Chest freezers 😂 Everything you need is in the bottom!! Say “Honey hold my feet so if I fall in you can pull me out!!!” My next freezer will not be a chest freezer!!!
For chest freezer use either wire freezer bin and you can lift bins out to search. You can also use those bags that are flat fold down reinforced bottoms in the chest freezer.
In the past, I despised chest freezers. Now I love ours. About two weeks ago we purchased a 21.7 cu ft chest freezer from Lowes. It came with two rows of sliding bins that are amazing. For the entire bottom, I ordered nine large totes with handles from Amazon. I have everything organized. Ground beef, roasts, chicken breasts, whole chickens, pork, sausage, fruits, etc. are all separated in different bins/totes. I can slide the bins and then lift out an entire tote if needed. It is life changing! For our upright freezer, I bought large, clear organizers and also keep like things together. An unorganized freezer is basically a casket for most food! Organization is the key to using, rotating and replacing!
I also had a chest freezer your size.But standing 4ft 11 in its not practical for me.One day I lost my balance, so I was hanging upside down in this freezer. Could not get out,thank goodness my neighbor heard me hollering and saved me.I tried and tried but couldn't get out,never let my kids(6)get anything out again.
When it comes to bread, there is another possibility. You can make your bread and let it go through the first rise, then shape your rolls and put them on a cookie sheet and put them in the freezer. Then once they freeze, you can put them in a bag, and take what you need out when you are wanting fresh baked bread. You need to pull them out about 2-3 hours before you want to bake them, and put them in/on the pan you want to use and prepare as you do normally. Let go through second rise in warm spot. Or, take them out the night before and put in the refrigerator over night, and then take them out an hour before you want to bake them and do the same. This has worked for me over the years. It may be something others might want to try to have fresh baked bread rolls.
Yes, that is a great idea. I think there are commercial bread companies that are doing exactly what you are doing. I understand the results are very good. Jim
I have two chest freezers. One for meats the other for everything else. I put those reusable grocery bags to use and put sort with sort together in a bag. I also put some of the foods in 2 milkcrates that stack nicely It is not as easy to organize as an upright freezer but doing it this way has improved my organization.
I do the same, but I have replaced most of the cheap reusable grocery bags (handles kept breaking) with heavier duty freezer bags that zip from my local butcher. They work great, but I sure would love to not have to pull everything out all the time!
I love your organization of your freezers! I have a chest freezer and struggled with getting it organized. I finally have it “working for me” by using cloth hard sided bags with handles. I sort them into like things, keeping the heavier meat ones on the bottom and veggies and sides in the top ones. That way it’s easier to pull off the top one to see my beef and chicken and then slip the bag right back in place. Can’t wait for the new book of meals!
I worked for Super Suppers for a year. It was a food preparation company that allowed people to come in, prepare meals and then take them home to use. One huge thing I learned was the proper storage of meats in the fridge and freezer. Raw poultry always goes on the bottom because you don’t want any poultry juices to drip down on any other products in the case of power outages that lead to defrosting. One step above that is any animal that walks (ie: beef, pork, lamb, deer, etc). Next step up is seafood. And cooked meats go on top.
She could be going elsewhere and pies were hers to bring. Or, like my sister does, cooks and debones the turkey the day before and other dishes. 😂 it stops the chaos.
I love that Costco freezer. I wish all freezers had the drawer method. I found open weave baskets that fit my shelves and marked them "meat. veges, bread, meals" etc. It has helped for stopping waste of food. I have a chest freezer and found good bags that are fairly hard and I use them there as well and the baskets. I do still have to pull them out to get to the bottom but pulling out a bag or bin sure is more efficient than pulling things out a piece at a time.
I have really large things in my chest freezer that I only use for special events and I buy them when they are super marked down like full briskets, corned beef, turkeys, and ice packs. If I end up with extra room I put jugs of water to improve efficiency of the freezer and it keeps the freezer cold for a power outage!
I have 1, & I saw a Lady on UA-cam put her food in Tote bags, (the ones that a bit like tarp fabric.) 1 have 6, & I Sharpie on them what's in them, Fish, Chicken, Beef, Lamb, Pork & a Vegetable one, it works really well. I have an upright 3 drawer one in our Kitchen under the counter, it's full of Fruit, Sauces, Breads, Pies & Pizzas. 👍
Love this! I always call my leftovers in individual bags, "Fast Food" So much cheaper than going out for fast food. Helps me with time management because I'm working. Thanks for sharing. Still working on my freezers too.
I have dividers in the bottom of my chest freezer that were there from the factory. There are also 3 baskets that slide along the top. In my chest freezers that don't have the dividers, I use the plastic milk crates, which also stack on top of each other. I have a freezer for beef and fish. one for chicken and venison, one for pork and seafood, and one for extras. I also have 2 refrigerators with huge freezers, one is for vegetables, and the other is for butter and cheese. I lay an index card in the top of each freezer, with a diagram of what is in which section, My freezer inventory is in the same book as my canned, freeze dried, dehydrated and store bought foods. This has worked for us for years.
Just a heads up for anyone wanting a upright freezer. I checked out the Hamilton 11 CF freezer with the drawers that Pam shows in the video and it was currently on sale at Costco for $299.
I have used your idea of breaking up big bags of veggies. It has worked so well🎉. I also love that little freezer. Stopped myself from buying one so far, but…….. My chest freezer is where the unknown items go to never be seen again. Needs work. Thank you both!
What great ideas for creating eals from left overs. I am the same as you Pam, havong to make the bunas for dinner os enough to go a different direction! But having some frozen, pwrfect!! Thank you!!
I have reusable grocery sacks stacked three across and three deep. I have a white board that I labeled squares representing each bag. So when I'm looking for chicken I can look and see it's on the left two bags down.
Awwww! I want a Costco little freezer! What a find! What a pleasure it is to open your freezer and being able to find exactly what you know it is there! I have to hunt for my stuff. I have a small/medium chest freezer and it is not frost free. It is what I have, but I don't like it. Cleaning it is painful.
Thank you. This information will help us better re-plan & implement our freezer storage, & your system will also carry over to the labeling & organzation of our other storage. The visual aid of using sheets on the storage container (freezer, cabinet, etc) is one of those things that in hindsight we wonder why that never occured to us.
I love your freezer with the drawers,no wasted space.I just bought a freezer not to long ago,if I had seen that I would have probably got two.I love it.
Becky on Acre Homestead uses large square fabric totes with handles in her chest freezers. Then she organizes by type of meat, frozen vegetables, etc. Then if you need something in the bottom, you just lift out the top tote.
I learned the hard way to always freeze raw meats in the bottom, just incase! That way the berries, breads and veggies don't need tossed from blood seepage.
My freezer has drawers except the top two shelves. , I use the top shelf for bread , puffpastry , wonton wrappers ect , next shelf is dog food ( chicken breasts ) that I buy in bulk and divide into a day portion , the first draw is pre-made meals , I put the frozen meals in serving size portions ( one person ) . I find it is easy to keep my freezer neat and tidy and well organised ,
I have a small freezer for just me, in it, I have wire baskets, each basket a category, chicken, fish, ground beef, etc. I saw the small one you got at Costco and tried to figure out how I could justify getting it, no luck on that score yet. I buy on sale and I cook larger batches. My best tools are square plastic containers that I use to freeze foods with sauces and liquids, before moving to vacuum bags, baking sheets for flat freezing, a food scale for portioning, and a vacuum sealer. Doing things the way I do, I typically spend much less at one time on groceries than most of my peers, and I eat much better. This is not new for me I have been following this system since my children were young in the 1970s. Keep up the sharing, you are helping so many who may not know how to get started.
I have one large chest freezer and one small one. I put items in the reusable grocery bags and designate areas in the freezer for chicken, beef, pork, etc. I then stack the well packed bags in the freezer. It is then fairly easy to pull out a bag if I need to get something out of a lower bag. I also keep my frozen veggies in the smaller freezer. ( I can most of my veggies.). It all seems to work pretty well for organization. But I have not found a good way to consistently inventory it. I may try to adapt your “bin” system to my “bag” system. I look forward to the book coming out for Jim’s birthday sale. Thanks again for all you do and God bless!
I’ve been doing this for a few years now. Going to make, meatballs, chicken pot pie soup and beef stew to freeze, this weekend. I will make my lasagna over the holidays, and freeze a batch in portions for the rest of the winter. I also bake pies and store bought pies and make individual portions and freeze them for a quick holiday treat in March, lol. This is wonderful Pam and Jim! 😊
I made up about 4 dozen biscuits with cream and White Lily self-rising flour recently and flash froze them on cookie sheets. Then, I put them in Ziploc bags of a dozen each. Now, when we want biscuits, all I have to do is pull them out of the freezer and bake! I love that you made buns ahead and froze them!
This video is so awesome, Thank YOU! I struggle with organization of freezers and it irritates my Hubby like crazy! Wonderful tips on using grid paper and numbers to mark off what's there and what's used! Thank you again from AZ
I do something very similar with bins in the freezer, but I love, love, love your idea of using graph paper and posting it on the outside of the freezer on the door. I am going to try this. Awesome ideea!
I love that little freezer! Those bins are phenomenal! I’ve got two upright freezers and a darn chest gfreezer, I’m scared I’m going to fall into it and be lost forever. I despise it. Amazing ideas for freezer meals! I’m taking notes.
Oh, I so despised our old chest freezer. No more digging, unloading, loading and defrosting. The uprights today are Way more efficient than the old ones.
I have a chest freezer. I organize perfectly with IKEA Hallbar bins, a hack from another UA-camr. It's technically a garbage bin that comes in various sizes which are stackable with handles for easy access. They come with different round stickers of various colors to keep track of freezer contents. Take a look. I don't think you'll be disappointed.
I love how you’ve co-ordinated the checklists with the interior shelves!! That’s a real ‘eureka’ moment! Our little freezer in the garage is basically all raw meats, bought in bulk and vacuum packed into ‘for two’ portions, and I desperately need to organize the mumble-jumble on each shelf. I NEED some of those plastic containers. Dollarama here I come. Thanks a bunch☺️
I want to tell you what we do with grilled burgers. I make patties out of 10 lbs. of ground beef (80% lean, you know all of the flavor is in the fat, lol) and season them. My hubby grills them to med. and I cool and bag them. I stack them in a bread bag and they fit in the door of the freezer. We take two out for a meal and re-heat them in the microwave. They taste like they just came off the grill. You can add cheese before you cook them or before you re-heat them. It doesn't take much more time or energy to make 18 as it would take to make two. Enjoy!
Chest freezers are both a blessing and a curse A blessing because they hold so much, a curse because you have to stand on your head to get to anything. I have a chest freezer that I got for free and I do like it. What I have done is taken those heavy duty square milk crates and I'm able to stack 4 the freezer 2 side by side and I can put stuff in each crate and I'm able to lift out each bin to get stuff. That's about the only way I can live with it. I also have an upright like yours that I also use. I mostly keep Beef and large items, 2 Turkeys that I got and a large bag of flour in the chest freezer and chicken and other things in my upright
I have rectangular buckets with handles for my chest freezer. I can organize by food type and stack them. It makes it easier to not loose things in the bottom. I feed at least 8 people every night. My 3 older kids have moved out, but visit often. Still 5 kids at home.
In the 90’s I started doing this with my hamburger in quart bags. My first real apt. and I had friends over, and like friends do, they went through everything in my place lol they laughed and laughed when they saw my thin stackable frozen tiles of beef in a plastic shoe container in my freezer.
The Costco Hamilton Beach Freezer is on sale till 12/10. Got one today. Timed it with outside cleanup and the workers pulled it out of the car and into the basement for me. It's been a good day!
I have a magnetic white board attached to the side of my freezer. Upper left for poultry, upper right for red meat, lower left for veggies and grains, lower right for pork (the same location as the food is in the freezer bins). Then I use colored white board markers. Yellow - poultry, red - red meat, green - veg/grain, orange for pork. Then I list the item e.g. breast written in yellow, the date, then simple tick marks for the quantity. When I use something it is easy to erase one of the tick marks.
This has helped me out tremendously. I am always trying to organize my freezers but it always ends up a mish mash of forgotten items. This is a great idea and will help a lot. Since my husband passed away, it us hard to cook for just one and I end up with a lot of leftovers that I freeze. This is a great way to organize those small packages. I make dozens of tamales at a time and this would be great for keeping them together. As to the chest freezer, I haved cone to the conclusion there is no way to effectively organize them. I have tried buns, boxes, partitions etc. Found them too heavy to lift to get to the ones at the bottom. Partitions, things still get forgotten at the bottom. The only thing I have figured out, is that the chest freezer us only good for freezing a whole beef or whole animals, in packages of course, the partitions work great for that. Otherwise the upright is s better choice for everyday freezer needs. Thank you for all your teachings. I learn a lot from your videos.
I added two 7-8 cubic ft chest freezers last year. I bought plastic containers, like yours , and made sure they fit accordingly in the freezers. I labeled the tops of them with whatever was in them. I put the items least used on the bottoms and most used on top. I am very pleased with it and use the top lids to freeze my freeze dry trays prior to freeze drying. I also have two upright freezers I utilize. I love your organization of your freezers which puts my organization lacking. Great video.
We have a huge chest freezer plus a small one. It's so difficult to keep them organized but I am currently using different colored grocery bags to organize beef, chicken, pork, vegetables, etc. The problem is still that the older items end up on the bottom but it's better than just throwing everything in together.
I have a chest freezer and an upright. I do the same as you with one difference. When we get our 1/2 of beef every year, I put it at the bottom of the chest freezer in "milk crates" I get from Walmart/Target. Three fit across the bottom. Bin 1 - Hamburger, Bin 2 - Steak, Bin 3 - Roasts. I have a second Bin of Hamburger that sits on top of the 1st one. On top of Bin 2&3 I have heavy duty reusable grocery bags (2 for each category) of chicken, pork, then over flow of veggies and fruit from upright freezer. I've tried bins for these but the amount of these items fluctuate so the bins get disorganized. Bag 1 is the older purchased items of each category. Bag 2 is the most recently purchased and it has RED Duck Tape on the handle so that I "STOP" and go to bag 1. My upright freezer has my home garden veggies, pre-made meals and individual meal ingredients. As I go through my garden veggies in the upright freezer I move the veggies & fruit from the chest freezer to the upright. Hope this makes sense and is helpful to someone.
I got one of the Hamilton Beach freezer about a year ago. I love it. I keep my frozen vegetable, cookie dough, my stir fry vegetables, etc in each of its own bin. I labeled each bin the same way so it is easy to find what I am looking for and my husband does not have any trouble finding anything either.
I have a chest freezer and until the funds allow it’ll be all i have. I scored a chest freezer years ago on clearance at Menards for $150! It’s big enough to hold 2 broken down/processed deer and much more garden harvest items. What works for me I found, is I put like items in reusable grocery bags. This way I can pick them up easy, rotate, and keep things semi organized or best I can given that it’s a chest freezer. Thank you for sharing your super organized methods! I sent it to my momma who has an upright freezer. I plan on going Big next year with gardening, and fully intend on filling her freezer too so this really gave me great ideas!!
It sounds like you have a nice system set-up for your frozen foods. You could also label each bag with contents and organize them into meats, seafood, dairy, veggie, specific meals as well as other sections. Jim
I have two chest freezers. I have frozen vegetables and fruit in one and in the other one I have meats. We bought a whole beef a few months ago and so I invested in crates (from Lowes) and separated each cut of beef into the crates. Because there was so much ground beef I took a thin box and put between the crates for space and stored the 1 lb rolls in the box. I use one end of the freezer for chicken turkey and ham also in crates. Even though I like upright freezer best I found the chest freezer holds a lot more.
I use bins to organize my chest freezer makes it so much easier to find and get to your goodies I agree my next one will be an upright I may need to go to Costco for the deal On the upright with bins
Where did you find the bins you used in the big freezer. Thank you so much for sharing this organization of your freezer I have a upright and chest freezer my chest is 55 years old and still going I need to figure out how to organize it thank you again Pam
I read a really good tip when I was shopping for a deep freezer. Bus Bins. The restaurant kind. They are stack-able and fit very nicely in large freezers.
I don't have a freezer yet, but what wonderful organizing and space saving ideas. Thank you! I was thinking about your inventory lists since you said you were marking things off in pen as you use from your supply. What about marking off in pencil so that as you replenish your supply you dont have to rewrite, just erase the pencil marks. Also maybe use sheet protectors and mark off with a dry-erase marker and just wipe off when replenishing.
Thank you for sharing this. I have 2 of the chest freezers plus the 2 freezers that are on top of the fridge. Hopefully some on will share how to organize the chest freezers. I will say, they are a pain in the butt.
Awesome way to keep track of the freezer food. One of the “dark holes” of food storage! Hope to try and get mine more accessible like this. On a side note, I also purchased the same freezer at Costco; but in the capital city of Alaska it costs $100.00 more 😢 Keep on giving us such informative videos. Much appreciated!
On Acre homestead channel, Becky uses shopping boxes or bags to organize her chest freezer. She puts her different types of meats, vegetables, etc in each bag or box. I don’t have any chest freezers but I like how she has organized hers. The boxes have handles and are rare sided so you can stack them.
Soooo many great ideas, I already use the veggies in smaller proportions thanks to your earlier video, you got my brain working on overtime for new ways of preserving food in my freezer, thank you!
Pam and Jim, you two are awesome. Thank you for your guidance, time, knowledge in helping us to be prepared. I will be organizing my freezer with your suggestions. I plan on doing meals in a jar using dehydrated and freeze dried ingredients. Thank you again.
Chest freezers 😂 Everything you need is in the bottom!! Say “Honey hold my feet so if I fall in you can pull me out!!!” My next freezer will not be a chest freezer!!!
That's me, tie a rope round me, I'm going in. Lol. ❄️
When shopping for a freezer I look at the chest types first. Bent over and nearly fell in. Bought an upright. LOL
For chest freezer use either wire freezer bin and you can lift bins out to search. You can also use those bags that are flat fold down reinforced bottoms in the chest freezer.
When I bought my chest freezer it wasn't much of a problem. Now that I am several years older, it has become an issue. We just bought an upright!
Same!
Hooray. A freezer that comes with drawer organization! Finally, a manufacturer got it right!
In the past, I despised chest freezers. Now I love ours. About two weeks ago we purchased a 21.7 cu ft chest freezer from Lowes. It came with two rows of sliding bins that are amazing. For the entire bottom, I ordered nine large totes with handles from Amazon. I have everything organized. Ground beef, roasts, chicken breasts, whole chickens, pork, sausage, fruits, etc. are all separated in different bins/totes. I can slide the bins and then lift out an entire tote if needed. It is life changing! For our upright freezer, I bought large, clear organizers and also keep like things together. An unorganized freezer is basically a casket for most food! Organization is the key to using, rotating and replacing!
I also had a chest freezer your size.But standing 4ft 11 in its not practical for me.One day I lost my balance, so I was hanging upside down in this freezer. Could not get out,thank goodness my neighbor heard me hollering and saved me.I tried and tried but couldn't get out,never let my kids(6)get anything out again.
When it comes to bread, there is another possibility. You can make your bread and let it go through the first rise, then shape your rolls and put them on a cookie sheet and put them in the freezer. Then once they freeze, you can put them in a bag, and take what you need out when you are wanting fresh baked bread. You need to pull them out about 2-3 hours before you want to bake them, and put them in/on the pan you want to use and prepare as you do normally. Let go through second rise in warm spot. Or, take them out the night before and put in the refrigerator over night, and then take them out an hour before you want to bake them and do the same. This has worked for me over the years. It may be something others might want to try to have fresh baked bread rolls.
Yes, that is a great idea. I think there are commercial bread companies that are doing exactly what you are doing. I understand the results are very good. Jim
Great idea, thank you!
I love the way you freeze your meals by flattening them. What a space saver that is.
HaHa! I have thought it is called a chest freezer for the body part it freezes getting stuff out!
And because of the thinness - it defrosts SUPER quick.
I have two chest freezers. One for meats the other for everything else. I put those reusable grocery bags to use and put sort with sort together in a bag. I also put some of the foods in 2 milkcrates that stack nicely It is not as easy to organize as an upright freezer but doing it this way has improved my organization.
We do something similar!
We used milk crates too and boxes to sort like foods
one chest for meats, one for garden veggies and one small for meals and everything else!!
I do the same, but I have replaced most of the cheap reusable grocery bags (handles kept breaking) with heavier duty freezer bags that zip from my local butcher. They work great, but I sure would love to not have to pull everything out all the time!
I love your organization of your freezers! I have a chest freezer and struggled with getting it organized. I finally have it “working for me” by using cloth hard sided bags with handles. I sort them into like things, keeping the heavier meat ones on the bottom and veggies and sides in the top ones. That way it’s easier to pull off the top one to see my beef and chicken and then slip the bag right back in place. Can’t wait for the new book of meals!
Pillow cases
I worked for Super Suppers for a year. It was a food preparation company that allowed people to come in, prepare meals and then take them home to use. One huge thing I learned was the proper storage of meats in the fridge and freezer. Raw poultry always goes on the bottom because you don’t want any poultry juices to drip down on any other products in the case of power outages that lead to defrosting. One step above that is any animal that walks (ie: beef, pork, lamb, deer, etc). Next step up is seafood. And cooked meats go on top.
Thank you for sharing this very valuable information!
@@RoseRedHomestead you’re welcome!
Pam, this is fabulous! The greatest struggle is having meals ready in the freezer but forgetting to use them!
Exactly! I found a few f those when we were cleaning out the freezer to start our new organization. They were like fossils!
Having meals ready and forgetting to use them? Sounds like a first world problem.
How did you have such a clean kitchen, and time for this video, in the middle of making Thanksgiving dinner! My kitchen was in chaos for two days!
😂 same‼️
I think secretly we are all wondering the same thing😆
Pot Luck ? ? From all the guests??
I know still recouping from Thursday!!😂😢😅
She could be going elsewhere and pies were hers to bring. Or, like my sister does, cooks and debones the turkey the day before and other dishes. 😂 it stops the chaos.
What a fantastic system! Thank you so much for doing this and sharing. You're an inspiration!
I love that Costco freezer. I wish all freezers had the drawer method. I found open weave baskets that fit my shelves and marked them "meat. veges, bread, meals" etc. It has helped for stopping waste of food. I have a chest freezer and found good bags that are fairly hard and I use them there as well and the baskets. I do still have to pull them out to get to the bottom but pulling out a bag or bin sure is more efficient than pulling things out a piece at a time.
I have really large things in my chest freezer that I only use for special events and I buy them when they are super marked down like full briskets, corned beef, turkeys, and ice packs. If I end up with extra room I put jugs of water to improve efficiency of the freezer and it keeps the freezer cold for a power outage!
Please comment on how yo freeze raw eggs. I've never done that, nor have I even thought about it. Guidance on how to do it and how to use them please.
I would love to know for chest freezers! I have 2 and they are so unorganized!
I have 1, & I saw a Lady on UA-cam put her food in Tote bags, (the ones that a bit like tarp fabric.) 1 have 6, & I Sharpie on them what's in them, Fish, Chicken, Beef, Lamb, Pork & a Vegetable one, it works really well. I have an upright 3 drawer one in our Kitchen under the counter, it's full of Fruit, Sauces, Breads, Pies & Pizzas. 👍
Love these freezer videos! Thank you Pam and Jim.
You and Jim are amazing! Thank you for such a brilliant idea of 60 meal prep and freezer organization. Love you guys! Happy holidays!
Love this! I always call my leftovers in individual bags, "Fast Food" So much cheaper than going out for fast food. Helps me with time management because I'm working. Thanks for sharing. Still working on my freezers too.
😂my husband calls them FMREs (military=MREs) for Frozen Meals Ready to Eat.
I have dividers in the bottom of my chest freezer that were there from the factory. There are also 3 baskets that slide along the top. In my chest freezers that don't have the dividers, I use the plastic milk crates, which also stack on top of each other. I have a freezer for beef and fish. one for chicken and venison, one for pork and seafood, and one for extras. I also have 2 refrigerators with huge freezers, one is for vegetables, and the other is for butter and cheese. I lay an index card in the top of each freezer, with a diagram of what is in which section, My freezer inventory is in the same book as my canned, freeze dried, dehydrated and store bought foods. This has worked for us for years.
Just a heads up for anyone wanting a upright freezer. I checked out the Hamilton 11 CF freezer with the drawers that Pam shows in the video and it was currently on sale at Costco for $299.
I have used your idea of breaking up big bags of veggies. It has worked so well🎉. I also love that little freezer. Stopped myself from buying one so far, but……..
My chest freezer is where the unknown items go to never be seen again. Needs work. Thank you both!
What great ideas for creating eals from left overs. I am the same as you Pam, havong to make the bunas for dinner os enough to go a different direction! But having some frozen, pwrfect!! Thank you!!
I have reusable grocery sacks stacked three across and three deep. I have a white board that I labeled squares representing each bag. So when I'm looking for chicken I can look and see it's on the left two bags down.
Awwww! I want a Costco little freezer! What a find! What a pleasure it is to open your freezer and being able to find exactly what you know it is there! I have to hunt for my stuff. I have a small/medium chest freezer and it is not frost free. It is what I have, but I don't like it. Cleaning it is painful.
Thank you. This information will help us better re-plan & implement our freezer storage, & your system will also carry over to the labeling & organzation of our other storage. The visual aid of using sheets on the storage container (freezer, cabinet, etc) is one of those things that in hindsight we wonder why that never occured to us.
Our pleasure! Jim
I love your freezer with the drawers,no wasted space.I just bought a freezer not to long ago,if I had seen that I would have probably got two.I love it.
Wow, so impressed with your organization and inventory methods!! Fantastic 😍
Becky on Acre Homestead uses large square fabric totes with handles in her chest freezers. Then she organizes by type of meat, frozen vegetables, etc. Then if you need something in the bottom, you just lift out the top tote.
I learned the hard way to always freeze raw meats in the bottom, just incase! That way the berries, breads and veggies don't need tossed from blood seepage.
You are truely a teacher!
My freezer has drawers except the top two shelves. , I use the top shelf for bread , puffpastry , wonton wrappers ect , next shelf is dog food ( chicken breasts ) that I buy in bulk and divide into a day portion , the first draw is pre-made meals , I put the frozen meals in serving size portions ( one person ) . I find it is easy to keep my freezer neat and tidy and well organised ,
I have a small freezer for just me, in it, I have wire baskets, each basket a category, chicken, fish, ground beef, etc. I saw the small one you got at Costco and tried to figure out how I could justify getting it, no luck on that score yet. I buy on sale and I cook larger batches. My best tools are square plastic containers that I use to freeze foods with sauces and liquids, before moving to vacuum bags, baking sheets for flat freezing, a food scale for portioning, and a vacuum sealer. Doing things the way I do, I typically spend much less at one time on groceries than most of my peers, and I eat much better. This is not new for me I have been following this system since my children were young in the 1970s. Keep up the sharing, you are helping so many who may not know how to get started.
I have one large chest freezer and one small one. I put items in the reusable grocery bags and designate areas in the freezer for chicken, beef, pork, etc. I then stack the well packed bags in the freezer. It is then fairly easy to pull out a bag if I need to get something out of a lower bag. I also keep my frozen veggies in the smaller freezer. ( I can most of my veggies.). It all seems to work pretty well for organization. But I have not found a good way to consistently inventory it. I may try to adapt your “bin” system to my “bag” system. I look forward to the book coming out for Jim’s birthday sale. Thanks again for all you do and God bless!
I’ve been doing this for a few years now. Going to make, meatballs, chicken pot pie soup and beef stew to freeze, this weekend. I will make my lasagna over the holidays, and freeze a batch in portions for the rest of the winter. I also bake pies and store bought pies and make individual portions and freeze them for a quick holiday treat in March, lol. This is wonderful Pam and Jim! 😊
I made up about 4 dozen biscuits with cream and White Lily self-rising flour recently and flash froze them on cookie sheets. Then, I put them in Ziploc bags of a dozen each. Now, when we want biscuits, all I have to do is pull them out of the freezer and bake! I love that you made buns ahead and froze them!
Oh, I LOVE your inventory on the doors! I'll be starting this ASAP! Thank so much!
This video is so awesome, Thank YOU! I struggle with organization of freezers and it irritates my Hubby like crazy! Wonderful tips on using grid paper and numbers to mark off what's there and what's used! Thank you again from AZ
Trying to organize a chest freezer is like asking a toddler to organize their toy box. lol
I do something very similar with bins in the freezer, but I love, love, love your idea of using graph paper and posting it on the outside of the freezer on the door. I am going to try this. Awesome ideea!
I love that little freezer! Those bins are phenomenal! I’ve got two upright freezers and a darn chest gfreezer, I’m scared I’m going to fall into it and be lost forever. I despise it.
Amazing ideas for freezer meals! I’m taking notes.
Oh, I so despised our old chest freezer. No more digging, unloading, loading and defrosting. The uprights today are Way more efficient than the old ones.
I tell everybody that if I turn up missing look for me in the freezer. I might have fallen in!!
I have a chest freezer. I organize perfectly with IKEA Hallbar bins, a hack from another UA-camr. It's technically a garbage bin that comes in various sizes which are stackable with handles for easy access. They come with different round stickers of various colors to keep track of freezer contents. Take a look. I don't think you'll be disappointed.
We invested in a large freezer like yours this summer. I shared this video with my husband, great idea for keeping on top of what is there!
LOL! after reading how many freezers and refrigerators people have I would think getting a refrigerated semi trailer would be more efficient 😂😂
I love how you’ve co-ordinated the checklists with the interior shelves!! That’s a real ‘eureka’ moment! Our little freezer in the garage is basically all raw meats, bought in bulk and vacuum packed into ‘for two’ portions, and I desperately need to organize the mumble-jumble on each shelf. I NEED some of those plastic containers. Dollarama here I come. Thanks a bunch☺️
I want to tell you what we do with grilled burgers. I make patties out of 10 lbs. of ground beef (80% lean, you know all of the flavor is in the fat, lol) and season them. My hubby grills them to med. and I cool and bag them. I stack them in a bread bag and they fit in the door of the freezer. We take two out for a meal and re-heat them in the microwave. They taste like they just came off the grill. You can add cheese before you cook them or before you re-heat them. It doesn't take much more time or energy to make 18 as it would take to make two. Enjoy!
Chest freezers are both a blessing and a curse A blessing because they hold so much, a curse because you have to stand on your head to get to anything. I have a chest freezer that I got for free and I do like it. What I have done is taken those heavy duty square milk crates and I'm able to stack 4 the freezer 2 side by side and I can put stuff in each crate and I'm able to lift out each bin to get stuff. That's about the only way I can live with it. I also have an upright like yours that I also use. I mostly keep Beef and large items, 2 Turkeys that I got and a large bag of flour in the chest freezer and chicken and other things in my upright
I have rectangular buckets with handles for my chest freezer. I can organize by food type and stack them. It makes it easier to not loose things in the bottom. I feed at least 8 people every night. My 3 older kids have moved out, but visit often. Still 5 kids at home.
What marvelous idea's Ms. Pam!!! Thank you so much!!
You are so welcome! Jim
Thanks for this!
In the 90’s I started doing this with my hamburger in quart bags. My first real apt. and I had friends over, and like friends do, they went through everything in my place lol they laughed and laughed when they saw my thin stackable frozen tiles of beef in a plastic shoe container in my freezer.
The Costco Hamilton Beach Freezer is on sale till 12/10. Got one today. Timed it with outside cleanup and the workers pulled it out of the car and into the basement for me. It's been a good day!
I have a magnetic white board attached to the side of my freezer. Upper left for poultry, upper right for red meat, lower left for veggies and grains, lower right for pork (the same location as the food is in the freezer bins). Then I use colored white board markers. Yellow - poultry, red - red meat, green - veg/grain, orange for pork.
Then I list the item e.g. breast written in yellow, the date, then simple tick marks for the quantity. When I use something it is easy to erase one of the tick marks.
That great for a organizational system your fridge and freezer. That way you know where everything is the exact number of all items. Jim
As for our chest freezer we use plastic milk crates. 1 crate per certain food…. 1 crate for chicken, 1 crate for burger, 1 crate for pork, etc….
This has helped me out tremendously. I am always trying to organize my freezers but it always ends up a mish mash of forgotten items. This is a great idea and will help a lot. Since my husband passed away, it us hard to cook for just one and I end up with a lot of leftovers that I freeze. This is a great way to organize those small packages. I make dozens of tamales at a time and this would be great for keeping them together. As to the chest freezer, I haved cone to the conclusion there is no way to effectively organize them. I have tried buns, boxes, partitions etc. Found them too heavy to lift to get to the ones at the bottom. Partitions, things still get forgotten at the bottom. The only thing I have figured out, is that the chest freezer us only good for freezing a whole beef or whole animals, in packages of course, the partitions work great for that. Otherwise the upright is s better choice for everyday freezer needs. Thank you for all your teachings. I learn a lot from your videos.
Note about the hamburger buns. It will make them last longer if after you freeze them you vac seal them
I added two 7-8 cubic ft chest freezers last year. I bought plastic containers, like yours , and made sure they fit accordingly in the freezers. I labeled the tops of them with whatever was in them. I put the items least used on the
bottoms and most used on top. I am very pleased with it and use the top lids to freeze my freeze dry trays prior
to freeze drying. I also have two upright freezers I utilize. I love your organization of your freezers which puts my
organization lacking. Great video.
Thanks for the information. It does not seem that organization is lacking at all. Jim
We have a huge chest freezer plus a small one. It's so difficult to keep them organized but I am currently using different colored grocery bags to organize beef, chicken, pork, vegetables, etc. The problem is still that the older items end up on the bottom but it's better than just throwing everything in together.
I have a chest freezer and an upright. I do the same as you with one difference. When we get our 1/2 of beef every year, I put it at the bottom of the chest freezer in "milk crates" I get from Walmart/Target. Three fit across the bottom. Bin 1 - Hamburger, Bin 2 - Steak, Bin 3 - Roasts. I have a second Bin of Hamburger that sits on top of the 1st one. On top of Bin 2&3 I have heavy duty reusable grocery bags (2 for each category) of chicken, pork, then over flow of veggies and fruit from upright freezer. I've tried bins for these but the amount of these items fluctuate so the bins get disorganized. Bag 1 is the older purchased items of each category. Bag 2 is the most recently purchased and it has RED Duck Tape on the handle so that I "STOP" and go to bag 1. My upright freezer has my home garden veggies, pre-made meals and individual meal ingredients. As I go through my garden veggies in the upright freezer I move the veggies & fruit from the chest freezer to the upright. Hope this makes sense and is helpful to someone.
Can’t wait for your new book!
I got one of the Hamilton Beach freezer about a year ago. I love it. I keep my frozen vegetable, cookie dough, my stir fry vegetables, etc in each of its own bin. I labeled each bin the same way so it is easy to find what I am looking for and my husband does not have any trouble finding anything either.
I love your efficiency. You are most inspiring for organisational management. Thank you!
I have a chest freezer and until the funds allow it’ll be all i have. I scored a chest freezer years ago on clearance at Menards for $150! It’s big enough to hold 2 broken down/processed deer and much more garden harvest items.
What works for me I found, is I put like items in reusable grocery bags. This way I can pick them up easy, rotate, and keep things semi organized or best I can given that it’s a chest freezer.
Thank you for sharing your super organized methods! I sent it to my momma who has an upright freezer. I plan on going Big next year with gardening, and fully intend on filling her freezer too so this really gave me great ideas!!
It sounds like you have a nice system set-up for your frozen foods. You could also label each bag with contents and organize them into meats, seafood, dairy, veggie, specific meals as well as other sections. Jim
@@RoseRedHomestead I love that! Very organized! Thank you! ☺️
I have two chest freezers. I have frozen vegetables and fruit in one and in the other one I have meats. We bought a whole beef a few months ago and so I invested in crates (from Lowes) and separated each cut of beef into the crates. Because there was so much ground beef I took a thin box and put between the crates for space and stored the 1 lb rolls in the box. I use one end of the freezer for chicken turkey and ham also in crates. Even though I like upright freezer best I found the chest freezer holds a lot more.
Wonderful!
I use bins to organize my chest freezer makes it so much easier to find and get to your goodies I agree my next one will be an upright I may need to go to Costco for the deal On the upright with bins
Where did you find the bins you used in the big freezer. Thank you so much for sharing this organization of your freezer I have a upright and chest freezer my chest is 55 years old and still going I need to figure out how to organize it thank you again Pam
I read a really good tip when I was shopping for a deep freezer. Bus Bins. The restaurant kind. They are stack-able and fit very nicely in large freezers.
So helpful!
Wowziers!!!
What an amazing organization job.
I love love love the boxes
I don't have a freezer yet, but what wonderful organizing and space saving ideas. Thank you! I was thinking about your inventory lists since you said you were marking things off in pen as you use from your supply. What about marking off in pencil so that as you replenish your supply you dont have to rewrite, just erase the pencil marks. Also maybe use sheet protectors and mark off with a dry-erase marker and just wipe off when replenishing.
Yes, using pencil is a great idea. Thank you.
Thank you for sharing this. I have 2 of the chest freezers plus the 2 freezers that are on top of the fridge. Hopefully some on will share how to organize the chest freezers. I will say, they are a pain in the butt.
Wow!!! Impressive!
For chest freezer, I use plastic milk crates. Even found some half size ones. It works great.
I can't wait for your book to come out to get some of your yummy recipes for my freezer. Like you it's only my husband and I now.
Yes, that really changes the measurements for recipes. Jim
Excellent ideas
I love the organization of the freezers and your playlists; thank you!
Loved the video Pam and Jim. Thank you. ❤
You guys are sooo smart!
Excellent! Great inspiration and all thanks for sharing. Very helpful!
Awesome way to keep track of the freezer food. One of the “dark holes” of food storage! Hope to try and get mine more accessible like this. On a side note, I also purchased the same freezer at Costco; but in the capital city of Alaska it costs $100.00 more 😢
Keep on giving us such informative videos. Much appreciated!
Great information!
Super nice Pam and Jim! 👍
This is fabulous! Thank you for such great ideas. Merry Christmas!
This is wonderful! I really need to do this very soon.
On Acre homestead channel, Becky uses shopping boxes or bags to organize her chest freezer. She puts her different types of meats, vegetables, etc in each bag or box. I don’t have any chest freezers but I like how she has organized hers. The boxes have handles and are rare sided so you can stack them.
Sounds like a great idea. Thanks for sharing.
I have been searching for something for my freezer. Thank you!
Wow! Very nice!!
Marvelous video and a huge inspiration! Looking forward to the book.
Great job. I'm going to attempt to do this - or at least something similar. Thanks for the information.
I think I'm jealous of your organized freezers. 😊
You have done a beautiful job Enjoys your videos. Love
This is impressive! Time to get to work on mine.
This is great! Thanks for sharing.
Glad you enjoyed it! Jim
I love the list on the outside by shelves and I will be using it
Good job! Very nice.
Love the Costco freezer!
Thank you so much this video is a game changer
That freezer you found with the bins would be a great find for sure!
Soooo many great ideas, I already use the veggies in smaller proportions thanks to your earlier video, you got my brain working on overtime for new ways of preserving food in my freezer, thank you!
Pam and Jim, you two are awesome. Thank you for your guidance, time, knowledge in helping us to be prepared. I will be organizing my freezer with your suggestions. I plan on doing meals in a jar using dehydrated and freeze dried ingredients. Thank you again.
You did a wonderful job organizing. I like the Costco freezer too.
I use pillow cases for lack of this idea, you are amazing! I feel so inadequate. (Sp)