How-to Organize your Deep Freezer so….it STAYS Organized!
Ok freezers get messy, it happens, just like our closets do. Right! Well, this really is the perfect time of year for Organizing your (deep) freezer, especially with all the food storage people are doing now.
If your freezer has turned into an unorganized ……”plop it in and go” storage place, this is for you! I can help you fix that unorganized frozen tundra!😊 Whether your freezer is full or half full, these tips will not only help you get control of your freezer space but this will help you KEEP it that way! That means you’ll be able to find that little frozen bag of chopped onions, therefore it helps you use your frozen food up and prevents wasting anything!
I have 5 Steps that will help you organize your freezer & keep it organized! These steps are easy to put into action, take just a little time initially, but you can do this and you’ll love having your freezer STAY organized!
I’ve had different freezers over the course of 37 years and I’m going to share with you, whatever shape or size deep freeze you have, these steps will help get your freezer organized and help keep it organized going forward!
Once the system is in place it becomes easy to follow, for you as well as for ALL members in your family. Let’s face it, our kids and husbands are putting things in and taking things out every single week, also! So, that’s what makes this simple system work so well, and the reason each step is important is because now everyone knows WHERE to find things and WHERE to put things back! Then they too, will easily be able to read & see the labels! Whoo-hoo my friend, and now when you’re adding in new groceries weekly to it and more summer produce from the garden during the summer months, it all becomes very easy to SEE where it GOES!
….And that my dear friends is the key! You can make it look great and organized on cleaning day….but we want it to STAY organized!
So don’t just sort it all out and clean it, do these steps so it STAYS that way😊
These 5 Steps will help you fix a messy freezer as well prevent your freezer storage from getting out of control later.
✔️ You’ll have a map for finding everything (even that lil baggy of zucchini 🙂
✔️ You can easy take stock of what needs to be used up in next weeks meals when you open it.
✔️ Now Everyone in the home can easily see WHERE to put things back, when helping you put frozen groceries away. (yay!)
✔️ Its easy, and if a system isn’t easy, even I myself won’t follow it ! So try this easy system!
Ok let’s dive in!
(First – well if you want to make yourself feel happy when this task is done, then take a before picture right now before you start (you might be glad you did : )
Step 1. Designate each shelf to certain items. Sounds to easy right, keep reading! For example; shelf 1 is all veggies, shelf 2 all fruits, shelf 3 all meat or all pork. Keep going according to the things YOU store in your freezer. See the pictures below they will help you.
Use your space wisely, things like cans of juice they go great on the door shelves, or extra butter also fits well on the door. Maybe ice cream treats that are gotten into more often will be handy to have on the door, because it’s easier access for others. Think this part thru as you take stock of what you keep on hand and WHO uses it.
I put bread items like homemade quick breads or baked goods in one basket, so it uses only half a shelf.
All cheese, again in a pull out wire basket. The Goal is to keep similar items in same basket and on the same shelf.
This is initially what takes you a bit of thought and time as you take stock of what foods you routinely buy, preserve and store in your freezer.
Most of us, we buy & store the same things over and over. We stock up on our same favorites, so once this is done. You’re more than halfway there.
Next is Very Important KEY tip to MAINTAINING an organized freezer!
Step 2. Baskets! Yes, they truly make a big difference. These are my favorite, but you can find any you like. I LOVE these steel baskets, they are sturdy, they slide easy on the frozen shelf, they DO NOT freeze to the shelf like boxes & crates do…which is maddening if you know what I mean and have dealt with that. They won’t rip, when you yank them out like frozen cardboard boxes do and they won’t crack like plastic ones do. Also they lift in and out of a chest freezer easily, so you can get to the bottom layer of your chest freezer! 😊
I bought mine from the Container Store (if you’re lucky enough to have one of those stores in your town, you can visit there, wish I did). I ordered mine online, I’m not an affiliate with them, but this link shows you the exact ones I use and LOOVE!
They aren’t listed as a freezer basket but they work perfect for this purpose! I had my first set of baskets over 5 years and there good as new. I now finally broke down and bought several more for each shelf that needed them because they just work so so well. (update I have now had my baskets over 10 years 🙂
This is the medium stacking stainless steel basket and it fits perfect on my freezer shelves, measure your freezer shelves before you order. (update – now after several more years these baskets are still available) – https://www.containerstore.com/s/storage/decorative-bins-baskets/stackable-wire-storage-baskets-with-handles/12d?productId=11003109
Here’s another basket option that may be helpful also: https://www.containerstore.com/s/kitchen/Freezer-Safe/design-ideas-freezer-storage-baskets/1fd?productId=11008047
I’m not an affiliate (at least not at this point) but I always share what I really use, whether I am an affiliate or not. When I love something & its quality, I’m going to share it, so you can use it too.
You may find baskets at other stores, just get something strong & quality so it will hold up! True story: I love the size and depth of these stainless baskets so much that I have given them to daughters and sisters for birthdays and Christmas gifts, to bless them with organized freezers😊.
Here’s yet another thing about these baskets they are the right size to fit 3 across on a shelf as well as the depth length 14 inches, fits the whole shelf depth fully, which I appreciate. I want every inch used and no space wasted! Ok enough on my favorite steel baskets.❤️
Now, I know what you might be thinking…..I don’t have my baskets right now, do I wait? No! you get things organized and moved on its correct shelf NOW, so you can see how many baskets you need and where you need them. Just use a box cut to right size or plastic basket, anything for right now to hold things in the new and correct shelf space.
Then, and only then, you order your baskets. Don’t skip the step below, When the baskets arrive, you’re going to just put the frozen shelved items into baskets and slide them on neat organized shelves……..and do a happy dance!😍
This brings me to the next Important Step!
Step 3. Quick Note! This step you could call just a helpful Tip, but you definitely do not want to skip this, it’s going to save you from a headache once your baskets come. I know you just made things all neat buuut…….
Make notes now! YES, a quick easy note (see below pic) reminding you which basket goes where and exactly what is going in it….do NOT think you’re going to remember all this…. it’s why our freezer got this way, because we do not remember where things get put! 🤣😂(Trust me!!) Again, it’s not the taking out that gets our freezers messy ……it’s THE PUTTING BACK:)
So let me help you visualize this for those like me that need a picture. You write a quick note to self, that tells you which shelf gets a basket and what is going in that basket when it arrives! Easy Peasy ….and a headache saver!
I’ve helped so many people do this….. and they always think they’ll remember after I leave, and next week after their baskets come, and they wait til they have an open Saturday to do it……..you get it I know you do 🙂
Point: just write it down now, it will take you less than 4 minutes!
Step 4. The Master Freezer Map!
This goes on your freezer door (with magnets) or near it or right above it. I have been using a simple piece of black posterboard as a freezer map for the last 9 yrs. after seeing someone use something similar. I highly recommend you make a poster map even if its just on an 8×11 sheet of paper, that hangs on your freezer door with magnets! Yes, this HELPS YOU! It’s a must!
To make mine, I used chalk markers on hand and just 1/2 a sheet black posterboard from the dollar store! Just SIMPLE! This really helps you in an instant, know where things are and WHERE They GO! Might seem a lil redundant to some….but when that quarter cow or large deer venison comes, you’re going to follow your mapped out system, because it works and fits in those spaces well!
Extra Tip: when or if you need to make a short-term update to your freezer poster you can simply use a sticky note for a quick non-permanent change to the poster, it’s quick & easy. (You can see a sticky note below on the left poster). If you need to make a permanent change on your poster, simply use a black permanent marker to color right over your white chalk words and then you can re-write in that space again with your white marker!
Here are posters I have helped others with and have used for myself. (you can even label where your ice-cream bucket for the maker goes! I mean you wanna dig for it every friday night, or grab it and get making homemade ice-cream my friend!)
So whether you have a chest or upright, make it work for you……..and have fun & draw your ice-cream canister in place 🙂
Ok now we have your freezer shelves organized, we have your freezer map covered. You should have your notes written for each shelf and basket, again so when you come back to this a week later with your new baskets, you literally just pull the frozen food off one shelf at a time, insert it cheerfully into your new basket and slide it back in place.
Step 5. Inside Labels! This Might be the last tip, but it’s an important key, ladies or I wouldn’t mention it. After 37 years yrs. of canning and freezing to feed my clan, I have learned that labels HELP ME and they HELP the whole family in Putting THINGS back in the CORRECT PLACE (YAY!) So lastly, I’m going to share how a few labels on the INSIDE of your upright freezers, helps KEEP things organized going forward. This tip is only for uprights or kitchen freezers, not for the chest freezer (but it’s why the door chalk chart is really important for a chest freezer)
Let me share what I’ve used for inside labels……. in the past. I’ve made fold-over-labels, as I call them. You can see some in the pictures. They folder-over on the door, they fold-over into a basket, and sometimes you can label a whole shelf if you do alot of garden freezing.
You can make These using 3 simple things: cardstock paper, stapler and a black marker, that’s it! These tags or fold-over-labels don’t need to be Pinterest pretty ladies, it’s just got to work for YOU, they are to make your life easier that’s all!) You c an see mine are not very neat, when I do mine or help somebody else, I do NOT waste a lot of time making these Pinterest pretty, but they are helpful for finding and re-stocking things….. (then even hubby can easily find his ‘bacon’ 🙂
I confess I AM A LABEL person…..I do like things marked! But it is because I know that it makes my life easier. When they see where it goes, they can EASILY PUT STUFF AWAY!
So, use the amount of shelf or basket fold-over labels, you feel is helpful.
So why fold-over-labels……because tape will not stick in freezer of course and permanent marker WILL NOT write on frozen pkgs, and people do not put things back unless its easy! Haa! So, let’s make it EASY….. for them, and for us with a couple labels inside!
You see once your freezer is organized, it won’t stay that way if there’s no labels or a door chart. As soon as you go shopping next week it all slowly but surely becomes Dis-organized again. Because we tend to just ‘shove things in’ cuz well after all, we used to say to ourselves silently, I don’t really know where it’s place is!
Well NOW YOU DO my friend and so do allll your helpers and eaters!😊
So do a HAPPY DANCE! Because it’s a good feeling to know you can open your freezer and find whatever you need from that big ole frozen tundra and quickly whip up a pot of soup for supper or grab cheese to add to pizza!
And no more wasting, because it got lost waaaay at bottom or waaaay in the back, well somewhere, right!
You see when we make a permanent spot for things in our freezers, It’s Just the same as keeping like things together in your pantry or all the silverware in one drawer. If you had to look in a different spot every week for spoons, you’d get frustrated and that’s exactly the same frustration you feel with your deep freezer. So once organized and held in place with baskets items always get put in the same place, week after week! Harvest after harvest, butchering after butchering 🙂
Well, I hope your encouraged to go thru your freezer, take stock of what you have, and get it organized and make this area of your life EASY!
I know this was a long post, but hopefully you’ll find it useful and these 5 simple steps will help you keep your frozen tundra forever organized and help you prevent waste.
As always, it’s been a delight!
My favorite steel baskets I use https://www.containerstore.com/s/storage/decorative-bins-baskets/stackable-wire-storage-baskets-with-handles/12d?productId=11003109 (7″h x 10″w x 14″ long)
Another basket option: https://www.containerstore.com/s/kitchen/Freezer-Safe/design-ideas-freezer-storage-baskets/1fd?productId=11008047
Blessings!
