Using everything in freezer

waspie72

Quackers your not the only one with 3 freezers - my mum is in the same situation as you.. 2 in garage and 1 in house. But she says she still doesn't have enough space.. wouldn't mind but there are only 2 of them in the house! Every time she comes back from shopping my step dad rolls his eyes... Due to lack of kitchen size only got a 4 drawer freezer in fridge/freeze combo - so keeping track on whats on it is easy. But must remember to start putting the labels on the home cooked stuff... take one thing out and end up with something else!!

TKP_3

I am weaning myself off my freezers - we are 2 adults and have 2 large upright freezers (one in the kitchen, one in the garage), and one under counter small one (in the garage).
I have emptied the small one and defrosted/switched that one off. Now we are emptying the large upright in the garage - will take a few months, but I am very careful about what I buy for the freezer so as to empty that one. Meal planning is invaluble for this (thanks OS)!
I am hoping to reduce our electricity bill by having less things going (like 1 freezer instead of 3 )

Edited to say : p.s. I label everything that goes into the freezers - makes life much easier!

stefejb

I am trying to use all the unlabelled stuff in the freezer by the end of the month - tomorrow we are having some orange stuff (might be carrot soup). I am making sure that there is plenty of bread and cheese to hand in case the "experiment" doesn't work out

stef

Bennifred

Oh, this thread has made me laugh! I have a freezer in the kitchen and also a big chest freezer in the garage. DH always knows when I've been shopping because I have to put his great big heavy toolbox on the lid of the one in the garage to keep it closed:cool: . We go through phases of being all businesslike and organised and "eating out of the freezer", but more often than not it's a case of "the freezer's too full, I can't see anything!" or just not fancying what's visible and being too idle to dig down a bit:o We think there may be a woolly mammoth lurking at the bottom:rotfl:

angelatgraceland

Yes I've been in the situation of "too scared to look" too often. I do like the idea of lists on the outside too. I used to keep an inventory on a spreadsheet on the pc so that I could add and subtract from it easily and print off updated lists as often as I want too. Then if I stick them on the freezer it should help. Must leave a pen on a piece of string by the freezer though! I may be adventurous next week or end of the month at latest and do my inventory now there is a little less than at the beginning of the month.

angchris

january is also use up month for me! its time to start eating my way through all the yellow stickered stuff i have bought and thrown in my chest freezer over the course of the year, trouble is my new years resolution was to lose weight (again:o ) and none of it is diet stuff so portion control is needed with the onion bhaji`s etc:rolleyes: and the freezer doesnt seem to be going down at all as im only eating half as much as i was before and adding salad to it. so it looks like my freezer is gonna feed us for an eternity :rotfl:

Horasio

I used to run three freezers and they were full. I now have two and they are full but determined to run them down, even tho' I have a fussy family who are finding my meals odd - tough luck I say to them, seeing as they chose some of the food.

jcr16

ok well this plan has changed quite alot now.

went to freezer this morning to get chicken out, and discovered freezer had been turned off at plug. didn't panic at first as thought i had just done it, but then realised last time i was in shed was monday morning when sorting out the recycling. so it had been nearly 48 hours. i lost everything. apart from crying alot, i guess nothing i can do. it all stunk. so anyway freezer is now having a really good clean.

but i still plan to use everything up in fridge freezer, i have enough for 6 meals of chilli for hubby and i. kids have hm chicken pies , spag bol , fish fingers and some chips. this should last till tuesday which is when new food budget starts. i am so gutted. but trying to see the positive. i do still have enough meals to last us through without buying anymore food. ok so hubby and i will have the same every night , but we do love chilli.

ps , before anyone suggest it . i do have a sticker on plug saying it is freezer so how it happened i don't know.and we are fully insured , but had £56 worth of food and excess is £50.

eryn_kathleen

Wow, this thread is really helpful...

I desperately need to defrost and organise my freezer so I can 'lay in' meals and avoid dreaded takeaway. I've got an under-counter chest freezer. I'd love to upgrade to one with drawers but can't afford it at the moment!

Ours has a basket that hangs from the top and we generally keep ice and veggies in it because we use that most frequently. Everything else goes into the yawning abyss...

I'm planning to get some stacking boxes and labels from Lakeland, but I'm also wondering what Freezeasy Bags are:
http://www.lakeland.co.uk/product.aspx/!1002_1004_1006_1010

Are they special in some way?

TKP_3

eryn_kathleen wrote:

I'm planning to get some stacking boxes and labels from Lakeland, but I'm also wondering what Freezeasy Bags are:
http://www.lakeland.co.uk/product.aspx/!1002_1004_1006_1010

Are they special in some way?

I don't think they are special, but they are what I use for all my freezing. I use size 3 the most (sandwich bag size), and sometimes size 4 (next size up). Personally I think they are great.