5 EASY freezer organizing ideas to simplify your life and meal prep!
Today I’m sharing with you an inside look at my slate gray upright freezer (now discontinued but you can find other amazing upright freezers here and here) loaded with organization with lots of storage bins from top to bottom.
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Built In Organization
Maximize the built in organization that your freezer has now. Does it have baskets? Trays? Use them to the fullest then buy additional freezer bins as needed.
Upright freezers are incredible useful and storage efficient – plus they are easier on your back than a chest freezer!
I’ve never owned a separate freezer until now. My hubby and I always just used the freezer in our refrigerator and now I wished I had bought one ages ago!
It’s fabulous for saving money and buy meat on sale and have a frozen stock of beef and hamburger for chilis and stews. Now I can start whipping up batches of pre-made crock pot meals and casseroles to have in the freezer in the go position for those busy weekday nights!
Also if your a new Mom and love to make and freeze your own baby food, a large freezer is a must-have! These freezer storage bins are perfect for storing baby food, baby formula, food pouches ect.
Growing up we had a chest style freezer…it was a monster and really big since my Mom used to grow a huge garden and freeze all kinds of fresh vegetables, fruit and berries that we grew in our vegetable garden. Eating ‘from-your-own-garden’ fresh food was delicious….but trying to get a bag of corn or beans or even a package of meat out of that freezer was a huge challenge. We practically had to climb right into it to find anything, there were no compartments, just one big pit of piled up food!
This upright freezer is the complete opposite!! It comes with built in organization: large trays on the door can be taken out and moved around to fit exactly what you are storing. There are two large pull out baskets in the main compartment and lots of shelves too!
Everything is so easy to see and find!
And I also have to mention the beautiful style and color of this freezer – the decorator in me just loves the gorgeous grey slate color! So stylish!
Here are my 5 easy and do-able freezer organizing ideas:
1. Store lightest items at the top and heaviest items at the bottom.
I store our bread, bagels, hot dog and hamburger buns on the top drawer and meat near the bottom.
If you happen to drop a frozen package of meat – it doesn’t have too far to fall to the floor, or on your toes…not that that has happened to anyone I know! 😉
2. Use plastic baskets to separate and contain your food:
I use these freezer stackable storage bins with handles – they are so handy and easy to pull out and slide in.
I use one to hold our waffles, one for vegetables, one for skillet meals and one for packaged hamburger and beef for tacos, fajitas, stews and chilis.
It’s all so easy to find and pull out what I want to make for supper!
These clear stackable freezer storage bins are amazing too if you like the clear look. I use them in my refrigerator. It’s completely your preference if you like the clear or white.
3. Label!:
I’m obsessed with this handy labeler to make labels for the baskets – labels make everything easy for me, hubby and our boys to see at a glance.
I also use these freezer markers (they use water resistant ink and are smudge proof!) to label freezer bags of hamburger and beef that make up from bulk amounts that I buy.
I pre-weigh meat into the amounts required for the recipe. So if I’m making taco’s I can find a bag of hamburger exactly the right amount for tacos!
4. Store items flat and stack them rather than stuffing them in willy nilly:
Stacking frozen food flat will not only save space but once again, it makes it all so much easier to see.
5. Keep an inventory of freezer contents:
I use a small dry erase board and dry erase marker that I keep on a shelf in the door.
This inventory is a handy way to let me know when certain items are getting low in stock and so I can keep my eye out for sales.
I hope you found my freezer organization tips helpful!
Do you have any helpful freezer organizing ideas? If you do – please share, I’d love to know!
You may also like:
Ten Clever Kitchen Organization and Storage Tips
70 Plus Organization and Storage Tips for Your Home
Heather is a Designer, True Color Expert® and proud military wife at 
I love the basket idea, Heather!! Will pick some up the next time I’m at the dollar store to add to my own upright. And I love mine too. Except that it’s not a self-defrost and so I have to defrost it myself. A job that’s on the to do list but never seems to get done!
LOL – I have a list of those kinds of jobs too Heather!! The baskets work great and I’ll be picking up more too!
I started using stainless steel bins that fit party buffet stands that are from restaurant supply store to hold different food groups. You can put right in dishwasher when cleaning. Tried the plastic and it didn’t hold up well for me. Hope you have more success. I love that my freezer is in kitchen now after our remodel 6 yrs ago.
Thanks for the helpful tips Lois – the stainless steel bins sound fabulous! I’d love my freezer to be in the kitchen – you must really love that!
We moved from Iowa to Washington State last May and I miss our freezer. We finally have room in the garage to put a freezer and have been looking for a frost free one. Up right is the way to go as a chest type if hard to keep things organized. We will be putting in a garden but won’t be able to grow corn or potatoes because the yard is smaller. Just found your site and will be trying the art work project.
Thanks
Our garden is small too Ramona! I hope you get to take a look at this Frigidaire freezer when you shop for yours – yes upright is the answer! Thanks for visiting and have fun with the art work project too!
Wow! Lucky you! Thanks for the great tips!!
Your welcome for the tips Amy and yes – I’m loving having a freezer to stock up on frozen food sales to save money!
How fabulous Heather!! Love it and the tips!!
Nancy
Thanks Nancy! I can’t wait to start freezing up crockpot meals and casseroles now that I have the space! I love the idea of thaw, heat and serve homemade meals!
Great tips and what a beautiful freezer! Remember when they were so ugly you had to hide them? 🙂 xo
Wow. Ok this freezer sounds pretty awesome. I have a small deep freezer chest but things just get lost in it! I would LOVE an upright one! And I need to get to the store to get some bins! I love how you organized everything! Thanks for the tips.
Wow, I have some work to do! My deep freezer is a disaster. I love the idea of using baskets to organize the freezer, that’s such a great idea.
You should come link up at our Bloggers Spotlight party, we pin everything to our group board and have two separate link-ups, one for posts and one devoted to pins so you get even more exposure!
http://www.raisingfairiesandknights.com/category/bloggers-spotlight/
We have a bottom drawer freezer that is driving me crazy! I’ll adapt your ideas for this. Thank you!
You’re welcome Kathy!!! I hope these ideas help you! 🙂
We had a chest type freezer and I hated it because I would lose things in it. We donated it and I am ashamed to say I found 2 hams that I didn’t know I had. I also have an eraser board on the door of our upright freezer. When I come home from the store I also weigh out and repackage our food. When I take the ground beef, I weigh it, place it in a bag and flatten it down. I freeze it laying on it side and then once it is frozen, I file it in a basket standing up. I can clearly see what I have and it is easier to find afterwards. I do this with all the meat I purchase. Hope it helps.
FABULOUS tips Patty! Thanks so much for sharing them! I’ll be using your ground beef freezing idea – love that!
This is an amazing idea! Thanks for sharing. Hi, I’m Anita visiting from Link Party Palooza.
Anita – thanks for visiting and your lovely comments! Glad you find these freezer organizing ideas helpful!
Hi! Love the freezer! Where do I get the larger basket drawers that you have in your freezer. There’s so much space in between shelves these would work great