When it comes to feeding my family without spending all day in the kitchen, I consider my freezer to be one of my most valuable appliances.
A part of almost every meal we eat comes from the freezer, and many of our bread, cookies, bars and other baked goods are simply pulled from the freezer on an as-needed basis.
We are fortunate, now, to have an extra deep freezer in the basement. However, there were many years when I only had the freezer on top of our refrigerator and I made it work.
No matter what size freezer you have, there are ways you can maximize your freezer space — saving you time in the kitchen, energy cooking daily meals, and money buying in bulk (and not resorting to fast food as often).
Win, win, win!
1. Use the smartest containers.
If you want to make the most of your freezer space, stick with square or rectangular containers as round containers waste valuable real estate (these are some of my favorite freezer containers.)
Please don’t go out and spend a fortune on new storage containers, but be aware of this the next time you replace your food storage. You can also look for square and rectangular containers at thrift stores.
Gallon-size ziptop bags are another great space-saving option. You’ll be amazed how much you can fit in your freezer if you use bags!
If you’re really hard-core, measure the inside of your freezer and search for containers that fit your exact space.
2. Label everything.
It’s frustrating when you can’t find the food you need in the back of your freezer after spending valuable time and money preparing casseroles, soups, broths, and baked goods.
An easy solution = label all your freezer bags and containers.
I keep a Post-It Roll and pens in a kitchen drawer to label the date and contents of everything I put in the freezer (masking tape or painter’s tape work too).
Labeling the food takes 10 extra seconds and can prevent frustration and ruined recipes down the road — take it from someone who once used ground beef instead of ground sausage in quiche. Gross!
It’s also helpful to include the cooking instructions directly on the label or bag so you don’t need to dig up the recipe later. This makes it extremely easy to give a freezer meal to someone else.
3. Practice portion control.
No, this is not a weight loss tactic!
Instead, consider how much of a particular food your family eats in one meal and freeze your food accordingly.
For example, I freeze rice, chicken, ground beef, and my homemade refried beans in 2-cup portions — which is the right amount for one meal for our family.
I also freeze frozen fruit in quart-size bags, which is enough for 1 batch of smoothies.
And when I make a casserole, I freeze enough to fit in a 9″ x 9″ pan as that’s how much we eat for one meal.
This allows me to defrost one container at a time and prevents wasted food.
Related Reading: A few of our favorite freezer meals.
4. Avoid freezer burn.
Although I made do with a small fridge/freezer combo for years, one of the main reasons I love our deep freezer is that it prevents most freezer burn.
Our deep freezer is not a “frost-free freezer” so it holds its temperature much more constant than a frost-free freezer, thus, more effectively preventing freezer burn.
Of course, this means we need to manually defrost our deep freezer every year, but that’s a job I’m willing to tackle for longer-lasting freezer foods.
Related Reading: How we defrost our deep freezer.
If you don’t have a deep freezer, here are a few steps I’ve taken to reduce freezer burn.
- Double-wrap bread, muffins, and cookies.
- Package everything in containers with tight-fitting lids.
- Wrap store-bought frozen food in freezer paper or aluminum foil.
- Open the freezer door as few times as possible
- Date your foods (see #2) so you know what to eat first.
5. Eat from your freezer.
It’s easy to get so caught up in “stocking your freezer” that you forget to actually work frozen foods/meals into your weekly meal plan.
If you often forget about your frozen foods, you might consider taking pictures of your freezer each week or keeping a running list of all the foods in your freezer in a notes App on your phone. Either option makes it easy to “check” what’s in your freezer when you’re at the grocery store.
Personally, I take a weekly “inventory” of our freezer when I make our meal plans on Sunday and before I head to the grocery store.
Another fun way to clean out your freezer is to implement an eat-from-the-pantry (and freezer) challenge where you don’t allow yourself to buy any groceries other than fresh produce and dairy for a specified period of time in an effort to use up much of the food you already have in the house.
Related Reading: Master list of freezable foods.
Utilizing our freezer and maximizing its storage capacity is one of the many ways I’m able to simplify our weekly meal planning, stretch our grocery budget, and minimize my time in the kitchen!
Still have questions? Check out my freezer food FAQs post.
How do you make the most of your freezer space?
Liane says
Andrea,
Have you seen Stasher brand bags? I’ve frozen many things in Freezer Ziplocks Gallon size. But then you either wash them or discard them. I have seen similar bags at the grocery store but I try to avoid buying non food items with my grocery budget. It’s so much easier to track food spending when there’s not a $25 jug of Tide for example skewing the total. The bags at grocery stores would be hard to return unlike Amazon. They are expensive but supply chain delays still are causing empty shelves. So I thought I’d try Stasher next time I do a bunch of meals in bags.
Andrea says
I haven’t seen or heard of these “stasher bags” but now I’m going to look them up! 🙂
Lynn says
I have the same freezer as you. I bough inexpensive plastic bins from one of the dollar stores. I place prepackaged foods in the bins in categories. One thing I have learned is to buy large packages of ground meat. We use chicken, pork, and turkey. I cook the whole package and then divide the meat into zipper bags to freeze. We pull out the cooked meat when needed. It makes cooking much quicker on busy nights. Great post!
Lynn says
I bought. Sorry!
Andrea says
yes on the meat — I have an entire blog post about that from years ago. I’m a HUGE advocate of cooking lots of meat at one time and then portioning it up in the freezer. It saves SOOOOOOO much time!
Roxie says
Yes….label everything. Several years ago it was very cold outside and my Mom said she had some soup in the freezer and asked if I wanted it for lunch. I said sure! I left it out at work all morning so it could thaw and was looking forward to it. At lunch time, I started heating it and looked inside…and this unmarked container was CHICKEN BROTH..not soup. Bummer! But we got a good laugh out of it.
Andrea says
oh bummer — that’s unfortunate!
Once, Dave’s aunt sent us home with a plan package of buns from her freezer when she thought she was sending us home with fully prepared sandwiches! haha — we still joke about this!
Liane says
I learned my lesson not using cottage cheese containers for leftovers. I send hubby to work with what I thought was cottage cheese to keep in the fridge at work. He ended up with something awful like saved gizzards from that little bag stuck inside a whole chicken.
Nancy says
We bought a big old freezer from our neighbors. It’s from 1977, not frost free, I love it. I have a notebook to keep track of everything in it.
Andrea says
hang onto that old freezer — It will last longer than the new ones now days!
Rebecca says
I’ve started using my leftover stack of Amazon Prime bubblewrap packages to wrap bread and other baked goods in the freezer. You can easily slip an item inside and write on the packaging with marker. Plus, it’s a great way to re-use vs buying new.
Rhonda says
This is a great idea!
Andrea says
oh wow – I’d never think to do this. Thank for the idea 🙂
Chris says
I worry about bread and buns drying out, but I know the really heavy duty freezer weight plastic bags are expensive. So, I put the store wrapped product inside of a slide and lock freezer weight one. When I move the product to the refrig to use, I save the still clean heavy duty one for the next batch from the store. Because they are easier to open, the slide lock bags last through multiple refills.
Andrea says
good tip — I never thought about leaving the bread in the store bought package so the more expensive bag didn’t get “dirty”!
Chris says
Save space by packing food in a foil lined baking or serving dish. Put in freezer until solid. Remove the food and foil from the container, label and return to freezer. To prepare, prop the food, foil and all, back in to the original size container — or, remove foil and prepare. Saves containers, space, and cleanup.
Andrea says
yes, this is something I do regularly! great tip!
Gina says
Thank you for this post!! It’s just what I needed to conquer my freezer fears. I love all your practical help.
Andrea says
you’re welcome!!
Laura says
I have a small chest freezer and a freezer/refrigerator in our basement in addition to a freezer/refrigerator in our kitchen. I keep a small dry erase board downstairs with a freezer inventory listed on it. I erase things as I use them and add to it as I add them.
Andrea says
this is a great idea – thanks for sharing!
J says
I write a list on paper of what I have in my freezer and what shelf it’s on. Then when I take something out of the freezer, I put a line through it, that way I know it’s gone.
Mara says
Great post! I think about this a lot when storing food in our freezers, and your tips on freezer burn are super helpful! Have a great day