5 Steps To Maintainable Freezer Organization
Freezers tend to become an ‘out of sight, out of mind’ area of the home, and sometimes get overlooked when it comes to organizing. But an organized freezer really can make your day to day life more joyful. No really, I promise! With every item in its place, it can be simpler than ever for you to actually know what’s in your freezer, and truly utilize your inventory to its fullest potential.
Think of freezer organization like packing a suitcase. We all love an organized suitcase, because it makes it easy to maximize the space and find something on the go right when you need it. Let’s compare bin storage in the freezer to packing cubes in the suitcase. Rolling your clothes compactly into each cube is similar to our ‘file freeze’ method. The same way that you organize your clothes in your suitcase is how you should maintain freezer organization, just over a longer period of time.
With these five tips, we hope to help you revolutionize your freezer space, and simplify your day to day life as well, with a beautifully organized space for your frozen goods!
1 Start Fresh
As you do with any space you’re organizing, start by taking everything out of your freezer. Follow-up by wiping down the space, and taking inventory of what you have. If items look freezer burned or very old, toss them to make space for the things you actually will use, and need a home for. Sort out what you have left, grouping like-items together for functional storage.
2 Categorize & Sort
Categorize and separate items with the use of bins. Once you’ve grouped items together, place them into bins to maintain the categories you have created for your freezer. Save space by getting rid of product boxes, and use bins instead. For example, remove popsicles from their box and use a clear bin instead.
3 Containment
Airtight tupperware is essential for keeping frozen items fresh and maintained in your freezer. Using clear tupperware allows for visibility as well, so you never have to play a guessing game of where your food items are stored.
4 Labels
Label and date your bins and tupperware, to not only make locating your items simple, but also to create an effective system for your next grocery haul. Dating your items helps you keep track of when an item was put in the freezer, as well as the shelf-life of the item. This will prevent you from having expired or forgotten food items taking up space in your freezer. For dating your items, we recommend these smudge resistant, dry erase label stickers.
5 File-Freeze
This can also be referred to as the zip-lock bag method, which allows you to file away your foods by laying them flat, or side by side to save space. Think of this as similar to rolling clothes in a suitcase. By containing products in bags and laying them out strategically, you can maximize the space you have in your freezer in an orderly way.
Once you’ve organized, don’t forget to keep an eye on expiration dates periodically. Eliminating expired foods is a great way to free up your space, so it can be reserved for foods that will be better utilized.
FREEZER TIP: Store items you want to keep extra cold, like ice cream, towards the back of the freezer. The closer they are to the freezer door, the less cold they will be as the door is the warmest part of your freezer.
As you master organization in other spaces of your home, remember that your freezer can receive this same attention too! This is an area you frequent, so having a system in place can make all the difference in your daily routine. There’s nothing better than having a maintainable system in place, especially in an area you frequent! No matter how you go about it, remember that your inventory will change over time and that’s perfectly okay. These systems of organization are always flexible, and should make it possible to adjust over time as your inventory evolves!