lol! You made me laugh when you said you didn't think other people didn't have freezers as messy as yours! LOL again. The first thing that I thought was, "Look at all of that room!" The second thing that I thought was, "I'll bet they don't have to worry about anything falling out and landing on their toes!" Great video! I'm feeling inspired!
Your freezer didn't look bad at all. It would be nice if the freezer manufacturer could put more shelves , drawers, etc, like refrigerators, to help in organization.
Our regular freezer did come with an adjustable shelf, but everyone's freezer needs are so different, I don't think they could do too much more. You can buy extra (deep freezer) freezer baskets and make your own system though.
@@kr15242we recently got one like that. I’m not sure I like the drawer system, but at least it discourages wobbly stacks of items that may fall out when you open the door!
During the pandemic, I spent a lot of time on RUclips. I ran across several organizational videos and refrigerator/freezer organizing was very popular. Have been repackaging and placing things in plastic bins ever since. It has removed not only stress but has lowered our waste by quite a bit. I also write the date I packaged them on the bag so I can use the oldest first.
Your freezer looks waaaay better than mine! I am in the process of reducing the contents of my freezer (and spice cabinet, thanks to you 🤣). Thank you for more great ideas!
Great job Jim & Pam! Don’t ever apologize or be embarrassed- we’ve all been there. You’re possibly saving us from having to throw out freezer burnt food.
Hi Pam and Jim, we re organised our freezer 2 yrs ago bc the old one failed..my husband was home recouping from surgery, so he did almost the same idea you demonstrated. It was life changing! Yeah! meal planning for the upcoming week is now a breeze..I cook for 2, but I make several meals for the week..I discovered that it takes the same amount of time to prepare 1 dinner as it does for 3 dinners. I know alot of folks don't care for left overs, well when you come from a large family, on a budget, you learn to change your basic meal into something diffrent or special by adding herbs, spices, or exchanging out your veggie or starch selection. I remember the frozen peas were plain, but once in awhile Mother would put real butter over them. It made such a difference in flavor, yes I'm showing my age..frozen Green Giant Peas were new idea then..now I prefere my own homegrown to freeze. Blessings.
I cook for two also. Large meals to be frozen. Well things like Sunday sauce, chili, different soups all make the first meal and usually the next day for lunch or supper but I have found, for us anyhow, those leftovers are so much better the next day when all the flavors have melded. The second or sometimes the third day is when I freeze the rest into meals for us. The squarish lunch meat containers repurposed are great for this. I just put a piece of clear tape on top, write what is inside and the date and freeze. Long live left overs🎉🙏🌷
@@sharonjones7674... I love leftovers! You are right! They DO taste better a day or two after. I usually just eat the food every day till it's gone, or freeze it in small portions. I like to make soup or chili, etc. and freeze in one meal size baggies. SO easy on busy nights. I really enjoy cooking and baking.
Hi Pam, Enjoyed your video. Thought I would share with you our freezer system. I cook for the 2 of us and we are older than you. I don't want to stand for long hours to prepare meals then cleaning up all the mess at the end. So I make a stock pot full of our favorite soups, stews, chili or Mex meat and freeze the finished food in single serving containers - bags or 2 cup plastic containers. Here is an example below. I make 16 servings of Tortellini soup at one time and freeze 14 of them in single serving containers. After they are frozen I put then into large plastic bags and label the bag. So when I hunt for what to have for dinner I only have to hunt thorough a stack of similar size bags. We can eat home cooked food every day for as long as we like because there is always a variety. I use the same type of system for stuffing, yams, turkey gravy and the like. It is fun to enjoy a Thanksgiving rerun a month after the big day.
Single eater here and I have only a top mount no frost freezer compartment. Yet it is also a cave of wonder where things disappear . Clearing out, cleaning, and reorganizing won't take long but I already feel better.
😂 oh Pam, your freezer looks great compared with mine! What a great idea, putting veggies in individual servings. I've been waiting for cold weather to clean and organize my very stuffed chest freezer. Keep the ideas coming!
My favorite find for freezer storage is reusable FoodSaver zip top bags. They have a valve for vacuum sealing with a hand held device. Two servings fit perfectly into a quart size. I use the gallon size to hold "pucks" of broth or other foods frozen into serving sizes using a silicon muffin pan. Get the ones with the black seal, they are the sturdiest.
I would LOVE to have an upright freezer because you can see what is there! I have a small chest freezer. Now, you can buy "systems" with sliding drawers that can be stacked; but they are a few hundred dollars. I tired literally everything, but finally found that using colored grocery bags, purchased in a set at Amazon, work the very best. I organize by pork, lamb, chicken, etc. You can do it however makes sense to you. Then you just stack them across the bottom and up in the freezer. Yes, you do have to pull a few out to get what you want, but the bags are colorful and easy to see--I made a small color chart that hangs above the freezer. The bags also accommodate gaps inbetween very well. Cheap, some labor involved, the bags last forever.
This is brilliant. I portioned out all of my meat like this but I never even considered doing the same for my vegetables. I'll definitely be doing similarly for my chest freezer going forward.
I organise my freezer every month otherwise I forget what I have in there. I also organise my canning cupboard and dry goods so that I know what I can make for meals. We could live for six months at least without doing a shop. We bought very little over the pandemic. I am 69 and my mother taught me cooking and meal planning from her war shortage era.
Its so easy when you work and have only 1 day week to do all of your cleaning shopping and storing. Be kind to yourself❤❤❤ i just love you both so much!
I do the exact same thing for my upright freezer but I vacuum seal most things so they last longer as I buy in bulk. I have the clear plastic bins as well…..works like a charm! For my chest freezer I use small boxes to separate everything or the hard sided grocery box bags. Makes for great organization.
I have been busy over the last few weeks. Actually doing all of this organizing. I bought these wonderful freezer safe storage bins and actually took out one of my shelves and those bottom drawers that always stayed full and never looked in! This way, I was able to stack 9 bins. Blue painters tape is a MUST! It stays on in the freezer, and often hangs on in the dishwasher. I have tape on the front of my bins with a note of what is in them. Organizing has also helped me STOP buying things I already have and missing the things I don't. Thanks Ms. Pam!
I'm a professional organizer by trade but even my own freezers are a mess!!! And I already used bins for sorting and storing. My big aha watching you? Put lids on those containers and stack them!!! Two worlds colliding here right now. Thank you for the great tips.
Oh my gosh, what a mess that freezer contains. I'm just kidding...If you thought your freezer was a mess, I shudder to think what you would say of mine. I have a wire drawer in one of my freezers, so your idea of loading in portions in bins is ideal. Gosh, how we do neglect our freezers, don't we? The good news is you came up with a wonderful remedy! Thank you 💜💜💜💜
Our chest freezer is organized with "bins" that are plastic milk crates we found at Walmart. We buy a half beef and all the burger and stew meat gets stacked in milk crates, two crates fit side by side down in the freezer and then another two crates fit, side by side, on top of the first two. We can also tuck 10# bags of flour behind the stacked bins. Tetris😊! When one bin gets empty we put it aside which signals when we need to think about getting another half beef. The wire bins that came with the freezer are organized as one for chicken priducts and one for pork products. Our standing freezer is organized with plastic bins much like what you have done. Makes things SO much easier. As always. Thank you you two for a great video🥰
My mom got me into watching you & Jim's videos, and now I can't stop! I love the ones with Cindy & John as well--when are y'all going to Costco again?!! -Sincerely, Sam (& Gwen his mom) in Texas
What timing! We just had to replace an ancient small chest freezer with an upright which has twice the capacity. I'm a little intimidated by organizing it. Your boxes look like shoe boxes. Time for me to shop the dollar stores, eh. Thank you!
Great idea. My freezer looks just like yours & of course, you know how much you help others by showing real life situations. Thanks again for all you do.
Oh Pam, my upright is worse ! A few weeks ago I was looking for something and a zip lock bag of salsa fell out onto my foot breaking a toe !! We organized our chest freezer, and the upright is next
I love the idea of breaking the larger bags into smaller portions! Once I open and use part of a bag, the remainder often gets lost in the uncharted regions of my freezer. This will, hopefully, reduce the waste that occurs when I defrost and discover the lost and now tasteless items in the back. Thank you.
I LOVE YOUR VIDEO, and NO need to be embarrassed because id bet my last dollar that the majority of people watching this have freezers that look very much like yours!! lol, mine does thats for sure, I love the veggie organization, cant wait to get started on mine also!! im excited to see what your gonna show us next!
Oh dear Pam and Jim. 😂 I wish mine was that disorganized. Mine is oh so much worse. Ugh. Ok today's the day. Mine will be cleaned. Today. Thank you both for the impetus and encouragement to dive into to that dark hole I call a freezer🙏🌷
I can’t wait for this series !! It’s just two of us and we have bags open with some missing out of each ! What a mess ! I wish my freezer looked like yours now!! Its way worse !!! Looks like Hope is just around the corner ! Thank you !
Your freezer isn't bad!! I only have the one on top of the refrigerator and it's full and messy! I have 3 plastic baskets to put small items in cause they were always slipping out when I opened the door, right on my foot! OUCH! Baskets work great. What a GREAT idea to put your veggies in serving size baggies! I also wash and reuse my Ziplock bags, several times! What a wonderful reminder to organize our freezers. I just love all your videos! Love to you and Jim.
We don’t have a big freezer as you, but we have our Refrigerator/ freezer in kitchen and a small refrigerator/ freezer in our downstairs basement. I really need to organize my freezers better! Love the idea of freezer bags with just the right amount of frozen food in them that the two of us also eat! So much more room and organization to find the items better! ❤️ thank Pam for this great idea!
The bins work great in the refrigerator/freezers, too! I organized the one in my kitchen with bins and now nothing gets shoved into the back of the fridge and forgotten until it turns into a science experiment gone awry lol. I can also find things in the freezer without causing an avalanche. The last straw was when a block of frozen cheese fell out and landed on my pinky toe. In a twist of bitter irony, I had to ice it down for half an hour before it stopped throbbing! Just be sure to measure carefully before buying any bins, including the height between shelves, and allow space for the ice cube trays and bucket if you don't have an ice maker. 😉
Yes this will be very helpful! I only cook for me.I have chest freezer and if you think yours is disorganized…you should see mine….talk about things being buried! 😳 Portioning veggies is a great idea
I had thought of the bins, but I had not thought about portioning out for meals. That is a great idea. My husband and I froze a lot of berries over the summer. I did put those bags in bins in the freezer to make it more stable. The ones I used did not have lids and were actually designed for refrigerators. But I saw them and thought they were the perfect size to stand up those bags of berries. I think I'll be looking in the freezer section a bit more now since I saw that we can do it this way. There's only the two of us now to plan for and we forget the leftovers. This makes so much more sense. From your idea, I had another for making it easier to find different types of meat...bins! This will also make it easier to rotate the meat...put the newer packages in the back as you use the meats in the front. Thank you, Pam and Jim! Your content is so very helpful.
Believe me will all have crazy freezers. Ours was so small we decided to get a larger one. We also buy in large quantities for just the two of us to save money. We have gone thru many vacuum sealers. We recently got the Weston one you have. Love it. Today is organizing day for us.
I put sterlite crates zip tied together on my freezer shelves. I can pull them out on each shelf at the top. First shelf has vegetables, the next shelf has fruits, third shelf has a mixture of ready made foods. The bottom half has shelves those are closer together for small items like cream cheese, butter, etc. my basket holds bigger bags of food. Just something I like to keep everything divided and placed individually.
Genius! Made me have a 'Duh, I coulda had a V-8' moment. I do this with meats, but never thought of veg. It would be great for fruit, also, especially for berries.
Loved this. I use the clear shoe boxes for the upright and chest freezer! Divide the different sausage, vegies, etc. Also store ice in them in chest freezer.
Great reminder! I think most of us have freezer blinders on, we open it quickly, grab what we want and slam the door shut quickly so nothing falls out. I have started working on the inside freezer first since that’s the one I use every day. I have started using @soupercubes to freeze portions of soups, chili, sauces, broths, etc. they are so much more space efficient than the plastic containers that really didn’t work well. I bought bins to store things in and it’s working out great! But I never thought about the freezer bags of veggies, I’ll be doing that next! Thanks Pam and Jim for your videos.
We have plastic containers more plastic containers coming and we will have to watch for the ones that fail versus succeed. Thanks for your comments. Jim
Oh Pam, you are such a delight. And there’s no judgement - our freezer is so much worse. It’s filled to the gills, but I can’t find anything! Two weeks ago I pulled out three gallon bags of frozen berries and dehydrated them to make room, but I can’t even tell🤦🏻♀️ We are getting close to freezing, so I will wait a bit longer to tackle it. Then I can take out a bunch and keep it frozen in coolers outside while I clean and organize. Thanks for the reminder
No, not a mess. We purchased a new 22 cubic foot freezer last September. I measured each shelf so I could purchase plastic bins. On the first shelf two bins fit into shelf front to back. Labeled bins beef and chicken. The next shelf did the same thing, labeled those bins pork and fish. The next two shelves have bump in back of freezer, I guess for wires. Those bin were placed horizontally. Labeled those bins misc. Each shelf also has plenty of room for easy freezer meals, also will hold small turkey, pork butt, whole chickens etc. The door has six shelves for juice, veggies, bread, butter. I hope someone finds it helpful. All meat have dates, oldest out first.
Oh hell, Pam! That freezer is perfectly normal for me. But yes, you are right, having a system of organization is a good idea. I have a chest freezer and use a clear over the door shoe rack that I cut down so I can hang the shoe racks and fill the pouches with stuff. My freezer looks like a closet!!
Oh gracious Pam, that freezer isn't that bad. At least you have some space still there. I hit my freezer every couple of yrs and when I do, you couldn't squeeze in anything else. But some areas do require re-organizing every now and then.....freezer, fridge, pantry.
For those with a chest freezer I purchased stacking recycle bins with handles from Amazon. They fit the freezer perfectly and I can stack them 2 high. This allows me to get food from the bottom of the freezer easily by lifting out the top bin to get to the bottom one. I also sort food into meats, veggies, breads, French fries. Anything else fits on the side that has a ledge where the motor is. Happy organizing!
I'd kill for an upright freezer. I have a box freezer. The only way I know what I have is to use coloured bags. I keep pre cooked in one. Uncooked meat in another and so on and so on. I am so jealous 😂😂 I use containers for all sorts of storage. Containers make everything neat. Lots of❤❤❤❤ to you both
Thank you much for giving us these ideas when you are so busy! I have been watching you since covid and look forward to every video! You inspired me to can and dehydrate foods! I respect your ideas so much!
I only cook for myself but I use the sandwich folding bags and fit two to three in a freezer bag. If I do onions and peppers I can get four to a bag. It’s worth buying the cheap sandwich bags and saving the expensive freezer bags. Then I reuse the freezer bags as you suggested. 🙂
I second the request for chest freezer ideas. I have a small one in the house to augment the refrigerator-freezer. It came with one basket (it can be moved from one side to the other) and a cavernous space that tends to be somewhat of a black hole. I’d love suggestions on organizing it as well as the freezer in the refrigerator. Great ideas so far.
I too have a small chest freezer. I am currently using reusable shopping bags with flat bottoms to organize by food types. I used a permanent marker to write on the handle what is in each bag: non-starchy veggies, whole grains, flours, seeds & nuts, beef, chicken etc. Sometimes within each "main bag" I will have a labeled 2 gallon zip top bag containing smaller portions of one type food like 1 cup portions of chopped peppers or onions. The bags stack okay, not super good, but okay, and it is pretty easy to grab the one I want to look through by reading the label on the handle. I keep the ones I use most often on the top but still have to remove them to get to the lower bags that contain products I use less frequently. It is, obviously not a perfect system, but it works better for me than using the types of containers that Pam used in her upright freezer. I tried that but found it a little too hard to get things out of the bottom. Anyone else have any suggestions for chest freezers?
On RUclips - I saw a woman use milk crates or large heavy duty plastic bins in her chest freezer. Each bin held specific meats. The bins stacked 2 high, I think - and she put the newer meat in the bottom bin. She had smaller flatter bins on the top that she could move around easily. She said those were "use it first" bins. It looked very efficient.
@@brendamarques1555 using the tote bags is a good idea and seems to be the most practical way in order to retrieve what we need without a lot of shifting of boxes and bins. At nearly 73 I’m all about easy.
We've got a side of beef that's going to be ready to pick up in a few weeks, after watching a few different freezer organization videos for ideas I ordered some large sturdy sided tote bags on amazon. Each cut of meat will go in a different bag (ground beef, roasts, steaks, etc) so that I can store them in the chest freezer, see what I have, not worry about the meat just falling all over the place, and easily move them around when I need to. This method would also work great for having a bag for chicken, a bag for beef, a bag for veggies, a bag for fruit, etc.
Hey Red, mine is the same. Without having finished watching the video just yet, let me say that I bought deep plastic bins to fit the shelves of my upright and fill each accordingly. For my chest freezer I bought commercial grade bins to fit the width and fill each one with gr. meat, chicken, roast, steaks etc. and 2 or 3 extra to place on top of the lower ones, but leave room that I can slide them over to access the bottom ones. This has worked out really well for me. Thank you and love your videos.
I recently ordered wire baskets on Amazon and was able to use them in my freezer to organize my meats. It's great, if I want chicken I just grab the chicken basket. It is so much easier to find what I need now.
Your freezer looks amazing compared to how mine is 😂. But, it gives me hope to see that it wasn't organised perfectly - yet! I'm looking forward to following your lead on this. Thank you! 😊
Wow! how strange is the timing , I just started cleaning out my freezer from Bottom Of refrigerator yesterday! Love it! And your freezer does not look bad! Compared to one of mine .
I have a 6' chest freezer... it's much worse! That's one reason I'm working to pressure can & dry food to improve working preservation. Thank you for sharing your education and insights!!
Thanks' Pam /Jim Just the same as mine for sure. Amazed your freezer had door compartments.. Mine only has drawers and shelves.. No door compartments.. Kindness Lochness Scottish Highlands..
Love your channel. I separate meat in meal sizes but never thought about veggies. Great idea. They do make ziploc type bags to use with your food saver that can be reused. They seal with the attachment that comes with the food saver. I also use wire baskets to organize my freezer, works well if there are heavier items.
I love your honesty! We lovingly refer to it as freezer diving 😂😂😂. Ours has always been utter chaos at best. But we learned a forced lesson last year. At the time we had 3 freezers full. One failed, and our spare refrigerator failed as well. We were blessed because my husband had put thermostats in them, that notified him that the temperature was above the temperature he set. He had set it for 10 degrees. Then he reset it for 15 degrees to be sure it was a problem. It was! So we started canning, dehydrating and cooking the contents of that freezer. And in between that we emptied and reorganized our other 2 freezers. We then reset our sights on emptying our largest chest freezer next. We had just bought our freeze dryer 2 months before, so we started to freeze dry the contents of the freezer and now we have a small solar powered chest freezer, that we do better at keeping it rotated through, regularly.
Pam, thanks for this great idea! I thought I'd share one thing that we do. We processed beef last spring, we kept a half. Thats a lot of beef! I wrote a list of what we had, steaks, roast, ribs, etc and the quantity. My dear hubby made a spreadsheet listing each item and then formatted boxes for the quantity. It is posted on the cabinet by the 21 cf chest freezer. Every time I take an item, I put an X in the box. That lets me see at a glance how many of what I have left. We also process our own chickens--about 50 every fall. We use the same system. It works like a charm. AND seeing the importance of tracking all the other odds and ends (vegs, fruits, cheeses, etc.) I see the importance of adding these too. I know it seems tedious, but as you said, it allows us to see what we have--in my case on a piece of paper--and I can plan meals and future food prep accordingly. Love and hugs--keep up the good work. :)
That sounds like a very efficient inventory system of use and rotation. Thanks for sharing your success with us. When we butchered our chickens (30 cocks) a number of years ago, and we had very good tasting fowl for about a year. Our hens laid eggs for us for another two years, until we gave them to Pam's children who live in the area. Jim
Hey....at least no food fell out when you opened the door...my personal issue!! I will be tossing the 2 year old veggies and using your organizational methods to save space and reduce waste...another great video Jim and Pam!
Easy enough to generate a freezer inventory sheet.
lol! You made me laugh when you said you didn't think other people didn't have freezers as messy as yours! LOL again. The first thing that I thought was, "Look at all of that room!" The second thing that I thought was, "I'll bet they don't have to worry about anything falling out and landing on their toes!" Great video! I'm feeling inspired!
Those are my thoughts exactly! Totally!!
You are not alone. Let us all contemplate our freezers. Yes, it’s happening this weekend. Thanks!
Your freezer didn't look bad at all. It would be nice if the freezer manufacturer could put more shelves , drawers, etc, like refrigerators, to help in organization.
Our regular freezer did come with an adjustable shelf, but everyone's freezer needs are so different, I don't think they could do too much more. You can buy extra (deep freezer) freezer baskets and make your own system though.
We just got a Hamilton beach one at Costco that is all drawers, it’s sweet!
@@kr15242we recently got one like that. I’m not sure I like the drawer system, but at least it discourages wobbly stacks of items that may fall out when you open the door!
I have one that has two shelves up top and four drawers on the bottom. It's awesome!
No judgment here! Both of mine are worse. Thanks for your transparency. Really enjoy you and Jim!!❤😊
Pam you are not alone with a messy freezer. It is life. Live it and do the best you can when you can.
During the pandemic, I spent a lot of time on RUclips. I ran across several organizational videos and refrigerator/freezer organizing was very popular. Have been repackaging and placing things in plastic bins ever since. It has removed not only stress but has lowered our waste by quite a bit.
I also write the date I packaged them on the bag so I can use the oldest first.
Thanks .I never even thought about the reduced waste side of things.
Putting the date on the packages is a great idea - i will be doing that in the future!
I date everything in case whoever is helping put things away neglects to put the new stuff behind what's already there. 🤦♀️
I love your honesty. Your not alone. 🎉
So glad I saw this before I left for town. Now I’ll hit the $1.25 store for containers. You are just what I need on so many days! 🙏🏽
If you want to save a little money and space in your freezer, try using shoe boxes instead of containers.
Your freezer looks waaaay better than mine! I am in the process of reducing the contents of my freezer (and spice cabinet, thanks to you 🤣). Thank you for more great ideas!
Great job Jim & Pam!
Don’t ever apologize or be embarrassed- we’ve all been there.
You’re possibly saving us from having to throw out freezer burnt food.
Oh my goodness, the Lord's timing never ceases to amaze me!
Hi Pam and Jim, we re organised our freezer 2 yrs ago bc the old one failed..my husband was home recouping from surgery, so he did almost the same idea you demonstrated. It was life changing! Yeah! meal planning for the upcoming week is now a breeze..I cook for 2, but I make several meals for the week..I discovered that it takes the same amount of time to prepare 1 dinner as it does for 3 dinners. I know alot of folks don't care for left overs, well when you come from a large family, on a budget, you learn to change your basic meal into something diffrent or special by adding herbs, spices, or exchanging out your veggie or starch selection. I remember the frozen peas were plain, but once in awhile Mother would put real butter over them. It made such a difference in flavor, yes I'm showing my age..frozen Green Giant Peas were new idea then..now I prefere my own homegrown to freeze. Blessings.
I cook for two also. Large meals to be frozen. Well things like Sunday sauce, chili, different soups all make the first meal and usually the next day for lunch or supper but I have found, for us anyhow, those leftovers are so much better the next day when all the flavors have melded. The second or sometimes the third day is when I freeze the rest into meals for us. The squarish lunch meat containers repurposed are great for this. I just put a piece of clear tape on top, write what is inside and the date and freeze. Long live left overs🎉🙏🌷
@@sharonjones7674 absolutely! 🤗
@@sharonjones7674... I love leftovers! You are right! They DO taste better a day or two after. I usually just eat the food every day till it's gone, or freeze it in small portions. I like to make soup or chili, etc. and freeze in one meal size baggies. SO easy on busy nights. I really enjoy cooking and baking.
Hi Pam, Enjoyed your video.
Thought I would share with you our freezer system. I cook for the 2 of us and we are older than you. I don't want to stand for long hours to prepare meals then cleaning up all the mess at the end. So I make a stock pot full of our favorite soups, stews, chili or Mex meat and freeze the finished food in single serving containers - bags or 2 cup plastic containers. Here is an example below.
I make 16 servings of Tortellini soup at one time and freeze 14 of them in single serving containers. After they are frozen I put then into large plastic bags and label the bag. So when I hunt for what to have for dinner I only have to hunt thorough a stack of similar size bags. We can eat home cooked food every day for as long as we like because there is always a variety. I use the same type of system for stuffing, yams, turkey gravy and the like. It is fun to enjoy a Thanksgiving rerun a month after the big day.
We are in our late 70’s, I love your system. You have motivated me to get moving. Many blessings
Dear sweet Pam, yes many of us are like that too (throw things in the freezer, and forget for 2 years - no judgement here!) Thank you for doing this!
Single eater here and I have only a top mount no frost freezer compartment. Yet it is also a cave of wonder where things disappear . Clearing out, cleaning, and reorganizing won't take long but I already feel better.
😂 oh Pam, your freezer looks great compared with mine! What a great idea, putting veggies in individual servings. I've been waiting for cold weather to clean and organize my very stuffed chest freezer. Keep the ideas coming!
I have the same fridge with the bottom freezer. Would love to see how you organize that bottom freezer. !!
My favorite find for freezer storage is reusable FoodSaver zip top bags. They have a valve for vacuum sealing with a hand held device. Two servings fit perfectly into a quart size. I use the gallon size to hold "pucks" of broth or other foods frozen into serving sizes using a silicon muffin pan. Get the ones with the black seal, they are the sturdiest.
Yes! I love those reusable bags too. I don't have the FoodSaver brand but another kind I bought on Amazon. They have lasted for over 5 years.
I would LOVE to have an upright freezer because you can see what is there! I have a small chest freezer. Now, you can buy "systems" with sliding drawers that can be stacked; but they are a few hundred dollars. I tired literally everything, but finally found that using colored grocery bags, purchased in a set at Amazon, work the very best. I organize by pork, lamb, chicken, etc. You can do it however makes sense to you. Then you just stack them across the bottom and up in the freezer. Yes, you do have to pull a few out to get what you want, but the bags are colorful and easy to see--I made a small color chart that hangs above the freezer. The bags also accommodate gaps inbetween very well. Cheap, some labor involved, the bags last forever.
Brilliant solution. Thanks. I’ll try it.
This is brilliant. I portioned out all of my meat like this but I never even considered doing the same for my vegetables. I'll definitely be doing similarly for my chest freezer going forward.
Love this idea. I have a chest freezer that I have to dig thru, boy oh boy is there some treasures in that chest. Love your channels, thank you. ❤
I organise my freezer every month otherwise I forget what I have in there. I also organise my canning cupboard and dry goods so that I know what I can make for meals. We could live for six months at least without doing a shop. We bought very little over the pandemic. I am 69 and my mother taught me cooking and meal planning from her war shortage era.
Its so easy when you work and have only 1 day week to do all of your cleaning shopping and storing. Be kind to yourself❤❤❤ i just love you both so much!
I do the exact same thing for my upright freezer but I vacuum seal most things so they last longer as I buy in bulk. I have the clear plastic bins as well…..works like a charm! For my chest freezer I use small boxes to separate everything or the hard sided grocery box bags. Makes for great organization.
I have been busy over the last few weeks. Actually doing all of this organizing. I bought these wonderful freezer safe storage bins and actually took out one of my shelves and those bottom drawers that always stayed full and never looked in! This way, I was able to stack 9 bins. Blue painters tape is a MUST! It stays on in the freezer, and often hangs on in the dishwasher. I have tape on the front of my bins with a note of what is in them. Organizing has also helped me STOP buying things I already have and missing the things I don't. Thanks Ms. Pam!
This sounds fantastic! Thanks for placing it into practice. Jim
I'm a professional organizer by trade but even my own freezers are a mess!!! And I already used bins for sorting and storing. My big aha watching you? Put lids on those containers and stack them!!! Two worlds colliding here right now. Thank you for the great tips.
Great idea! There's just 2 of us now so this would be perfect way to put our veggies up in the freezer! Thanks for the info!
Oh my gosh, what a mess that freezer contains. I'm just kidding...If you thought your freezer was a mess, I shudder to think what you would say of mine. I have a wire drawer in one of my freezers, so your idea of loading in portions in bins is ideal. Gosh, how we do neglect our freezers, don't we? The good news is you came up with a wonderful remedy! Thank you 💜💜💜💜
Our chest freezer is organized with "bins" that are plastic milk crates we found at Walmart. We buy a half beef and all the burger and stew meat gets stacked in milk crates, two crates fit side by side down in the freezer and then another two crates fit, side by side, on top of the first two. We can also tuck 10# bags of flour behind the stacked bins. Tetris😊! When one bin gets empty we put it aside which signals when we need to think about getting another half beef. The wire bins that came with the freezer are organized as one for chicken priducts and one for pork products. Our standing freezer is organized with plastic bins much like what you have done. Makes things SO much easier. As always. Thank you you two for a great video🥰
Great idea will be trying this one many thanks 👍
My mom got me into watching you & Jim's videos, and now I can't stop! I love the ones with Cindy & John as well--when are y'all going to Costco again?!! -Sincerely, Sam (& Gwen his mom) in Texas
Love this idea! My freezers are so unorganized I’m excited to see your videos.
I have to say, when you start off with your head just spinning I know we have a great video coming 😊😉
Boy oh boy did I ever need this video. It’s on my to do this fall. Your freezer looked better than ours. Lol
What timing! We just had to replace an ancient small chest freezer with an upright which has twice the capacity. I'm a little intimidated by organizing it. Your boxes look like shoe boxes. Time for me to shop the dollar stores, eh. Thank you!
Great idea. My freezer looks just like yours & of course, you know how much you help others by showing real life situations. Thanks again for all you do.
Oh Pam, my upright is worse ! A few weeks ago I was looking for something and a zip lock bag of salsa fell out onto my foot breaking a toe !! We organized our chest freezer, and the upright is next
I love the idea of breaking the larger bags into smaller portions! Once I open and use part of a bag, the remainder often gets lost in the uncharted regions of my freezer. This will, hopefully, reduce the waste that occurs when I defrost and discover the lost and now tasteless items in the back. Thank you.
I LOVE YOUR VIDEO, and NO need to be embarrassed because id bet my last dollar that the majority of people watching this have freezers that look very much like yours!! lol, mine does thats for sure, I love the veggie organization, cant wait to get started on mine also!! im excited to see what your gonna show us next!
My favorite label for the freezer is a sticky note with some tape. Your freezer looks way better than mine!! Thanks for all you and Jim do!
Oh…BLESS YOU!!! I will follow you and do the exact same thing!
I dreaded organizing my freezer.
💜💜💜
I love that you will be including videos regarding freezers and preparedness!
What a good idea! Once I hear you explain it, it’s so obvious! Yet I never thought about it. Thank you!!!
Oh dear Pam and Jim. 😂 I wish mine was that disorganized. Mine is oh so much worse. Ugh. Ok today's the day. Mine will be cleaned. Today. Thank you both for the impetus and encouragement to dive into to that dark hole I call a freezer🙏🌷
Great idea! Washing and reusing the bags is also brilliant. Save time and money with making lists and buying in bulk or on sale.
I can’t wait for this series !! It’s just two of us and we have bags open with some missing out of each ! What a mess ! I wish my freezer looked like yours now!! Its way worse !!! Looks like Hope is just around the corner ! Thank you !
Your freezer isn't bad!! I only have the one on top of the refrigerator and it's full and messy! I have 3 plastic baskets to put small items in cause they were always slipping out when I opened the door, right on my foot! OUCH! Baskets work great. What a GREAT idea to put your veggies in serving size baggies! I also wash and reuse my Ziplock bags, several times! What a wonderful reminder to organize our freezers. I just love all your videos! Love to you and Jim.
We don’t have a big freezer as you, but we have our Refrigerator/ freezer in kitchen and a small refrigerator/ freezer in our downstairs basement. I really need to organize my freezers better! Love the idea of freezer bags with just the right amount of frozen food in them that the two of us also eat! So much more room and organization to find the items better! ❤️ thank Pam for this great idea!
The bins work great in the refrigerator/freezers, too! I organized the one in my kitchen with bins and now nothing gets shoved into the back of the fridge and forgotten until it turns into a science experiment gone awry lol. I can also find things in the freezer without causing an avalanche. The last straw was when a block of frozen cheese fell out and landed on my pinky toe. In a twist of bitter irony, I had to ice it down for half an hour before it stopped throbbing! Just be sure to measure carefully before buying any bins, including the height between shelves, and allow space for the ice cube trays and bucket if you don't have an ice maker. 😉
Yes this will be very helpful! I only cook for me.I have chest freezer and if you think yours is disorganized…you should see mine….talk about things being buried! 😳 Portioning veggies is a great idea
I had thought of the bins, but I had not thought about portioning out for meals. That is a great idea. My husband and I froze a lot of berries over the summer. I did put those bags in bins in the freezer to make it more stable. The ones I used did not have lids and were actually designed for refrigerators. But I saw them and thought they were the perfect size to stand up those bags of berries. I think I'll be looking in the freezer section a bit more now since I saw that we can do it this way. There's only the two of us now to plan for and we forget the leftovers. This makes so much more sense. From your idea, I had another for making it easier to find different types of meat...bins! This will also make it easier to rotate the meat...put the newer packages in the back as you use the meats in the front. Thank you, Pam and Jim! Your content is so very helpful.
You don't know how much I needed this! Thank you!
Believe me will all have crazy freezers. Ours was so small we decided to get a larger one. We also buy in large quantities for just the two of us to save money. We have gone thru many vacuum sealers. We recently got the Weston one you have. Love it. Today is organizing day for us.
I put sterlite crates zip tied together on my freezer shelves. I can pull them out on each shelf at the top. First shelf has vegetables, the next shelf has fruits, third shelf has a mixture of ready made foods. The bottom half has shelves those are closer together for small items like cream cheese, butter, etc. my basket holds bigger bags of food. Just something I like to keep everything divided and placed individually.
I''d be spending a fortune in freezer bags and bins. My husband used to take a straw and suck out the air from the freezer bag.
I love your pretty new blouses! And yes, our freezers are stuffed!
Great idea I’ve been using bags to put fruits and veggies in them
Things are always getting buried in our freezer, this is a great idea!
Very VERY timely. It’s just what I’ve been working on. Really like the meal-size baggies! Thanks
Great plan!! I’m stuck at home this week alone without a car and beautiful weather! This looks like a wonderful project!!
Genius! Made me have a 'Duh, I coulda had a V-8' moment. I do this with meats, but never thought of veg. It would be great for fruit, also, especially for berries.
Loved this. I use the clear shoe boxes for the upright and chest freezer! Divide the different sausage, vegies, etc. Also store ice in them in chest freezer.
Great reminder! I think most of us have freezer blinders on, we open it quickly, grab what we want and slam the door shut quickly so nothing falls out. I have started working on the inside freezer first since that’s the one I use every day. I have started using @soupercubes to freeze portions of soups, chili, sauces, broths, etc. they are so much more space efficient than the plastic containers that really didn’t work well. I bought bins to store things in and it’s working out great! But I never thought about the freezer bags of veggies, I’ll be doing that next! Thanks Pam and Jim for your videos.
We have plastic containers more plastic containers coming and we will have to watch for the ones that fail versus succeed. Thanks for your comments. Jim
Oh Pam, you are such a delight.
And there’s no judgement - our freezer is so much worse. It’s filled to the gills, but I can’t find anything! Two weeks ago I pulled out three gallon bags of frozen berries and dehydrated them to make room, but I can’t even tell🤦🏻♀️
We are getting close to freezing, so I will wait a bit longer to tackle it. Then I can take out a bunch and keep it frozen in coolers outside while I clean and organize. Thanks for the reminder
Yes, that's what I do. Thank you for all your wealth of information and sharing 😊
Wowowowow!!! This makes me smile big time!!! Thank you!!!!
You are welcome.
I have never had a handle on my freezer!!! Thank you Pam and Jim!! I'm going to start this process!
Have fun! I know we did. Jim
Don’t be embarrassed- that’s life- mine looks like that too. I call myself cleaning mine out, and just put it all back inside!
ROFLMAO!!! "I don't imagine many of you are like that..." (4:44). Too funny, Pam! That's just what has happened to us, too!
No, not a mess. We purchased a new 22 cubic foot freezer last September. I measured each shelf so I could purchase plastic bins. On the first shelf two bins fit into shelf front to back. Labeled bins beef and chicken. The next shelf did the same thing, labeled those bins pork and fish. The next two shelves have bump in back of freezer, I guess for wires. Those bin were placed horizontally. Labeled those bins misc. Each shelf also has plenty of room for easy freezer meals, also will hold small turkey, pork butt, whole chickens etc.
The door has six shelves for juice, veggies, bread, butter. I hope someone finds it helpful. All meat have dates, oldest out first.
Oh hell, Pam! That freezer is perfectly normal for me. But yes, you are right, having a system of organization is a good idea. I have a chest freezer and use a clear over the door shoe rack that I cut down so I can hang the shoe racks and fill the pouches with stuff. My freezer looks like a closet!!
Oh gracious Pam, that freezer isn't that bad. At least you have some space still there. I hit my freezer every couple of yrs and when I do, you couldn't squeeze in anything else. But some areas do require re-organizing every now and then.....freezer, fridge, pantry.
For those with a chest freezer I purchased stacking recycle bins with handles from Amazon. They fit the freezer perfectly and I can stack them 2 high. This allows me to get food from the bottom of the freezer easily by lifting out the top bin to get to the bottom one. I also sort food into meats, veggies, breads, French fries. Anything else fits on the side that has a ledge where the motor is. Happy organizing!
It sounds like you have done a fabulous job organizing your freezer. Thanks for watching our videos. Jim
I'd kill for an upright freezer. I have a box freezer. The only way I know what I have is to use coloured bags. I keep pre cooked in one. Uncooked meat in another and so on and so on.
I am so jealous 😂😂 I use containers for all sorts of storage.
Containers make everything neat. Lots of❤❤❤❤ to you both
That upright freezer is my dream, with auto defrost.
Thank you much for giving us these ideas when you are so busy! I have been watching you since covid and look forward to every video! You inspired me to can and dehydrate foods! I respect your ideas so much!
Ditto what you said!
I only cook for myself but I use the sandwich folding bags and fit two to three in a freezer bag. If I do onions and peppers I can get four to a bag. It’s worth buying the cheap sandwich bags and saving the expensive freezer bags. Then I reuse the freezer bags as you suggested. 🙂
I second the request for chest freezer ideas. I have a small one in the house to augment the refrigerator-freezer. It came with one basket (it can be moved from one side to the other) and a cavernous space that tends to be somewhat of a black hole. I’d love suggestions on organizing it as well as the freezer in the refrigerator. Great ideas so far.
I too have a small chest freezer. I am currently using reusable shopping bags with flat bottoms to organize by food types. I used a permanent marker to write on the handle what is in each bag: non-starchy veggies, whole grains, flours, seeds & nuts, beef, chicken etc. Sometimes within each "main bag" I will have a labeled 2 gallon zip top bag containing smaller portions of one type food like 1 cup portions of chopped peppers or onions. The bags stack okay, not super good, but okay, and it is pretty easy to grab the one I want to look through by reading the label on the handle. I keep the ones I use most often on the top but still have to remove them to get to the lower bags that contain products I use less frequently. It is, obviously not a perfect system, but it works better for me than using the types of containers that Pam used in her upright freezer. I tried that but found it a little too hard to get things out of the bottom.
Anyone else have any suggestions for chest freezers?
On RUclips - I saw a woman use milk crates or large heavy duty plastic bins in her chest freezer. Each bin held specific meats. The bins stacked 2 high, I think - and she put the newer meat in the bottom bin. She had smaller flatter bins on the top that she could move around easily. She said those were "use it first" bins. It looked very efficient.
@@brendamarques1555 using the tote bags is a good idea and seems to be the most practical way in order to retrieve what we need without a lot of shifting of boxes and bins. At nearly 73 I’m all about easy.
We've got a side of beef that's going to be ready to pick up in a few weeks, after watching a few different freezer organization videos for ideas I ordered some large sturdy sided tote bags on amazon. Each cut of meat will go in a different bag (ground beef, roasts, steaks, etc) so that I can store them in the chest freezer, see what I have, not worry about the meat just falling all over the place, and easily move them around when I need to. This method would also work great for having a bag for chicken, a bag for beef, a bag for veggies, a bag for fruit, etc.
Hey Red, mine is the same. Without having finished watching the video just yet, let me say that I bought deep plastic bins to fit the shelves of my upright and fill each accordingly. For my chest freezer I bought commercial grade bins to fit the width and fill each one with gr. meat, chicken, roast, steaks etc. and 2 or 3 extra to place on top of the lower ones, but leave room that I can slide them over to access the bottom ones. This has worked out really well for me. Thank you and love your videos.
Oh my goodness Red, I love the portion sizes and reusing the bags. I'll have to reorganize my upright now. Lol
I recently ordered wire baskets on Amazon and was able to use them in my freezer to organize my meats. It's great, if I want chicken I just grab the chicken basket. It is so much easier to find what I need now.
Pam Thank you and Jim for all the work you put into helping us. Is there a way I might ask a couple of questions that might give you video ideas?
That would work great for my chest freezer as well.
Lovvvve how you’ve re packed & divided the veggies - of course!!! Re use hose bags!!!😅
Yes! Thank you! I wash them out, dry them, and back in the drawer they go!
I was expecting a chest freezer - lol - yours is beyond beautiful compared to my giant chest freezer - I'm almost afraid to open it!!!
Perfect timing again…we have a 1/4 beef coming from the locker in a few days!! 😊
How exciting! YUMMY...
My freezer is stuffed. We started eating it down with the plan to organize. I look forward to your ideas.
Your freezer looks amazing compared to how mine is 😂.
But, it gives me hope to see that it wasn't organised perfectly - yet! I'm looking forward to following your lead on this. Thank you! 😊
Wow! how strange is the timing , I just started cleaning out my freezer from
Bottom
Of refrigerator yesterday! Love it! And your freezer does not look bad! Compared to one of mine .
I have a 6' chest freezer... it's much worse! That's one reason I'm working to pressure can & dry food to improve working preservation. Thank you for sharing your education and insights!!
Great idea Pam & Jim!!
So happy you are doing this continuing series! I need good ideas! Thank you!
You, madam, are brilliant!
Oh my, my freezer is a chest freezer so things get thrown in and literally get lost. Your freezer looks wonderful.
Thanks' Pam /Jim Just the same as mine for sure. Amazed your freezer had door compartments.. Mine only has drawers and shelves.. No door compartments.. Kindness Lochness Scottish Highlands..
That is interesting. We just bought another small upright freezer with bins and no door compartments. I will show it in a video soon. I like it a lot!
Love your channel. I separate meat in meal sizes but never thought about veggies. Great idea. They do make ziploc type bags to use with your food saver that can be reused. They seal with the attachment that comes with the food saver. I also use wire baskets to organize my freezer, works well if there are heavier items.
I love your honesty! We lovingly refer to it as freezer diving 😂😂😂. Ours has always been utter chaos at best. But we learned a forced lesson last year. At the time we had 3 freezers full. One failed, and our spare refrigerator failed as well. We were blessed because my husband had put thermostats in them, that notified him that the temperature was above the temperature he set. He had set it for 10 degrees. Then he reset it for 15 degrees to be sure it was a problem. It was! So we started canning, dehydrating and cooking the contents of that freezer. And in between that we emptied and reorganized our other 2 freezers. We then reset our sights on emptying our largest chest freezer next. We had just bought our freeze dryer 2 months before, so we started to freeze dry the contents of the freezer and now we have a small solar powered chest freezer, that we do better at keeping it rotated through, regularly.
I used to use plastic tubs but they'd break after a while. I found wire baskets that fit two per shelf for my freezer. They are perfect.
Pam, thanks for this great idea! I thought I'd share one thing that we do. We processed beef last spring, we kept a half. Thats a lot of beef! I wrote a list of what we had, steaks, roast, ribs, etc and the quantity. My dear hubby made a spreadsheet listing each item and then formatted boxes for the quantity. It is posted on the cabinet by the 21 cf chest freezer. Every time I take an item, I put an X in the box. That lets me see at a glance how many of what I have left. We also process our own chickens--about 50 every fall. We use the same system. It works like a charm. AND seeing the importance of tracking all the other odds and ends (vegs, fruits, cheeses, etc.) I see the importance of adding these too. I know it seems tedious, but as you said, it allows us to see what we have--in my case on a piece of paper--and I can plan meals and future food prep accordingly. Love and hugs--keep up the good work. :)
That sounds like a very efficient inventory system of use and rotation. Thanks for sharing your success with us. When we butchered our chickens (30 cocks) a number of years ago, and we had very good tasting fowl for about a year. Our hens laid eggs for us for another two years, until we gave them to Pam's children who live in the area. Jim
Hey....at least no food fell out when you opened the door...my personal issue!! I will be tossing the 2 year old veggies and using your organizational methods to save space and reduce waste...another great video Jim and Pam!
Glad it was useful.
Love your new cabinets!