The eternal freezer emptying/restocking question

Primrose

We have a large ancient upright freezer in our garage which holds our main supply of frozen stuff. Every so often it needs to be defrosted, after which I start with the best of intentions, making an inventory and trying to meal plan and run it down. My OH meanwhile is busily restocking it with shopping bargains as he finds them so we struggle with trying to use up older stuff which gets shoved to the back of the non-removable shelves. Does anybody else have this problem? Does anybody actually run their freezer down to 'Empty' and start again?. We seem to restock faster than we can use up and as soon as the freezer fills up my stock rotation efficiency evaporates!

rachbc

I now have frost free but when I didn't I'd run down as much as possible, put what was left in a cool box/ wrap well in newspaper and blankets and get the freezer defresosted asap with the hairdryer/ bowsl of boiling water so it was only off for a few hours. If anything raw defrsoted too much then it'd be cooked and out back in as hm ready meal.

Barneysmom

Our freezer is always too full. I often say we'll have to run it down, then I'll see an offer or 3 at the supermarket and I buy more.

This new one we've got is about 8 inches taller than the last one too

pigpen

BEFORE I buy new stock I shift all the older suff to the top shelves then fill it from the bottom.. that way I always have immediate access to the older stuff without having to empty it!!

this has worked for the last several years!!

Primrose

rachbc - Is your frost free stored in a garage? Our freezer is over 30 years old now and I rather dread its inevitably expiry because I've read that the new frost free freezers don't survive well in cold surroundings, fail quite quickly and need to operate in an environment where the temperature doesn't fall too low. Our garage gets very cold in winter and I suspect that we might have problems finding a suitable replacement when the time comes which won't be vulnerable to this problem.

maman

Primrose, I've made myself very disciplined about keeping a list of everything that goes in/comes out of my freezers. You could date the entries if that helped you to rotate stock. Then each week I write my shopping list with my freezer list in front of me but like your OH I do buy bargains as well so that I rarely have to pay full price for meat. I sometimes try to run it down, especially pre-Christmas but generally end up with the newspapers and blankets routine!

IsoChick

I do the same as Maman...

I try and keep a freezer inventory, and make sure that every week I use up something from the freezer, but also put something else back in.

I did a mega cook-a-thon on Sunday and put into the freezer:
Chilli - 2 portions
Shepherds pie (base only) - 2 portions
Mashed potato - 6 portions
Beef, mushroom and red wine pie (base only) - 4 portions
Bacon and Sweetcorn chowder - 2 portions
Half a roast chicken (meat only, no bones)

I'll make sure that when I do my next 2 weekly meal plan, I use up a couple of things from previous weeks, but also that I do some batch cooking and drop a few things in the freezer as well.

I'll also often have a day over the weekend where I do a good old rummage and make sure nothing has escaped to the back, or needs using up etc.

Obviously, I do have my staples in the freezer, which usually consist of - frozen chips, fishfingers, bread (sliced and buns), stock, frozen veg, at least one packet of kiev's/chicken pieces etc for emergencies. Plus I dump all my meat from my shopping straight into the freezer after I've bought it, and just get it out when necessary.

ariba10

Primrose wrote: »

rachbc - Is your frost free stored in a garage? Our freezer is over 30 years old now and I rather dread its inevitably expiry because I've read that the new frost free freezers don't survive well in cold surroundings, fail quite quickly and need to operate in an environment where the temperature doesn't fall too low. Our garage gets very cold in winter and I suspect that we might have problems finding a suitable replacement when the time comes which won't be vulnerable to this problem.

We have a chest freezer that is kept in the garage.

Bought from ICELAND a few years ago that was recommended for outbuildings use.

I don't see it listed now but it might be worth you enquiring.

The problem is that if you do need a new one, you will want it fast.

rachbc

No, mines in the ktichen. I know there is more to go wring with frost free andthey are less efficient but I wouldn't chang eback now - too many years of chipping the ice off everything to get to it for me.