Freezer and frozen food question

[Jackass master]

How often do you clean out and organize your freezer(s)? Sometime in the next 3 weeks I have 3 freezers to go through and organize and throw out stuff that is old and pre dates the vacuum sealer we use now. Best investment I ever made for food prep. We could easily go for a year plus on all the grub in this house. When the boys were all at home it was easy as most stuff was used up by butchering time. Now we have so much stuff we never use it all. I will have a 1/4 of beef to fit in under what is left of last years beef. I did not realize we have almost a 1/2 a shelf of steaks and tenderloins left. Veggies that are not supposed to even be in that freezer ended up on top of them.

 

[Natasha]

Well, I have a 19 year old boy living in my house, so there isn't much extra left in the fridge OR freezer most times. We probably go through and clean it out 2 or 3 times a year, though, just to get rid of stuff that got pushed to the back and was forgotten about, LOL

 

[JoanMcWench]

Keeping things in certain containers with sticker dates helps a ton. I find that I am always rotating things and making sure to utilize whatever it is I have a fear of throwing away. Therefore planning my meals around the food as opposed to buying the food that plans the meals. Color coordination is actually really helpful but, yes, it is a scary person thing to do.

 

[dreamseer]

We don't have near as much food in reserve as you have (wish we did) but I try to rotate my meat every time I buy new. We don't have one big chest freezer, but two small ones. One is for vegetables and the other for meat and miscellaneous things. This makes it a lot easier to keep neat. My husband will not eat any meat that he thinks is even starting to freezer burn. I don't like to waste food, so I have to keep stuff fresh.

 

[MyDigitalpoint]

Keeping things in certain containers with sticker dates helps a ton. I find that I am always rotating things and making sure to utilize whatever it is I have a fear of throwing away. Therefore planning my meals around the food as opposed to buying the food that plans the meals. Color coordination is actually really helpful but, yes, it is a scary person thing to do.

This is much of what I do to have my freezer organized, and Tupperware containers are really handy for this purpose.

In addition, and keeping in mind that food in the fridge is usually idle for longer time than food in the bottom, I have a hard-copy list of what I have in there.

This checklist helps to keep and eyes in the expiration dates, but also to plan future menus or write down upcoming shopping lists that include frozen items that I will need to get replaced.

 

[Jackass master]

Going to be facing this ordeal again in about 2 weeks. Cows go to butcher shop Monday morning. A quick look tells me I should just sell all the meat as we have a lot left. Think I will go through and make a list of what we have and get it all orderly.

 

[AUFred]

Usually do not keep much food in our freezer. About every couple of years I have to remove built up frost.

 

[ReadmeByAmy]

Actually we rarely eat frozen processed foods like hotdogs, sausages, ham and burgers that may be kept in the freezer for a long time. That is why our freezer is not hard to organize. We don't stock foods in our freezer since we become a vegetarian for health reasons.

 

[Bictor]

I usually try to clean out the fridge and freezer by the end of the week. This is to prevent any mold or mildew from forming and to prevent cross contamination between food items. It also is a good time to make sure that the food that you had bought are not going into waste. For preserved foods like frozen dinners, I usually keep them in for a long time. Produce that can be frozen is also left in the freezer, but under a close eye.

 

[drkn335]

We always sort through our freezer every 2 weeks because a lot of stuff doesn't get eaten and we don't want to keep old food in there that takes up space. A lot of the time, as well, our freezer frosts over so we have to make sure we chip away any extra ice regularly so that it doesn't become too much of an issue.