Learning to organize your freezer is an essential part of the kitchen. It will make you more confident when cooking because you know what is actually in there, and you will reduce your grocery budget for a while to use up the food you have. I give you 10 easy steps to conquer your freezer whenever you feel it needs it.
The freezer is a bottomless pit that swallows food whole. For a long time, I didn’t even know what I had at the back of my freezer. Eventually, I couldn’t fit the freezer food I was buying into it because it was already full of the food I had forgotten was in there. That is stressful and causes me to decide what food I need to cook to make room, which isn’t ideal for anyone!
Everytime that I feel overwhelmed in the kitchen, I know that it is time to organize the freezer, fridge, or pantry. Cleaning the freezer helps me feel like my home is clean and it helps reduce my grocery budget because I know what food there is to use up!
Step 1 – You have entered the NO BUY FREEZER CHALLENGE!!!
Challenge yourself to not buy anything for the freezer for 1 month. You cannot organize a stuffed space. If you want to organize you need to create space for the organization to work in.
If you are motivated to clean today, why don’t you spend that motivation planning meals for the week to use up the food you can see in the freezer right now! Making this plan will help you: save money by buying less freezer food, have an answer to the dreaded question, “what is for dinner?”, and it helps future you who will be cleaning the freezer. That is a three for one deal!
Step 2 – Throw it or Donate it
After one month of not buying anything you probably have gotten through all the stuff you typically have in your freezer. This leaves you with the stuff that got lost. Maybe it is a fun new freezer meal you wanted to try or it is that freezer burned bread that you aren’t sure is good any more. The first thing to do is to get rid of the foods you know you will not eat. foodpantries.org helps you find food pantries in your area that you can contact about donations.
Step 3 – Measure the Freezer length, depth (width), and height.
If you want to use bins to organize you need to know the size you need them to be. Once you have the measurements then you can shop around your house for bins that will fit, or you can buy bins that you feel like will work. I recommend bins with easy grip options because they will be cold.
Step 4 – Grab Your Tools to Organize Your Freezer
I like to clean thoroughly, so I start by grabbing the cooler and a pair of warm gloves so that I can work as slowly as I want without worrying that things are melting.
Having everything gathered makes it go faster when you organize your freezer!
Tools to help organize your freezer:
Cooler, gloves, bins, tape, sticky notes, marker, cleaning cloth, cleaning spray
Step 5 – Empty it out!
You have two options to empty it out. You can empty out one space at a time or empty everything at one time. Think about how much time you have and if you will be interrupted often.
Priority foods go in the cooler that way anything that has to be left out is not a concern.
Step 6 – Deep Clean it!
Your freezer is as empty as it has been for a while so clean it right! YOU deserve a clean freezer too. I use warm water with a splash of vinegar in it to wipe down the freezer.
Step 7 – Try the Bins
Wash the bins and take off any stickers. Now is the time to try out how all the bins fit in your empty freezer together. It would be sad to fill them up then realize that they don’t all fit together like you thought. Find a system that works together that moves easily.
Step 7.5 – No Bins, No Problem
I don’t use bins. Labeling zones of the freezer helps me and my family stay organized. I have one corner for each type of food (see step 8) so that I know where to look.
Step 8 – Label the Spaces
You have the bin situation handled. Now take a minute to think about all the food you took out of the freezer. It should all fit into similar categories. I like to test the labels with sticky notes first before I tape on the real labels.
Labels to help you organize your freezer:
Veggies, Fruit, Meat, Desserts, Leftovers, Prepped Meals, Kids Food
You have an idea of how much of each category you have. Assign bins or corners to the categories you have.
If you live with others, you can try to label the bins or the corners so that they know where things go. Remember that no one will care about how you organize your freezer as much as you do, so have grace with the others. Even if you are the only one who cares, cleaning up after the others will be much easier because you have a plan.
Step 9 – Put it All Back In – Actually Organize Your Freezer!
You now have to put everything back into the freezer in the right space.
Step 9.5 – Random Extras? Doesn’t fit?
Do you have a few special foods that don’t fit in the system? It sounds like you know what you are making for dinner this week!
Step10 – Try it for a month or two.
Test out your organization for a month or two and see how it goes. What problems come up? What is working really well? Adjust as you need to, but you are more organized than you were before!
You have finished organizing your freezer! You can rest easy knowing that you know where everything is and how much of everything you have. Cheers to you for doing something nice and helping create a confident home for yourself!
Organized Freezer Tips Wanted!
Please share your favorite freezer organization tips below!
Other Posts You May Enjoy
How to Organize Your Pantry for Good
How to Organize Your Fridge for Good
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