Organize Your Freezer with Bags
Organizing your Chest Freezer
When you look at the current state of my freezer its very obvious changes are needed. The freezer we have is about 20 years old and working fine. We refuse to replace it until necessary. When it finally gives up we will replace it with a small upright freezer, but in the meantime I am trying organization.
The freezer is located just off the kitchen in our unheated garage. Through the winter I ask the men to go grab for me, or I use whats in the fridge. I avoid the cold garage at all costs.
Last spring I used various shopping bags we have kicking around to organize the freezer. I printed out a legend of what style of bag was for what, but it was cumbersome to remember which coloured bag was for what item. This post fixes that.
Organize the Freezer with whats on Hand
Dividing up the freezer into categories works. You spend a little longer sorting groceries into the bags, but it is much easier to see what you have or may need. The bags work really well as you can lift them out easily, tie them if you want to and label them according to your families shopping habits. If you don’t have bags you can do the same thing with boxes, but I much prefer using cloth bags.
Here are some Category ideas:
Fish
Casseroles
Fruit
Luncheon Meat[
Pork
Bread & Buns
Ice Cream
Soups
Pre-made
Vegetables
Bacon
Labelled Grocery Bags
Take whatever bags you have available. If you are buying them I recommend all cloth bags. The plastic coated ones tend to melt when ironed and are harder to stencil on. I did not buy specific bags, I made due using some plastic coated ones and ironed very carefully.
Using freezer paper create some stencils with your cutting machine. I used Playbill font and size 288, If you don’t have a cutting machine use your computer and print out your category labels and then cut out the letters.
Iron the freezer paper shiny side down onto the grocery bag. Let cool.
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Using whatever paint you have available paint the stencils. Let dry. Repeat coats if necessary.
I found that on some of the bags the plain white lettering did not show really well. I solved it by outlining the lettering with a black sharpie marker.
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Sort your freezer contents into the bags. Place the filled bags back into the freezer.
Let me know what you think about my idea. I know for certain that its better than the toss in the freezer method. Do you think finding what you want when you want it will help with cutting food costs? Do you have any other categories that I should include?
Enjoy your week!
Leanna
This is a genius idea!!! No more having to turn your freezer upside down looking for things!!
We have an upright freezer, but it still gets disorganized. These bags are a wonderful idea. And they would keep everything sliding into each other!! Thank you for sharing at TaDa Thursday!!
I would not have thought of this. I have a vacuum food saver machine that I use to do things individually. If I had a chest type that would work great, but we have an upright and it is really easy to see what is in it since it is just like the fridge. Your bags and stencil idea are great!
I love this idea! And so brilliant to use bags you already have on hand. I can’t wait to try this. Pinned and sharing. Thank you for joining us at Family Joy Blog Link-Up Party. I hope you will join our next party starting Sunday at noon EST.
I did this a couple of years ago, my freezer was out of control. I use plastic milk crates to keep food separated. They great for separating different types of food and they stack nicely in the freezer. Pinned
Thank you for sharing at the Creative Muster. Robin | Fluster Buster
This is something I really need to do. I hate digging in ours trying to find something. I don’t like my fingers getting cold and nearly frost bitten 🙂 Hubby usually does it. I like the idea of the labeled bags. Thanks Leanna from Grammy Dee, #WednesdayAIM #LinkUp #BlogParty, social media shared.
I love this idea! Grab the bag you need and find what you are looking for easily. Awesome. Thanks for sharing at #HomeMattersParty 🙂
~Lorelai
Life With Lorelai
Oh, I so need this post. We have one of those annoying side-by-side fridges and it is impossible to find anything because we have little horizontal space. #wineddown
Hi June: It makes me happy to know my idea will help you out. Organizing is a non stop effort but it beats getting buried in clutter, or throwing out food because you misplaced it.
Thank you for commenting. It makes my happy.
Leanna
Very clever and colorful way to organize your freezer! Thanks for the tips! Blessings, Janet
My freezer doesn’t look much different than your before shot :). Love the idea of labeling freezer bags to get organized.
Hi Tara: It helps lots and you can use whatever paint you have on hand. I hope you make them. Let me know how it works out for you.
Leanna
That is such a clever idea for a large chest freezer. We have a small upright under the fridge now but when I was a kid we had a big ol’ chest freezer in the garage and I remember being sent in for things and almost falling in trying to find things at the bottom. Your labeled bag idea is brilliant. I imagine it will help with wastage too as if you can find things you don’t buy them again unnecessarily. Thanks for sharing at #HandmadeMonday
Hi Julie: It is great co-hosting the Home Matters Party with you. I envy your that little upright.
During the Christmas season though I still need the big freezer, but I would love to save the floor space in the garage.
It really does help with wastage and with knowing what you need.
Hi Leanna, just to let you know your clever idea is one of the features at #handmadeMonday this week 🙂
I love it!!!! I need it!!!! What a great idea! My frozen foods are everywhere! Those little bags will make it easy because we are always moving things in and out of the house to the freezer in the garage! Thanks for sharing such a great idea! #HomeMattersParty
Jeannee
Hi Caroline: Thank you for stopping by and taking the time to comment.
I tried to find as many different kinds of bags as I could find to make them more identifiable by type. They are bit “flashy” lol
Great idea. so colourful too!
Hi Caroline: Thank you for stopping by and taking the time to comment.
I tried to find as many different kinds of bags as I could find to make them more identifiable by type. They are bit “flashy” lol
This is such a smart idea!
Hi Jenny: Glad you like them. They do work pretty well, at least until I get a new upright.
Enjoy your week. Leanna
What a great idea, we never know what’s in our freezer.
Hi Lucy: It doesn’t take long to make the bags and if you do decide to do it. Line the bags up, add a garbage bag for mystery packs and you can have your freezer cleaned out in twenty minutes.
It took me about ten to sort everything, so I am sure in 20 your good to go.
I like this idea! I tried to do something similar with our downstairs freezer, except I didn’t label the outside of the bags.
Hi Darcy. I did the unmarked bags for a year or so as well. I even went ahead and made a legend and put it on freezer top. I think the labels and unloading the bags into the freezer myself will make all the difference.
Thank you for commenting. Its really nice to know whose reading and what your thoughts are. Leanna
Oh that’s so much better than just tossing everything in the freezer Leanna. Ours is a right mess and it’s because everything is just thrown in without any thought on how we’ll identify it later. I have a whole bunch of canvas bags that would be perfect for this too. Thanks so much
Hi Michelle: It works really well if your persistent when its time to sort groceries. I really appreciate the bags when it comes time to figure out what we actually have and what we need. .
The chest style freezers always seem like the hardest to organize – stuff gets lost at the bottom. At least that is what used to happen with ours, then we moved and now we have an old dinosaur of an upright. I think it’s great you have a method to help with freezer organization. I really need to work on mine. #HomeMattersParty
Hi Nicole: I am waiting and waiting and waiting for an upright. I can see the pretty labelled shelves now.
Thank you for co-hosting with me. Enjoy your week. Leanna
Keeping track of what’s on hand in my freezer is a nightmare. I only buy meat when it’s on sale and there have been weeks where it’s chicken every night because I didn’t realize I was out of other options.
Hi Vanessa: I get frustrated when everything is sliding around and crushing other things like fresh bread. Putting them in bags definitely controls the chaos. I recommend labels though even if its written on with a Sharpee.
Thank you for taking the time to comment and sharing your thoughts. I think my sons could eat chicken strips every night. Me not so much lol.
I hear you on the bread! I get upset when the wrap on the meat gets punctured too. Bags would fix all of that!
They really do. Sometimes the easiest solutions make the best results.
I really need to organize our freezer. We’re constantly digging to find what we need. Labeled bags are such a great idea! #HomeMattersParty
Hi Sarah: I find it much easier to find what I need and know what I have in the freezer.