Organizing Your Freezer

With a family of 7, a husband who hunts, and buying things in bulk, it seems as though freezer space is always at a premium.  Not only do we have our kitchen fridge/freezer, but we have an additional one out in the garage.  We also have a chest freezer and we just purchased an upright freezer as well.

I am not a huge fan of chest freezers.  Everything seems to get lost in the abyss and it is not easily organized.  So that is why I was super excited to find an upright freezer on the local classified ads website for a great price!  I love that it takes up the same footprint as my chest freezer, but I'm able to hold so much more and keep it organized!

I unloaded everything from my chest freezer and put it into my upright freezer.  I purchased lots of inexpensive bins at the local dollar store.  No need for expensive bins here!

My top shelf I loaded all of my newer Zaycon Chicken.  Last November I had purchased 80 lbs of chicken and I've used about half.  But because the price of beef is so high right now, and my husband didn't get an elk this year (it was too warm), we will probably go through it pretty quickly. So I purchased another 40lbs last month.  

My second shelf I loaded with my older Zaycon chicken.  I love Zaycon chicken. I've been ordering it from them for about 5 years.  Their chicken is 100% natural with no added hormones, additives, or artificial ingredients.  And typically it is about $1.99/lb which is incredible!  It comes in 40lb cases, and you do have to trim the meat and package them yourself.  But it is totally worth it for such a great product at a great price.  And Zaycon is a great company too! I have loved purchasing from them.

Update: Zaycon Fresh just announced that chicken will be coming in May/June 2015 for $1.69/lb! That is incredible price! Register now so that you can be notified when it goes on sale in your area!

My third shelf I loaded up with my cinnamon rolls, potatoes, ravioli, and ice cream.

The bottom basket has all my meat (venison and elk that my husband has shot and butchered himself).  As well as a bag of ice for an upcoming event.

The door has all my frozen breads, a few fruits and veggies, as well as my freezer jam and some frozen water bottles.

I like to keep an inventory of what I meat I have.  Besides letting me know how many I started with, it helps me keep track of how fast we go through things so I can plan and budget better.  I write the inventory on the side of the freezer with a wet-erase marker.  It gets updated every couple of months or so.

It makes me so happy to not have to dig through the abyss of the chest freezer in order to find what I need now.  I'd say it is a definite improvement!

Love this post? Be sure to comment! I'd love to hear what you have done to get your freezer space organized!