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15 Tips to Keep Your
Freezer Organized

Make your freezer more efficient with these freezer storage and freezer organization tips.

These days, for most of us, a freezer is considered an essential piece of kitchen equipment. A freezer allows us to prepare meals in advance, batch cook meals, and can lead to economies in both time and money. However, all of these advantages rely on effective freezer organization. 

If you don’t have an organized freezer, it can be a dreaded task to get anything in, or out, of it (watch out for the freezer avalanche). It can also lead to food getting buried and forgotten about resulting in food spoiling.

Rather than avoiding the issue and losing more food and money (not to mention getting clocked by that block of frozen meat), check out some of these brilliant freezer organization hacks that will help you organize your freezer the right way.

1. Remove Everything from the Freezer
Trust me, it’s impossible to get your freezer organized without starting with a totally clean, blank slate. Getting everything out will allow you to see what you have and decide what needs eating first.

2. Store Half-Bagged Vegetables in Clean Milk Jugs
Consolidate all the half-full bags of frozen vegetables like corn, peas and sliced carrots into one jug per type. This will not only make it easier to see what you have, but it’s super simple to pour from the jug too.

3. Throw Away the Boxes
It’s impossible to achieve freezer organization if you have tons of assorted boxes crammed into your freezer. Instead, toss the boxes and keep items in freezer-safe bins.

You can purchase clear plastic bins at your local dollar store (and many other stores too). Having several containers the same size can help you effectively store different (but similar) items, like poultry and beef.

You can simply label them to give you individually allocated spaces for all the foods you store.

4. Store Items Vertically Instead of Flat
If you have a huge stack of frozen ground beef, you’ll be amazed at how much less room it will take up once stored vertically!

Using gallon or quart-sized freezer storage bags is a great way to store a lot of things. Fill the bag, remove the air, and lay it flat to freeze. Once frozen, you can stand it up on its side – it’s only an inch or two wide!

Magazine holders are the perfect place to store those meals or sauces that you’ve frozen flat. You can store several in one container standing up, or even laid on its side. Attach a laminated notecard on the outside so that you can easily see what’s being stored.

5. Use Bag Clips to Hang Bags from Shelves
If you have wire shelves in your freezer, consider yourself lucky! Use a chip clip to seal up the bag while dangling it from the top of the shelf. This is another space-saving tip that you may not have thought about. 

6. Store Large Bulk Items at the Bottom of the Freezer
If you have drawers at the bottom of your freezer they are the perfect spot to hold large bags of frozen fruit, chicken nuggets, or gallons of ice cream.

7. Freeze Individual Servings

No more thawing an entire bag or container of something you just need a little of. Portion out your meals or ingredients ahead of time, freeze them individually, then just use what you need.

8. Label Everything
If your freezer is full of homemade goodies, it’s crucial to keep things labeled. Use simple freezer stickers to make sure you never lose track of what’s in your freezer. You’ll want to record when you put it in there, so you know when you need to use it.

9. Keep Your Freezer Defrosted
If your freezer has a lot of ice buildup, make sure to defrost it. This likely needs to be done on a regular basis unless you have a frost-free model. A lot of ice build-up will cut down on the storage space available and is also not good for the efficiency of the freezer operation.

You’ll want to coordinate well if your freezer is part of your fridge (it will need to be unplugged) but it’ll be worth the effort.  

10. Vacuum Seal Your Food
How many times have you looked into the freezer, only to find one (or more) frostbitten bags filled with unidentifiable food?

Use a food sealer to tightly seal your bags and remove all the air so you can clearly see what’s inside. Not only will you save freezer storage space, but you’ll also preserve your food better.

11. Utilize a Dry Erase Marker
If you have a separate, or secondary, freezer in a garage or utility room, you can use a dry erase marker right on the door to take an inventory of the contents!

If you don’t want to write directly on the surface in your kitchen, purchase a small magnetic dry erase board and attach it to the side of your freezer.

Review and revise your list each time you use something out of it, or add something to it.

12. Try Souper Cubes
Some of the ideas above are great for large quantities of foods, but what if you have small items to freeze? If you have small amounts of things you need to freeze – or want to thaw out items in small amounts, try using Souper Cubes.

These are silicone containers that function much like an ice tray but with larger cubes to hold bigger amounts. They are ideal if you have small quantities of sauces leftover. Sometimes the simplest ideas are the best.

13. Use Press & Seal Wrap
You’ve likely seen the idea about lining your fridge shelves with a press-and-seal wrap to keep it clean. Well, why not apply that same logic to your freezer so that any messes that occur are easy to clean up? 

14.  Use Reusable Shopping Bags to Keep Your Freezer Organized – If you have a deep freezer, sort your larger items into reusable shopping bags to keep it organized and make it easy to pull contents out.

15. Commit to Fitting Everything in Stacked Bins – If you can find bins that fit your freezer side by side, this is a brilliant way to get the most out of any freezer space.

Freezers can be a lifesaver because they give you space to store foodstuffs that you don’t want or need right away without them rotting, going stale, or expiring. They are also ideal for busy working moms, as they allow you to batch cook ahead of time. I like to cook double quantities of meals, eat one and store one.

Whether you have a side-by-side freezer, upright drawer freezer, or even a deep chest freezer, it often seems there’s never enough room. You should bear this in mind when purchasing a new freezer and err on the side of getting one larger than you think you may need.

I hope you love these freezer organization ideas – aren’t they both creative and effective? It just goes to prove that you don’t need to buy expensive supplies in order to have an organized and efficient freezer. I love that!

Which one of these ideas will work best for you? Do you have any other ideas for creatively organizing your fridge and freezer?

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