I've mentioned before about how my best-organized place in my home is my chest freezer. Not saying much, I know. But, I feel compelled to blog about it, if for no other reason than to throw my father into fits of laughter and make him shake his head that his first-born-daughter is writing about her chest freezer. How incredibly embarrassing for him.
When we moved into this house, we inherited a very old, upright freezer. When I couldn't put 30 whole fryer chickens in it that I had purchased for $.15 / lb. I decided that the 30-year-old-upright-that-was-probably-using-lots-of-energy just HAD to go. My mom was visiting, which always helps when shopping for large appliances. Not only is my mom a good babysitter, but she is an excellent decision-making-helper. She's great with the details and the analyzing. Whenever my mom visits, we always end up buying a new appliance or furniture. This is no coincidence.
Our My 4-year-old freezer is 14.9 cubic feet. It's a Kenmore, Chest-type, manual defrost freezer. Of course, my dad said to buy a bigger one. And, I have to admit, he was right. Shoulda bought the bigger one. Shoulda, coulda, woulda. Lesson learned. Always listen to my father when it comes to food preservation.
We had two gigantic chest freezers growing up. I mean, HUGE. I don't think Sears sells them this big anymore. You must have to go to a restaurant supply store to buy freezers like those. My dad had a very large garden, and we froze large amounts of vegetables in massive freezer bags that lasted us all winter. Not to mention all the fish, deer, fowl and who knows what else, from hunting.
Normally, when people talk about "sheltering" their children they are speaking about movies, bad language, music, etc. In our house, we were sheltered from packaged-convenience-foods. We NEVER went down the frozen food aisle at the grocery store. I was 21 before I realized that frozen peas were actually sold in tiny, little 16 oz. bags. I had never seen a little bag of frozen peas before the age of 21. I was a Resident Assistant in the dormitories until my very last semester in college, when I lived with three other girls off-campus. I went into our freezer and saw this teeny-tiny bag of PEAS sitting there. Wow! Why is it so little? I had seen canned peas before, but never purchased, FROZEN peas. And, what an extremely small bag!
My mom still remembers the day I called her from the Schmick's house where I was babysitting (I was about 15 years old) marveling over the FLAKES that magically became mashed potatoes! I couldn't believe my eyes. Just add boiling water. Hmmph.
But, back to the topic-at-hand. Organizing my freezer. I use paper grocery bags with handles to keep things grouped and for easy lifting and moving. Here is what the current bags contain:
- Turkey
- Ham
- Legumes
- Frozen Vegetables
- Packages of Tomato paste for pizza in the pink bag.
These change depending on the time of year. When I'm pregnant or post-partum, there are more bags with less in them for easier lifting. The bags are very easy to lift and keep things separated and organized.
Here is the bottom layer, separated by boxes, on the bottom:
From left to right:
- Left: Containers of prepared food/meals
- Middle Section: Venison and Beef
- Far Right: Chicken and ground turkey. I'm low on whole-fryers right now, otherwise, they'd be down there too.
- I also usually keep frozen berries down there. Low supply right now.
Then, the next "layer" goes in ~ the paper bags w/handles:
Any which way, however they fit. Then, the top two hanging baskets:
The left basket:
- Butter
- Pizza toppings (bags of pepperoni, olives, peppers, cheese)
The right basket:
- Containers of shredded chicken for enchiladas
- Bread or buns (occasionally)
- Ricotta Cheese
- Enchilada Sauce
- Juice (sometimes)
I still have lots of room left. Probably room for another 2-4 bags. Then it would actually be full.
And, of course, every organized freezer needs an INVENTORY list taped to the top:
Download freezer_inventory.doc . I add or cross off items when they are put in or taken out. There is a pen attached to a string that hangs right next to the freezer. When the girls or dh put things in the freezer right after a shopping trip, I make sure the items are in plastic bags, so those items don't get mixed up with the existing items, because they aren't inventoried! Wouldn't THAT just be horrible? LOL! Then later when I have a minute I go down and add them to the list and put them in their section. The Freezer Inventory gets updated on the computer about 3 times a year. When there is too much sloppy scribbling on it for my slight OCD tendencies.
Ground Turkey 12345 means I have five packages of ground turkey. If I take two packages out, I cross off the 5 and the 4.
There you have it. Wasn't that exciting, just like the title said it would be? Works for me!
