Most modern freezers have on big drawer at the bottom of the refrigerator, which is a pain in the keister to keep organized. It’s the same problem you have in the sock drawer, but bigger and colder. (And if you find socks in your freezer, that’s an entirely different problem!) Here’s how I finally organized my freezer drawer.
Organizing your freezer might be especially helpful as we head into the holidays and you want to save money or space for all those yummy holiday dinners.
Does this jumble in the freezer look familiar?
I pretty much know what’s in my freezer, so I didn’t have to do the whole “sort-and-purge” thing that we always start with. But maybe your freezer is a bit more of a mystery. If it is, definitely take a minute to see if you can find a few categories in there.
On a whim, I purchased 2 plastic freezer bins from the Container Store, but they are an inch too large, and they’ll have to go back.
Not to be deterred, I scoured the house until I found these metal bins, originally purchased for the kid’s hideaway play space. Since they’ve been empty for the last year, they were fair game for repurposing.
That’s possibly the best organizing advice ever: don’t buy something new to organize until you’ve exhausted all possible options that you may already own.
I used these bins to sort and repack items back into the freezer, but they needed labels so everyone else can help me keep it organized. I mean, can you imagine what’s going to happen if I don’t label these bins? How would anyone else know what’s what? They won’t. So labels it is…
LARGE LABELS
Or, more accurately, large-print labels on these cute coasters from IKEA. Tied on with a bit of bakers twine and secured from the back with electrical tape, these should do the trick.
I got a kick out of my little one this morning when she was packing her lunch. She said, “Whoa, mom. It looks really decorated in here!” She can’t read the labels yet, but she already knew that at least one of the labels probably said “veggies”.
Such a simple, no cost trick can help a mom out in the kitchen. Yes, it took a few minutes to make it happen. But I love that I can see what I’ve got now, and it makes meal planning so much easier. It turns out that I had two bags of fish filets on hand as well as hash browns and corn. Looks like I’ll be making fish corn chowder this week.
What do you think of this organized freezer?
Too much? Too little? Who cares? I’d love to know.
They look just right! We store our meat in the bottom drawer, but it’s always a mess. I should find some boxes for organizing the meat better.
I’ve been wanting to do this forever, not realizing I already had the boxes I needed on hand. But I did find the peas in with the chicken earlier this week. Grrr. Oh well. There are worse things!
Hello, can i ask where you purchased your meshed metal bins in the photo above for your freezer. . I need some like this.
I bought those at HomeGoods ages ago. But I found something similar for you on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B017KBH7CK/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B017KBH7CK&linkCode=as2&tag=heartorgan-20&linkId=GBUMSQ2S3ZECP7U5 Happy organizing!