August 17, 2014
7 Freezer Organization Tips
People seemed to like my post about how to organize your refrigerator, so why not give the freezer some love as well? Besides, I think my freezer is probably way more in need of a sorting than my fridge, as today I pulled out not one, not two, but three containers of frozen pumpkin. If you’re looking to avoid flying containers of unidentifiable freezer-burned foods, and looking for a labeled eden of freezer-dom, then here are 7 tips for an organized freezer:
3. Freeze things flat – much easier to stack and organize, simply fill a freezer bag with the food and lay it flat to freeze, then stack as you need.
4. Choose the right containers – Your food should be packed as airtight as possible, which means choosing the right size container for what you need, using bags or containers designed to be frozen, and double wrapping everything if you use tin foil. I recently invested in these really nice glass containers in varying sizes and it has been life-changing.
5. Use organizers – wait… use organizers to get organized? Why, that’s just crazy. Freezers generally have limited shelving, and while frozen foods that are stackable are great, it also leads to piles of frozen mess. Categorize the food containers for even more label fun.
6. Don’t store ice cream in the door – the warmest part of the freezer, put things here that you don’t mind defrosting a little, like nuts or alcohol.
7. Label – one of my favourite things to do ever, and essential if you never want to confuse tomato sauce and pumpkin puree ever again. You could also weigh or measure what you’re freezing and add that to the label, you know, just for fun. (Seriously, why has no one bought me a label maker yet?).
- Know what’s freezable – avoid freezing foods with a high moisture content like cucumber or watermelon, the only exception would be if you plan to toss them in a smoothie, where the thawing process won’t make as much of a difference. Avoid freezing creamy foods, like custards or yogurt. Generally, baked goods, meats, stews, and broths are good candidates for freezing. When in doubt: google it.
- Freeze in usable portions – a lesson I learned too often from the frozen clump of food substances I find from being too lazy to actually separate the food I’m freezing.
3. Freeze things flat – much easier to stack and organize, simply fill a freezer bag with the food and lay it flat to freeze, then stack as you need.
4. Choose the right containers – Your food should be packed as airtight as possible, which means choosing the right size container for what you need, using bags or containers designed to be frozen, and double wrapping everything if you use tin foil. I recently invested in these really nice glass containers in varying sizes and it has been life-changing.
5. Use organizers – wait… use organizers to get organized? Why, that’s just crazy. Freezers generally have limited shelving, and while frozen foods that are stackable are great, it also leads to piles of frozen mess. Categorize the food containers for even more label fun.
6. Don’t store ice cream in the door – the warmest part of the freezer, put things here that you don’t mind defrosting a little, like nuts or alcohol.
7. Label – one of my favourite things to do ever, and essential if you never want to confuse tomato sauce and pumpkin puree ever again. You could also weigh or measure what you’re freezing and add that to the label, you know, just for fun. (Seriously, why has no one bought me a label maker yet?).
