I have a monstrous amount of food in my freezer, and I think it’s alive. It’s a little sticky, and it’s got some nasty hard edges. Yesterday when I went down there to dig up some strawberries and cherries from the depths, it leapt onto my hand. I am sure it was trying to suck me in.
I have a freezer packed full of fruit, jam, and other goodies from the rest of the growing season. This is wonderful. However, I must admit that it’s really quite hard to delve into the depths of the freezer and come out intact. I’m looking for ways to keep track of what I have and access it easily.
If you also fear the freezer’s depths, here are some tips that I’ll be implementing in my own freezer.
Label, label, label. While I don’t need to do this as much, since my freezer is stocked with readily-identifiable fruit, if you’re freezing things in identical bags it is good to label them. That way you know what it is you’re thawing to eat tonight. Label them on the top strip of the bag if you’re storing all of them upright. Label them with the date you stored them too.
Insert boxes or other containers. This one I’m definitely going to do. Stores have old boxes that you can use to store items in. Choose long, thin boxes with enough room to dig into, and you’ll have cheap, ready-made pockets for your freezer goodies. I need to separate the different fruits and veggies that are in my freezer, so this is perfect for me. Since I live in a town where coffee is an obsession and coffee waste is abundant, I’m thinking of getting big burlap coffee sacks instead. Or perhaps I will use colorful cloth bags, coded according to what’s in them.
Check before you freeze. Go through your freezer and check on your goodies so that you don’t miss out and have freezer items go bad. Dig to the very bottom and see what’s under there in the spring before you start to plan this year’s freezer bounty.
How do you organize your deep freeze?
Image Credit: Jacinda Walker / CC by 2.0