Photo by: sporkist
When it comes to meal planning, I consider my freezer to be almost as valuable as my oven!
At least one of our weekly meals comes straight from the freezer, and many of our breads, cookies, bars, and other baked goods are simply pulled from the freezer on an “as-needed” basis.
So whether you have a large extra freezer, or just the small freezer attached to your refrigerator, here are a few ways you can make the most of that space.
Making the Most of your Freezer:
If you already have an extra freezer — then count your blessings! But for those of us who don’t have an extra freezer, there is still hope — seriously, you should see everything I’m able to pack into my freezer!
1. Use square or rectangle containers, not round.
You will save SO much space by packaging everything in square or rectangle containers as they are easier to stack and they fit nicely together.
I also use freezer bags to store chopped up veggies, fruits, and even broths. I can freeze them flat and they hardly take up any room.
2. Date and label EVERYTHING!
There is nothing worse than spending valuable time and money preparing casseroles, soups, broths, and baked goods and then not being able to find them back again.
Keep a roll of masking tape or stick-on address labels and a Sharpie right in your kitchen and then label the date and contents of everything you put into your freezer.
3. Use portion control.
A family of six will most likely eat much more than a family of two — so freeze your meals according to how much your family eats.
Since there’s only two of us, I freeze soups, casseroles, meats, and baked goods in small batches that will be enough for one dinner and maybe one meal of leftovers. This allows me to simply grab one container at a time and it prevents lots of wasted food.
4. Prevent freezer-burn.
This is probably the number one thing I miss about our old deep freezer — nothing ever got freezer-burn. But now that we have a “frost-free” freezer, our food is much more prone to freezer-burn.
A few steps I’ve taken to reduce freezer-burn are: double wrap all my breads, muffins, and cookies; package everything in containers with tight-fitting lids; wrap store-bought frozen food in freezer paper or aluminum foil; and try to open the freezer door as few times as possible.
5. Remember to schedule freezer meals into your weekly menu plan.
This might sound obvious, but I can’t tell you how many times I’ve planed our weekly meals and forgot about the food in our freezer! If this happens too often, my freezer starts to feel cramped, and then I have to clean out my stock pile {which I talked about last month}.
By making the most of our freezer, I’m able to prepare many meals in advance, make double and triple batches of food, and reduce the number of messes in my kitchen! And all of that saves me lots of time later on.
Utilizing our freezer is just another way I’m able to simplify our weekly meal planning.
I refuse to freeze styrofoam or air. Meats that come on trays from the store take up space. I freeze a lot of my meat in zipper bags with the marinade already in them. That takes up less space and the meat is infused with the flavor of the marinade as it thaws.
Ooo…yum! I’m like you and buy meat in large quantities, so I always take it out of the store-bought packaging and then separate it out into smaller portions {a great way to save money!} I’ll have to start marinating mine now!!
When chicken breasts are on sale, I stock up. Instead of freezing the whole package or a big chuck of meat, I cut them up into tenders, lay them out on a cookie sheet and waxed paper flat, then quickly freeze them. After frozen, I place them all into a zipper bag for the freezer. It’s so easy to just go to the freezer and get one or 2 from the bag without having them all stuck together.
Great tip Donna, I actually do the same thing! It’s amazing how far a few chicken breasts will go if they are cut into smaller chunks!
Excellent tips. Thank you. Especially the first one … I tend to use whatever containers I have around, which makes for a somewhat messy situation.
Rivki, I definitely wouldn’t go out and spend a bunch of money on fancy containers, but buying all “similarly sized” containers is a great way to maximize your space! Plus it looks so much nicer
I write a list of the main meals in my freezer. When I make a double batch of something I just add it to the list. When I use something from the freezer I scratch it off the list. When I plan meals for the week I can look at my list and know what I need to use up. This keeps me from standing there with the door open, digging through the freezer trying to remember what all I have in there!
Wow — what a great tip! You sound very organized
I buy a loaf of bread and butter the whole loaf. Then wrap two slices each in cling film and put it back into the bread bag and into the freezer. When I pack my lunch for work, I grab a frozen “sandwich” from the freezer, and what ever I’d like as a filling. When lunch time rolls a round the bread has thawed and the salad has been kept cool by the frozen bread, and I go about making a fresh cut lunch at work. Easy!
I have yet to try this but I have heard that breads won’t get freezer burn if they’re stored in a paper bag before you seal them in something else.
I LOVE using ice-cube trays to freeze small amounts of leftovers. They’re so easy to dump into a plastic bag once their frozen and make it simple to grab what I need.
When I get fresh herbs, it use to seem that some would go to waste. Now I divide and separate. I put measured amounts into ice cube trays and fill them with water. Then I can drop a cube into soup or let it thaw in a bowl and use as fresh. This is also great if you are able to grow your own.