| Author | Content |
podster
Deep East Texas, TX
(Zone 8a)
October 01, 2009
07:31 AM Post #7122790
| I need to defrost, inventory and reorganize the freezer before cold weather sets in. I have stuffed it with garden goodies and meats and the fresh foods end up on top. I need to dig down and see what was leftover that needs using up or tossing.
I need suggestions to help make some sense out of it. Ideally I'd like to reach in and find... vegies, treats or meats in seperate spots. I feel the wire baskets use too much space so I am wondering...
how do you organize your freezer?
does it suit you?
what would you change? |
gavafriend
Los Lunas, NM
October 01, 2009
10:53 AM Post #7123315
| chest freezers use less electricity. But they are so hard to get to things that it would not be worthwhile to have one at my hoouse. I bought a new freezer about a year ago and the thing uses so much less electricity (than my 50 year old freezer) that it has paid for itself in the year I have owned it. |
JuneyBug
Dongducheon CpCasey
South Korea
(Zone 4b)
October 01, 2009
04:10 PM Post #7124161
| I've been visiting lots of family for a good 6 weeks this summer while waiting to get over here to korea. During that time I saw a lot of different ways to organize (or not), and I really liked the one gardener that used different colored cloth grocery bags to organize the chest freezer. She had used milk crates and rubbermaid containers before and said that they were too hard to get in and out. She had green for veggies, yellow and red for fruits, and the other colors were different cuts/kinds of meat.
I wish that i had take a picture... |
podster
Deep East Texas, TX
(Zone 8a)
October 01, 2009
08:02 PM Post #7124815
| Gavafriend ~ I suspect you are correct on the utility consumption. Did you choose a frost free freezer?
Years ago I had an upright and constantly had black & blue toes from frozen items falling out. I have trouble keeping my shoes on and one of the reasons I opted for a chest this time was with bare feet, it felt like all the cold air would fall out on the floor when the door was opened.
JuneyBug ! Thank you!!! That was what I was trying to recall. I had read somewhere on DG about that system being used for a quick pick on the items I needed. I wonder do the bags ever stick together or to the walls of the freezer.
|
JuneyBug
Dongducheon CpCasey
South Korea
(Zone 4b)
October 01, 2009
10:06 PM Post #7125373
| She would put the stuff into a dry bag before putting it back in the freezer - she is in SE Texas too (the humidity kind of instantly soaks anything that comes out of a freezer) (for those of you that don't know what that high of humidity will do..)
She keeps her cloth grocery bags right next to the freezer so it is an easy thing to do. |
podster
Deep East Texas, TX
(Zone 8a)
October 01, 2009
10:09 PM Post #7125387
| I think I need to go "bag shopping" before I clean and defrost the freezer. I am thinking what colors will work for what goodies... green for vegies, red for beef, yellow for chicken maybe, or pork, brown for breads... How about the ice creams... LOL |
gavafriend
Los Lunas, NM
October 02, 2009
01:32 PM Post #7127249
| What a great idea, juneybug. Yes, we chose a frost free freezer, even though it uses a little more electricity. ( I'm not sure I saw any that had to be defrosted.) And I had the ancient one for years that needed to be defrosted. That's a major pain even doing it twice a year living in the southwest. I cannot imagine how often it needs to be done where it's humid. The one thing I insisted on this time was lots of door shelves, to keep stuff like tea, herbs, etc. Also wanted adjustable shelves in the freezer. Not many of them had those features.
I might not have wanted an upright freezer if I had dropped lots of stuff on my toes, but I have a hard time reaching to the bottom of big appliances, because I'm so short. I cannot reach socks in the bottom of the washer, ice cubes at the back of the icemaker, and stuff in the bottom of the freezer at my mom's house.
I saw multicolored bags recently for $1 each. I'm currently storing lots of grain, nuts, etc. in my freezer. Maybe I should think about boxes or bags for the shelves, too. |
podster
Deep East Texas, TX
(Zone 8a)
October 02, 2009
08:15 PM Post #7128549
| Boxes/bags for the shelves should save your toes.. lol
Yes, don't remind me about ancient ones needing defrosting. That is me and mine to a tee. I look at both kinds every time I get near an appliance store and just can't make up my mind. Guess it will wait till this one retires. On the upright I had, the cooling coils were in the shelves so it couldn't have adjustable shelving. It was great for fast freezing though. |
ves522
Jim Falls, WI
(Zone 4a)
October 03, 2009
10:25 AM Post #7130268
| I have 2 chest freezers. When I defrost them. I empty them then take the rubber mall and gently hit the frost. DH told me to do that and I have been doing it for years and the interior is still ship shape. Not like when people use ice picks and hair dryers! LOL
When empty a great time to sort and repack them. I use boxes I can lift out.
But I would like one upright. Would use boxes or bins of some sort to keep things from falling out. |
Chesapeake
Wingate, MD
(Zone 7b)
October 03, 2009
04:30 PM Post #7131170
| I really like the different colored bags. Now where can I buy them? Bought the chest type because we had a perfect little spot for it, I now hate it because of the hunt for everything in the bottom.
Peg |
JuneyBug
Dongducheon CpCasey
South Korea
(Zone 4b)
October 03, 2009
05:50 PM Post #7131317
| I saw them at Dollar Tree for a dollar each |
podster
Deep East Texas, TX
(Zone 8a)
October 03, 2009
08:56 PM Post #7131920
| JuneyBug ~ did the Dollar tree have a variety of colors? If so, I'll look there.
Here I've noticed all the stores are different colors. Our grocery uses red, used to use green. WMart uses bright blue ~ hmmm what would go in blue? All the different stores use different colors and here, you have to purchase them, usually a dollar each. |
JuneyBug
Dongducheon CpCasey
South Korea
(Zone 4b)
October 03, 2009
11:25 PM Post #7132405
| The DT did have a lot of colors, I think that is where SIL got her smaller ones. She made some tall/big ones for the veggies that they grow & freeze using a canvas painters drop cloth for the fabric. They are tall enough to fill their spot in the freezer to the top. It makes it a lot easier, I guess, for those things that you have a hundred or so of like corn & quart baggies of tomatoes, beans and the like.. |
podster
Deep East Texas, TX
(Zone 8a)
October 04, 2009
08:24 AM Post #7133013
| I think I'll stick with the shorter ones. I know a lot can be packed in them and with the handles they can easily be lifted out.
It is a very neat idea ~ thanks much! |
papapablo
Blanket, TX
(Zone 7b)
October 06, 2009
04:04 AM Post #7140171
| Podster, the bag idea is really neat. It would be especially good if you have lots of odd-shaped parcels. I recently organized my new chest-type freezer, and posted pictures of it on my blog. I used plastic basket/bins that stack and I can lift them out to get to the ones below. It is a small freezer and so far this method is working well. Here's the link if you would like to see the photos:
http://pecancorner.blogspot.com/search/label/Organizing
Tina |
podster
Deep East Texas, TX
(Zone 8a)
October 06, 2009
07:30 AM Post #7140337
| Thanks Tina ~ that was well put together. I am using wire baskets right now. I found some that the handles folded down flat on the sides. I've tried plastic and found it got too brittle when frozen. If a frozen item slipped out of my grip and hit the edge of the plastic, it shattered. I am not totally happy with the metal baskets either as they are so heavy when full, I can't remove the loaded basket from the bottom of the freezer when I defrost it. These cloth bags might work better as I can't overload them.
Incidently, I agree with your comment about a freezer needing to be defrosted will hold food better than a frost free. It also lets me see what lives in the bottom of my freezer! LOL Needing to defrost is what got me started on this search and I need to do it quickly before it turns too cold. My freezer is on the back porch which I enclose in fall and move plants in. The freezer helps maintain warmth for the plants. Multi tasking ~ lol |
bonehead
Pacific NW, WA
(Zone 8a)
October 12, 2009
11:32 AM Post #7161140
| I recently did the whole clean-defrost-purge thing with my chest freezer. I ended up using the recycling grocery bags ($1 each) for my reorganization, and also creating a simple inventory which is now on a clipboard hanging next to the freezer. So far, so good. One bag is full of chicken, another beef, crab bait, etc. The long handles on the bags make it easy to lift one out to get what I need, and I put simple labels on the handles to identify which one to grab. This was way cheaper than the wire bins I was leaning toward ($11 a pop) and seems to be working well so far.
My inventory is simply a chart with the following sections: month/year in, Item, how packaged, expiration month, and a column to add hash marks for each removal. Theoretically I will either use up or get rid of foods past their freezer date. We'll see...
Deb |
JuneyBug
Dongducheon CpCasey
South Korea
(Zone 4b)
October 12, 2009
12:13 PM Post #7161309
| I really like that inventory chart |
podster
Deep East Texas, TX
(Zone 8a)
October 12, 2009
12:30 PM Post #7161355
| Great ideas, I particularily like the ID on the handles. Think I now have a plan, all that's left is the incentive! |
valleyrimgirl
Brandon, MB
(Zone 2b)
October 19, 2009
06:36 AM Post #7185242
| We have two of the largest chest freezers available to purchase. One is for meat and one is for the vegetables/fruit. As we have a large garden and also do a lot of wild game hunting the freezers are usually full.
For years now, I have used boxes in my freezers. I label the top of the box with the kind of meat/vegetable/fruit that is in there. I like using the same kind of box thruout the freezer, if possible. At Christmas time, I buy manderin oranges and find that the little boxes they come in work well in the freezer. They are sturdy and have holes in the side for handles and are easy to move around in the freezer. I label the top of the box with the kind of produce/meat that is inside it.
When doing up the fruit or vegetable, I will pack the produce into small serving sized ziploc bags and then place a piece of newspaper between each ziploc bag as it goes into the box. Once frozen, they are easy to get out, as they will not stick to each other this way. I will freeze a layer at a time into the box so that the cold air in the freezer will freeze the produce asap. I have found that this method utilizes the space in the freezer the best. When I am done filling a box, it is full of meat/produce without any air in between the bags. This method works well as I do not have any loose bags in the freezer that will bang into each other and/or break.
I found that the years I froze bags next to each other, without the newspaper, I sometimes would have to drop them onto the floor in order for the packages to break apart.
When defrosting, I never use metal utensils of any kind. They will scrape the sides of the freezer and then the sides will rust. Rather, I use my plastic lifter that I would use in my non stick frying pans.
Wire bins take up too much room and so, I got rid of them.
Cheap plastic bins will break from constant use or being too brittle when frozen in the freezer and do not give the best possible use of the freezer space. One year I used a milk crate sized heavy plastic container but found that even though the crate was great to fill and had handles on it, it was too large a crate for easy moving around in the freezer and definitely too heavy to lift out of the freezer if I wanted to get to the next layer below.
The cardboard boxes are easy to use, stack well and make the best possible use for the freezer space available. |
podster
Deep East Texas, TX
(Zone 8a)
October 19, 2009
09:03 AM Post #7185558
| I agree with your comments on the wire baskets and the plastic bins. Neither has worked well in my experience. In addition, if there is any moisture on your hands, the wire baskets will stick to them.
I've not had problems with packaging freezing together but understand it could be an issue when freezing a large quantity at one time. Wrapping each packaged item in paper is an excellent idea to prevent that.
What size are your cardboard boxes?
The recyclable bags are good idea that I intend to use in my chest freezer but the boxes may be a better solution for an upright freezer too. |
valleyrimgirl
Brandon, MB
(Zone 2b)
October 19, 2009
02:42 PM Post #7186832
| The boxes I use are the 5 or 9 pound mandarin boxes and I have also found that the postal envelopes that we buy for our office come in boxes that are ideal for the freezer. So, now our secretary saves them for me. As you can see from the picture I am enclosing I have both kinds of boxes in use. Some boxes in the freezer have been used for 7 or 8 years already. They just get refilled with different items each year.
I don't wrap each little ziploc bag with newspaper...just a little piece 2" by 4" is lots big enough. You just need enough newspaper to place between the bags, not totally around each. The condensation on the bags occasionally will make them stuck to each other when they freeze next to each other.
Brenda
Click the image for an enlarged view.
|
podster
Deep East Texas, TX
(Zone 8a)
October 19, 2009
08:43 PM Post #7188253
| I understand with the newspaper. I do that with items (raw or cooked) that I want to remove individually after frozen.
Thanks for the good visual on your boxes. |
podster
Deep East Texas, TX
(Zone 8a)
November 16, 2009
01:22 AM Post #7278417
| All right, I picked up cloth bags. I didn't get assorted colors as I am basically cheap and found them for 50 cents a bag.
So, my next question is... what would be the best way to label the handles?
Or should I not worry about it as I can see at a glance what is in the bag?
Does it sound like I am stalling?
You know it!!! I am not looking forward to emptying it and defrosting... oh well. |
JuneyBug
Dongducheon CpCasey
South Korea
(Zone 4b)
November 16, 2009
10:28 PM Post #7281040
| I really like color-coding things. Do you have colored markers? Cloth paint? |
podster
Deep East Texas, TX
(Zone 8a)
November 16, 2009
10:48 PM Post #7281085
| Cloth paint!!! That is a good idea. On the handle only? The inside edges? The whole bag? |
JuneyBug
Dongducheon CpCasey
South Korea
(Zone 4b)
November 17, 2009
02:18 AM Post #7281580
| Whatever part that you will see when you open the freezer. Probably the handles, for sure. Hmm, does it come as a spraypaint? Yep! I googled it: http://www.google.com/search?q=spray cloth paint&rls=com.mic...
Spray paint is my "go-to" for easy use  |
podster
Deep East Texas, TX
(Zone 8a)
November 17, 2009
07:52 AM Post #7281843
| Thank you, thank you, thank you... I can put if off a bit longer while I buy the paint, then paint, then... LOL |
