how to list contents of freezers?

homealone_2

am fed up of trying to remember what lurks in the deepest recesses of my chest freezer in my cupboard, plus the freezer in the kitchen and then trying to remember what gets added to these when special offers turn up on my weekly shop. it is particularly hard as although lucky that son does the cooking i dont have daily access to the food areas so lose track easily. so today put my foot down and itemised everything so that from now on i can menu plan which should make it easier for my son and save money as we had to throw a lot away that gone very crystal looking on top so was obviously in there to long! also will be able to add and take away food from now on too now that i know whats there. what i was wondering was if anyone had any kind of list or spreadsheet that is already set up that perhaps i could use???? thanks in advance for an tips

Chocmonster7

I just use a sheet of paper stuck to the front of the freezer with a magnet. When I take something out I cross it off the list and vice versa when something gets added.

hollyh

This is how i do it too. Although my big freezer has died so i'm back to using the freezer from the FF which is tiny so no chance of anything getting lost.:rolleyes:

lil_me

homealone wrote: »

am fed up of trying to remember what lurks in the deepest recesses of my chest freezer in my cupboard, plus the freezer in the kitchen and then trying to remember what gets added to these when special offers turn up on my weekly shop. it is particularly hard as although lucky that son does the cooking i dont have daily access to the food areas so lose track easily. so today put my foot down and itemised everything so that from now on i can menu plan which should make it easier for my son and save money as we had to throw a lot away that gone very crystal looking on top so was obviously in there to long! also will be able to add and take away food from now on too now that i know whats there. what i was wondering was if anyone had any kind of list or spreadsheet that is already set up that perhaps i could use???? thanks in advance for an tips

Crystals don't mean they have been there a long time, always defrost and check to see if it can be used.

As for a list, it so depends on what you have in. A good way is a white board marker and a laminated sheet of what you usually have in, you can add extras, then just a section for how many of each you have.

Stickers on anything you have and when it was bought would help, you can write on masking tape I find works. The dates could be put onto the list of contents so you know what was bought when.

[Deleted User]

I have only my fridge freezer in the kitchen and what I do is type up a list going from top shelf,middle shelf,bottom shelf in order on a word document, date the top of it, and update it every month .Cross out what has been eaten and write on it if I put something new in there.Stick it on the fridge with magnets and its sorted I also do a list on the inside of my tin cupboards of whats in there on each particular shelf then also cross things off as I use them.Makes life so much easier as you know what's available and if you run short or use the last of something just stick it on your shopping list. I must admit I have been a bit more ruthless of late as I am trying to run down my freezer so I can defrost it hopefully before Christmas. Shopping from my cupboards and freezer is good for my economy drive as well. Its good now and again to see how much food you actually have stored apart from the date expiry element it really is money sitting on your shelf. Tonight I had a salad with a small tin of tuna and a small tin of sweetcorn and have enough sweetcorn and tuna left to have in a jacket spud for lunch tomorrow. I mixed the tuna up with some garlic mayo that I had in the fridge to give it a bit more flavour and it was delicious. Once the weather changes I have quite a bit of stuff in the freezer for slow-cooking, lamb shanks ham hocks and liver ect.So I'm saving that for chillier days.

piglet6

I'm like JackieO in that I do a Word document with top/middle/bottom shelves listed, and update as I use stuff - but I don't print it out. I just keep it on the computer, but as I am constantly updating it, it never really falls out of my last 10 used files, so is always easily to hand. :rolleyes:

The only other thing I do is colour code stuff. Meat = red, Fish = blue, Poultry = yellow, Vegetables = Green and Bread = purple. Miscellaneous extras that don't fall easily into these categories stay in black. This just means that I can tell at a glance what I am "freezer-heavy" with so I know that to keep an eye out for in the reduced section - i.e. if the list is looking very purple or very blue, I know to stock up with meat bargains if they are available but to hold off on buying another 6 loaves of bread or lots more fish, and vice versa!

Piglet

LJM

i keep lists of what i have in cupboards,fridge and freezer and pop them inside my cupboard doors,makes it easier to see when something needs replacing and my stock gets rotated regularly

Olliebeak

Love the idea of Freezer Lists - especially the tip about 'Colour Coding' for veg/fish/meat etc - thanks for that one, piglet :T.

Wondering about doing this in an Excel Document instead of Word - hmm ........

I sense an 'organisation day' coming on today :j!

JoKay_2

Love the colour coding idea Piglet... I'm off to update my list..... :T

Bunny200

I have an excel spreadsheet with types of food and then the items listed below, e.g. Bread Products, Fruit/Veg, Meat, Meals (leftovers, batch cooking), Fish. I print it out and try to remember to update it when I take something out or add to it but must admit its something that sometimes works well and sometimes doesn't. It comes into its own thought when I menuplan as I do it for a month, I update the freezer list and then plan the menu around that and then I know what else I need to buy for the month.

P.S. someone on here mentioned OneNote which I'm a convert to now instead of word & excel it allows you to consolidate things in one place so I use that now.

Olliebeak

Olliebeak wrote: »

Love the idea of Freezer Lists - especially the tip about 'Colour Coding' for veg/fish/meat etc - thanks for that one, piglet :T.

Wondering about doing this in an Excel Document instead of Word - hmm ........

I sense an 'organisation day' coming on today :j!

Have just completed my Freezer Lists - :eek:! Wonder if Asda will have me barred from the shop at my own request ?