I admit it, I’ve lost control of the deep freezer~
Last week our local Great American Supermarket (which isn’t very “Super”. It’s tiny. And expensive) ran one of their semi-annual truckload meat sales. The meat sales usually are a pretty good bargain, and I picked up 3 large packages of ground beef for $1.77 a lb (80% lean, so pretty fatty).
I browned the first package up, then it sat in the fridge cooked for a few days. The other 2 packages sat in the garage fridge waiting to be processed until Tuesday, when I finally got it together enough to make a mammoth batch of mini meatballs (I’ll post some tips and techniques on that tomorrow).
Then the meatballs sat in the fridge for a day as well until I finally got around to processing them for the freezer. But the freezer was a mess*:
So I had to do some rearranging just to make enough room to fit it all in.
That’s when I found it. Three top round roasts that have been languishing in the depths of the freezer since October. . . . still in the original packaging-looking quite freezer burned.
ARRRGGHHH!!!! Although I purchased them on sale, that’s still about $15 of meat. I think that probably only the outside is icky from freezer burn, so if I cook them, cut off the outside and then use the inside either shredded or cubed in other recipes I’ll probably be alright-but what a waste.
I hate it when I mess up and waste food and money like that.
HATE IT. REALLY HATE IT.
That was just a total loss of control and lack of organization on my part. (The thinking noise is my head beating on the desk). I also found a couple of packages of pepperoni, about 5 widowed bratwurst (which had a bit of freezer burn but were resuscitated by simmering them for the afternoon in a mixture of beer and broth with onions and green peppers for dinner last night).
I outright had to throw out a baggie of cooked turkey that had been poorly packaged (just thrown in a freezer baggie-obviously I thought I’d use it soon and forgot about it), a cooked chicken breast wrapped in tinfoil that had been punctured and something miscellaneous that I hesitate to even try to identify. And that was just on the bottom shelf.
On the up side I found a frozen box of pie crusts I had forgotten that I had purchased at Aldi’s (since I haven’t gotten around to making the bulk pie crust recipe yet) and was able to make YB a cherry pie last night with the 2 jars of cherries in the pantry. Yum.
I did make a list of the entire bottom shelf worth of food, along with boxes to be checked off as I used the meats, and promised to myself that I would get a grip on the rest of the freezer in the next week.
Does anyone else out there have a method that has worked well for them in the long term? I have found that an eraser board works well as long as you update it, but what I really need is some way to organize the food inside the freezer itself.
I tried using inexpensive plastic dollar store crates, but they became brittle in the cold and shattered. I did the plastic shopping bag thing but then I couldn’t see what was inside-and of course it didn’t stack well.
I was thinking of using cardboard boxes-I assume that even if ice crystallizes on it the structural integrity won’t be affected as long as the ice doesn’t melt and soak into the plastic. . . . does anyone have any input on that?
Any and all experiences and stories are welcome. If you have more to say than will fit in a comment, feel free to write your own blog post and let me know so I can include a link at the end of this article. I love when things sort of chain out exponentially!
*Note: That is not actually my freezer. My freezer is an upright freezer, not a chest freezer. This was just a nice picture I found on Morguefile.com
Well I was going to say mine is upright and think that is easier, but then I read your note.
I guess I don’t keep mine as full maybe. I try to arrange by shelf. All the meats on one, veggies ect. I’m not sure if you saw this post, Why Bare Cupboards are a Good Thing, I was talking about my cupboards but the same applies to the freezer.
I use my upright freezer for meats, homemade freezer meals and breads. Everything is pretty much put in organized by shelf: one shelf for chicken/pork chops, another for ground turkey (actually 2 right now), one for breads and cereals. The upright lives in the garage so the fridge-top freezer is for things like ice cream, popicles, chocolate chips and baking items. I haven’t really had issues with any of it being disorganized or hard to find doing it this way.
As for cardboard boxes, having worked food service for years, I can tell you that you are correct about structural integrity. They will be fine as long as nothing melts, defrosts or otherwise gets wet. I think maybe using a piece of cardboard to divide shelves in half (one side chicken, the other pork, etc) might help more than actual boxes. Just MHO.
I would love to find out because I too have a horrible habit of buying a bunch of stuff on sale and then forgetting it out in the garage (we have an extra freezer and fridge) and then pissed at my self because I forgot about it and it went to waste! Argh!
Stephanie’s post above is a good one. My comment is along the same lines. Our refrigerator is SMALL. Our kitchen is small. We simply can’t store as much as we used to. It means I shop a lot. But on the other hand, I don’t think I’ve ever “lost” food in the freezer. And we stay more in budget – just buy what I need for the next few days. Also we eat fresher and healthier (versus things that can be stored long term).
I store in ziploc bags. BEFORE putting contents in, write date and name on the outside with permanent pen. Then lay bags flat so that they are in sheets and not blobs which waste freezer space.
🙂
Don’t feel bad. When I got my new fridge, we put the old one in the garage for extra storage. Last July or so…when it was about 90 degrees out…someone didn’t make sure the door was fully shut.
And I didn’t know that for 2 days.
The result…about $80 worth of meat LOST, LOST, LOST. Including (gasp!) rib eye steaks!!!
It’s happened to the best of us.
Now I have a freezer inventory page in my household notebook. Anything that’s in the downstairs freezer is highlighted with bright yellow.
Oh…and I’m danged certain to make sure that freezer shuts tight.
I don’t have any suggestions, but I can empathize with the frustration of that wasted money and food. I know I’ve bought whole chickens on sale only to unearth them from the freezer a year later, usually unsalvageable.
Those supermarket sales (buy one, get one free, etc.) are tempting, but often lead to waste. Kind of like the discount stores/bulk buying syndrome.
What I find so tempting is that you can often spend the same amount for the increased number of sale steaks as you would if you bought just the ones you need for that week. It’s like the store is subsidizing my gamble on whether or not I’ll eat the items before they go bad or get freezer burn.
Good luck getting organized, seems like you now have some helpful advice.
Thanks to everyone for the useful thoughts and advice. It will probably be a few more days before I can really make headway.
I think that I really need to do some thinking about my “hoarding” mentality. . .
Also, Jill’s idea of dividers is good, I really need to do SOMETHING. . . .