Professional Organizer Tips For Budget Freezer Organizing
These organizing methods for freezer organization on a budget are ideal for keeping your budget in tact and your family fed! Check our tips today!
Is your freezer organized? If not, you could be spending more money on groceries than you need to. I am excited to help you by turning to Professional Organizer Tips For Budget Freezer Organization. This year, we will focus on tons of organizational tools that professionals have given us to really make the most of your home to save money and increase your excess budget.
When you buy meat that you already have, you could be wasting money by letting the older meat sit in the freezer without being used. Usually, this is caused by a freezer that is so disorganized that you can’t tell what you have and what you don’t. Food gets buried at the bottom, and by the time you find it, it’s rock hard, freezer burnt, and no longer safe for a human to eat. We’ve already given you tools for how to save money on meat up front; now I am going to give you the top professional organizer tips on how to keep your freezer organized, so all of those deals don’t go to waste!
Professional Organizer Tips For Budget Freezer Organizing
You don’t have to spend your entire paycheck on organizing supplies to get your freezer organized. In fact, you can organize your freezer on a budget very quickly once you know where to get started. To begin, let’s talk about the investment of a deep freeze.
Buy the right freezer for your storage needs. When you start using a freezer to store excess food, you need to consider using more than just the freezer on top of your refrigerator. While that is great for a few items, really packing it can create problems. When it is overpacked, you create crowding that results in food not staying cold enough. It’s much safer to store food in an upright freezer or a deep freezer. Choose a freezer according to the amount of food you think
Even though I personally like to store a lot in our chest freezer, including wild game like venison, bison, and occasionally duck, I still prefer the chest style freezer over an upright. That’s just my preference. I recommend going into an appliance store and testing out how it feels to bend, reach, and stoop as if you were grabbing items from the freezer to choose which model works best. Compare prices online before you purchase. You’ll often find them on sale at better prices online than in the store.
To get started, you’ll need to gather a few supplies. I have a simple list of things I find my must-haves when working with freezing foods. Let’s get real here. If you put it in the freezer, sometimes it doesn’t come out tasting as fresh as the day it went in. So, you want to make sure you do the most you can to ensure it will. That’s why these supplies are a must in my book.
- Food Saver or Quality Food Storage Containers
- Reusable Food Labels
- Sharpies
- Wire Baskets and Plastic Bins for Freezers
Purge your existing freezer. Once you’ve got your supplies gathered, head to the freezer and pull everything out of it. Go through it as you’re removing it to be sure that the only items you keep are still able to be eaten. If they’re not, set them aside if you have a dog because they’re still good to make homemade dog food. If not, you haven’t got much of a choice but to pitch them.
When in doubt, check the Food Safety List for tips on what is best to keep or throw away. I am a firm believer in the adage of, “when in doubt throw it out,” but some feel that is wasteful.
Organize your freezer. If you left your meat in its store package, pull it out of those packages and using the Ziploc bags, repackage it. You may need to let it thaw a bit, but do not let it thaw completely. If you come across meat that you have more than what you can reasonably freeze before it goes bad, thaw it out and cook it. Freeze it in clearly marked baggies with the date on them and use it within three months of the cooking date. Cooking the meat can help extend its freezer life.
When cooking meat and refreezing, it is vital that you make sure you are allowing it to cook thoroughly, cool completely, and then labeling well and freezing properly. Always practice safety first, so there is no concern with foodborne illness later down the road.
Label everything properly. If you can’t remember when you bought it, try to at least get close to the month and year. If not, use today’s date and mark it with an exclamation point (!) so that you know that you need to use it first. If you have a Foodsaver on hand, skip using regular freezer bags and instead, use Foodsaver bags to help extend the life of your food. Again, refer to the Food Safety List above in the case of any concern for when something should be thrown out.
Store for easy access. Take the baskets that you bought and put one type of food in each. This means you’ll likely have a basket for chicken, hamburger, other beef products, and pork at the very least. You’ll also want to have a basket or two for foods that aren’t meat but go in your freezer as well. This would include things like frozen pizzas if you eat them, butter if you freeze it and so on.
Separating foods lie this makes it easy to locate what you need in a hurry, and also makes it easy to sort things by date. When following a professional organizer tips for anything to do with food storage, they will remind you to always store the newest in the back and oldest in the front. That way you are sure to always use/eat the oldest first and keep a proper rotation going at all times.
As you can see, these are some simple professional organizer tips that are ideal for keeping your freezer organized perfectly to help you stay in budget. You’ll be able to keep everything in order in your freezer, and easily be able to stay in budget to keep your meal plans on target with no issue.
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