I am so excited to come across this thread! My husband starts work in the produce department of our local grocery store tomorrow. Benefits include CHEAP CHEAP produce. I'm so excited!
Now if we can just replace the freezer we lost in Ike.

[ctsunshine]

I like to make a double batch of soups and freeze half in a freezer bag for a future meal. I cool it first, then lie it flat to freeze; once frozen, they can be lined upright. Defrosts more quickly this way than in a container.

[blueflowers]

When I make lasagna or any casserole type meal that would normally bake in 9x13 pan I now make in a two 8x8 pans and freeze half for a later meal. Now that the children are grown and gone it doesn't make sense to prepare a family size recipe for just two people.

[RoxieE]

I always make to 2 meatloafs at a time, cook one and freeze the other.

[tratra]

Originally Posted by erp0620

How do you keep your freezer stocked but organized?

I have an upright freezer with 3 shelves and 2 drawers, plus the door's slots. It's pretty deep and it was getting hard to see the stuff in the back, which caused food to get ruined before it was used.

I organized it by turning boxes into drawers.
--Grab some boxes from the refrigerated or freezer section at the grocery store while they are stocking. Make sure they're not too tall and are as long as your shelves are deep.
--Tape the bottoms closed
--Turn the flaps in and put all of one kind of food in each, upright like books.
--Tape a piece of paper on each to say what they are.
--Slide them into the shelves. (I got 3 across on 2 different shelves, so 6 total)
-- Slide the boxes in and out like drawers.

It has worked great for organizing items that aren't in boxes-- cheese, veggies, trays or bags of meat, frozen cookies or pillsbury breads and rolls etc.



I have the regular freezer on top of the refrigerator too, and we use it to keep frozen foods that have been opened. That way we can keep the big freezer closed and we have a closer reminder of things that need to be used before another of the same thing is taken from the big freezer.

[kittycatinkc]

We have a deep chester freezer and stuff is always getting lost in the bottom. I often find myself donning my winter gloves and rearranging. I'm going to try the box idea and see how well it works in a chest freezer. Sounds like it might be worth a try.

[daisybelle]

I always put boxes of cereal and crackers in my freezer. They last so much longer by doing this!!

[KayceK]

when I get sugar, flour ,cornmeal, I put it in the freezer,Let it set out a few hours after you take it out before opening , otherwise it may "clump" I also buy baking chips after the holidays at reduced prices, double bag them and freeze till I need them.( I don't have a seal-a-meal)

The box idea works great in chest type,I found baskets that fit in mine.

[mnm'z]

I have re-usable cloth bags in my chest freezer. A green one for chicken, a red one for beef and a yellow one for pork. Miscellaneous items go in the basket or an off-color bag.

Color coding makes it extremely simple to find what you're looking for.

[MykhalJaems]

Wow, lots of good ideas on here!

We have a chest freezer and one over the fridge. The chest freezer is in the garage and it's sort of out of sight out of mind. If I get big supply of something, I'll put a few in the fridge freezer and the rest in the chest. When we get low I'll move a few over.

When ever I can, I buy shredded cheese when it's cheap and freeze it. Also only buy peppers when they are super cheap, chop and freeze them too.

[mnm'z]

I also always buy family packs of meats and separate into ziplocks. My chicken breast has an extra step though... frequently the chicken breast in the family packs are ¾# each or better, and a light bulb moment went off. I'm always talking about portion sizes so when I get home from the store, I started cleaning the chicken and then slicing it in half and freezing it (you get 6-8 oz portions). DH was balking about it so for a bit I still cooked 'a whole' chicken breast per person (6 half pieces ). Guess what? the 3 times I did that, we had 3 chicken breast halves left. So now, my family pack of chicken goes twice as far and none of us are hungry.

I also buy pork loins for $1.5? or $1.6? per # and have the meat counter slice it into 8 oz portions (5.5# gets me 11 chops) and I freeze singly. I always have the good quality chops for a super cheap price.

The last step I do before freezing chicken or pork is to add marinade to it. I'll open a bottle of Kraft marinade or make up a packet of Grill Mates and add it right into the ziplock, label the bag and then freeze it. I have a dinner menu item to add to my calendar and the meat marinates as it thaws.

[StLouisClipper]

I have different colored dish washing tubs (the ones you put in your sink?) in my freezer, one on each shelf. All the packages of meat are separated into these bins: chicken, beef, pork. It's easy to find what I'm looking for as they are separated by protein. Larger packages that maybe won't fit into the bin go on the same shelf as the bin: beef with beef, chicken with chicken, etc. This also helps me keep a handle on how much stock I have of any one type of meat. Other prepackaged meats like hot dogs, smoked sausage, and fish are organized on the door shelves. Works great for me, may work for you as well!

[DepoePat]

Save the tops off celery and throw those along with any unused vegetables into one big container to accumulate for use in soup or stir fry (even things like cole slaw cabbage mix that has discolored too much to use for salads or old, tough veggies out of the garden work well for this container). Each vegetable you accumulate adds to the richness of the final product.

[foodie]

I have 4 freezers (2 upright 25+ cu. ft./2 chest freezers 20+ cu. ft.) and separate my items by categories--see below--

1 upright freezer just for frozen produce, frozen fruit, quick meal/homemade entrees, quick meal ideas, etc. Side shelves for misc. small frozen portions of veggies, homemade freezer pickes/jams/jellies.

2nd upright freezer for meat/fish/seafood alphabetized by--1st shelf is all beef (i.e. roasts, steaks, ground meat, etc.), 2nd shelf poultry (i.e. chicken, turkey, livers, and misc. poultry parts etc.), 3rd shelf for pork (i.e. bacon, sausage, pork chops, pork loin/roasts, lard, misc. pork items, etc.), and 4th shelf for fish and seafood (i.e. fish portioned, salmon, shrimp, scallops, and other seafood/fish items.) Side shelves are misc. frozen meats/seafood soups, etc.

3rd chest freezer is for homemade and store bought baked goods, cakes, pies, and other misc. baked goods.

4th chest is for homemade misc. dairy (ice cream, cheese, yogurt, etc.), misc. Asian items (i.e. frozen entrees, seaweed for salad, etc.), and other misc. items.

I also have an inventory list of all my freezer items, pantry items, stockpiled, etc.

Hope this helps--

Foodie (Katie)