The Freezer’s Time Has Arrived

I was getting something from the freezer the other day and had to do a little jig to avoid a mashed toe as a chunk of meat slid out and hit the floor - I decided I needed to either organize or wear steel-toed shoes when I need something from it. And the last straw was when Bev asked if I’d like country ham and biscuits for breakfast – a rare treat – and neither of us could find the ham. I opted to organize, especially since the temperatures were more conducive to leaving the doors open for a while – it’s cold in the garage and I can cool the pantry down by opening the door to the garage.

We have two upright freezers that needed to be dealt with – the first is the meat unit used in large part for my BBQ meat and allows me to buy large quantities when the local grocers have a sale. This way I can actually buy cheaper than from a food service company and get just as good or better quality. We do the same with meat for ourselves  – such as buying a whole beef ribeye for cutting into steaks and roasts, getting ground chuck for $1.78, etc. We’ve found we can actually buy cheaper this way than by getting a side of beef and we only buy the pieces we want – I don’t need a dozen packages of liver, but the dogs liked it.

The second is mainly the veggie freezer, used for our garden produce plus other odds and ends longer-storage items like the meat and fish stocks I’ve been making, extra soup, bread, pie crusts, fruit, polar packs, etc. The smaller freezer in the kitchen then gets used for the use-soon or use-often items, such as ice cream, a part bag of hashbrowns, etc.

I started with the meat freezer (I knew it would be less challenging) and only found a couple of things needing relocation, threw nothing away, and took out two deer front quarters to do something with. I forgot to get a before shot, but trust me it was a hoge-poge of everything, but here’s the after pic. I have room for more items, and it’s all together – no need to rifle though everything to find a steak. It’s really hard to restack frozen meat and a few items on the second shelf are headed for the other freezer.

The second freezer was a much bigger job as it was a disaster and I basically took everything out and reloaded it. The first thing I dealt with was the stock, as it was scattered all over, and after seeing how much I had, I considered contacting Swanson to see if they wanted to buy some. I set out several items to become dog food, a few items were moved to the other freezer, and I found the country ham. Here’s the before and after shots and the pile that’s to become trash or dog food. I'd already removed several items from the second shelf when I remembered the photo.  The oldest thing I found was a 5-year old container of pumpkin.

One of the things I’ve learned living with Bev is this must be an ongoing process, because when she comes in from the store with items to go in the freezer (or fridge, or panty), she puts them in the first hole she sees – you saw the empty shelves in freezer two, just wait a couple of weeks. If I were sharp, I’d do a little organizing every month, then it wouldn’t require a near injury or missed special meal to motivate me to tackle the bigger job. The final step will be to go through the kitchen freezer, but I need Bev hear to tell me what things are, and several items always get moved to one of the other freezers. Here’s the first requirement for effective freezer reorganizing – you must be willing to get rid of stuff (same for closets, dresser drawers, garages, etc)

I made yesterday's meal to use the shanks from the freezer and when I cleaned it out, I found three more packages – there’s a lot to be said for staying organized - I think I feel some osso buco coming on.

Did I motivate you, this only took an hour and I felt great having it done.  Have a great day and thanks for stopping by.

Larry