Organizing the Freezers

Way back before Brynna was born (you know, like six months ago!), we used to have these things called morning and afternoon chores that addressed one room in the house, with extra cleaning.

 We did the kitchen one day, the bathroom another, and so on. We only spent 15 minutes or so in each room for each session of cleaning, but they really helped to keep the house tidy. Everyone had two jobs in that room–one in the morning and one in the afternoon. 
I miss those chores, and as we are currently revamping all of our schedules and routines for the upcoming school year, can you guess what will be making a comeback?

Anyways, a long intro to the actual meat of the post. My upstairs freezers and fridges were in desperate need of organization and cleaning. 

I used to get the kitchen fridge/freezer once a week as my extra chore, and the utility room one a different day. 

So since we’ve already talked about how long it’s been since we’ve regularly done those chores, I’ll just say that my fridges weren’t pretty! But now they are. 

As a part of cleaning, I wanted to take some overflow down to the two deep freezes in the basement. But…my deep freezes were also in chaos. They were full of who knows what, unorganized and all the good stuff was buried. 

So, I spent the morning removing everything from all the freezers, doing a basic wipe down and then inventorying and organizing. It took over an hour, but I think it was time well spent. 

  
My bigger chest freezer–nicely organized (well the best you can organize these things. Upright freezers are definitely on my wish list for someday!) but for now, I’ll just work on taking better care of the ones I have! 

We haven’t butchered a cow in about two years, but I was super thankful to find a bunch of beef that I didn’t realize was still there. Since we will butcher at the end of summer, I know now what needs to be used up and can build some meals around our current meat inventory. 

I also found a few more packs of venison, and pork, and some seafood I bought but buried and forgot about. 

In order to create an inventory, I took everything out. 

  
I used bags and boxes and just piled things on the basement floor. This is one such pile. I was surrounded! 

Jayme brought me a pen and a piece of paper, and I stuck some empty boxes in the freezer. One for beef, a smaller one for hamburger, one for pork, one for venison, and one for other. 

As I picked up a package, I wrote it on my list, and put it in the right box. I used tally marks, and got a good count of everything.

Then I tackled my smaller chest freezer that’s for fruits and veggies. 

  
Now that I have my chicken scratched notes, I’ll work on typing it into Excel during quiet time. I’ll print it and hang it on the basement door so I can mark off items as I use them. 

I’ll be able to check this list before going shopping each month, so I don’t waste money buying things we don’t need. 

Some things I learned:

• I shouldn’t bring frozen leftovers to the basement. 

1. I had a lot of mystery bags that got thrown out. I had good intentions saving the food, but they were unlabeled and out of sight and mind.

• I need to get better at labeling things I freeze. 

1.    I can’t tell the difference between yogurt and buttermilk when they are both in bags. 
2. I need to put a sharpie in the kitchen for this purpose. And train the kids to leave it there for me! 

Have you created a freezer inventory before? Any tips on keeping it updated?