Shiney new freezer (freezer management tips needed)

cattybags

Just married, and we bought a shiny new freezer with some John Lewis vouchers given to us by friends. It should get to us either today or tomorrow.
Now I know what I'm like, so I'm being tough with myself.
I don't want our new freezer to end up as a last place of rest for all my "bargains" that I never use, so I need some tips on freezer management please. Also, while I don't want to be spending a fortune on freezer bags, boxes etc, I want to do things successfully, so should I go and buy some made for the job containers or is it ok to reuse other containers?
300L Chest freezer. :T yay!

mouseymousey99

Mine is really simple - keep like things together - I have a drawer for veg, a drawer for meat etc etc. That way I can see easily what I've got. You'll get loads of tips - best wishes!

Pink.

Hi cattybags,

Welcome to MSE :hello:

My biggest tip for the freezer is to keep a notebook and write everything that goes into it and cross it off when it comes out as it's so easy to forget what you have in there.

There are lots of good ideas on these threads that should help:

Freezer containers (merged threads)

Are you a FLOP? Who has the most organised freezer?

what essentials do you have in your freezer

Cooking for the Freezer..

Meal building blocks for the freezer


Pink

flissh

I try to freeze things in block shape to make them easy to store. (got that idea from here somewhere :-) I use an oblong shaped tupperware type container, put the stuff in, eg left over bolognese sauce was the last thing I froze, get it out when frozen, remove from container, put in bag, label, put back in freezer. That way most things in there are oblong shaped, so easy to stack. Container is not left in freezer so can be used again.
I have tried keeping a log of freezer contents, but I'm too lazy to do this. Though when I tried it it worked very well. Might go back to it, in supreme super housewifely effort:D

LameWolf

Make sure to use things in rotation. For instance, I keep boxes of veggie hot dogs in, and when I buy more, I put them at the bottom of the pile, so that the oldest get used first.

If you're cooking for the freezer, label and date what you put in there, for the same reason.

Keep similar things together - I have an upright freezer, so I have a drawer for meat substitutes (I'm a veggie), one for friut, etc. but I'm sure you can do similar with a chest freezer.

Very best of luck.