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Your questions answered: Freezer space? Roxanne asked:
Hi, Roxanne! First, remember that we are a small family (2 adults and 2 children eating!) so a "month's supply" of meatballs, pepperoni, etc. is less for our family than for a larger family, or a family with more adult eaters. :) My freezer (on top of the fridge) is usually quite full. I keep it well-organized and stocked with things we will actually use/eat, so no space is wasted. :) Our beef is all cooked and vacuum sealed (like taco meat, meatballs, meat for casseroles, etc.) which saves a lot of space. :) I also have cooked cubed chicken meat which is vacuum sealed (leftover meat from roasted chickens). I can't usually fit more than 1 or 2 whole chickens in the freezer, so when I buy a new one, I take one out and put it in the fridge to thaw. :) I do like to have some baked goods like cookies, muffins or banana bread in the freezer for Joshua's lunches. I stack the food neatly into bags and suck out the extra air. I still don't usually have more than a 2-week supply of that sort of thing in the freezer though. :) The pizza crusts -- well, a couple of years ago we used this pizza recipe that involved a pre-baked crust, and I would keep 1 or 2 of those in the freezer. Then, we discovered this easy pizza method, and have been doing that ever since! It's still pretty quick, and we like the crust better. :) Frozen pie dough, chicken broth, cooked (from dried) beans, and things like that are not regular staples of my freezer, but when I have extras of those things, I freeze them until I need them -- they don't all take up space in there simultaneously though. :) In my freezer I also keep some nuts, 1 small tray of ice (we don't use much ice at all, as we almost always drink plain water that is at room temperature!), some dry yeast, and blocks of cheese from recent sales (blocks of cheese stack better than bags of shredded!). I also fit in as many frozen peas and other vegetables as possible. When I said my freezer was well-organized and packed, I meant it... when taken out, the food is a huge pile on our kitchen table!! I have learned how to make the most of every inch. And yes... at the grocery store we do sometimes choose to buy chicken or veggies and not the ice cream since we wouldn't have room for it. I think having a relatively small amount of freezer space makes me prioritize (veggies over ice cream) and think creatively (I try to dehydrate or can things when possible rather than freezing), and so far, it's been great. :) Perhaps someday with a huge garden and lots of mouths to feed, I will need a larger freezer -- but until it will save me money, I'll wait. :)  I store my cheese in the door of the freezer. I have quite a stockpile right now from the last time Kroger's had a sale. We bought a Kroger gift card because they were running a special promotion -- we paid $300 for the card, and it had $330 put on it to use. That very same day, we bought about $100 of beef that was on sale (to put in the freezer). We'd still like to have a sneak peak! Especially those of us who are a little handicapped in the organization department.:-)  Here you go! I took these this morning -- no last-minute tidying either. ;) The stuff in the back is stacked neatly... the stuff in the front is the stuff that's harder to stack. :) Thanks Tammy! I go back & forth about whether or not I *need* an extra freezer. I know I could save money by stocking up at sales, but how much money? And I would like room to store things like meatballs or baked bread. Looks like you've figured out what works for your family. But I admit you've crushed this image I had of you keeping months of prepared foods in the freezer :-) Did you intend to link to a second pizza crust method? You link to your original method and then mention a new method, but don't provide a link. Just curious! That IS packed. Haha. That's great organization I must say. :) My fridge freezer and floor freezer are packed as well, put not as packed as yours. :) Tammy, your freezer looks just like mine.:) We don't have a separate freezer either. We have gone back and forth about getting one too. It isn't exactly a necessity and it always seems like money gets spent on other things. After a particularly good butter sale a while ago, we have decided to save the money and finally buy a freezer. I would have bought so much more butter at only $1.99 a pound, but I knew I didn't have the space in the freezer. We are planning on getting an upright one since I'm just under 5'2" and getting into the bottom of a chest freezer is somewhat difficult for me.:) Hi there... You mentioned that you "suck the air out" of all the meat you freeze... how exactly do you do that? Do you use some sort of vacuum sealer - or the old fashioned way (by just pressing the air out with your hands?). I'm just curious if a vacuum sealer is worth the $$ since our biggest problem with frozen meat is freezer burn. Thanks in advance!! Whew! Talk about making use of every inch! That's impressive, Tammy. I wish our freezer looked like that. We're a little spoiled, 'cause we have a second freezer that is very large. It's pretty empty right now, but I'm sure it will soon fill with garden produce. Then we'll make use of your inspiration to "pack things in!" You are very organized, Tammy! I am a little ashamed of myself and I definitely will not be taking any pictures of my freezer. It surely isn't as good looking as yours. :) You are always an inspiration to me though and I love seeing pictures of you and your little family. Wow! We just would not know how to function with just a refrigerator freezer. But, then again, there are 11 of us with many older children. We have 2 freezers, 1 full-sized refrigerator only with no freezer (we love the extra refrigerator space) and 1 smaller refrigerator with a small upper freezer. Even though we live in a tent and a fifth wheel and space is limited, we made room for the 4 large cooling appliances! But, when we just had 2 children, many moons ago, we just had one refrigerator and it was enough back then. Laralee Wow, I admire your organization skills. We have a large freezer on our fridge, an upright in the garage, and we are gonna need another one if the garden keeps producing like it has been. Thank goodness beans are good canned, because we just couldn't fit everything in the freezer. Things get really crazy during hunting season when we put the venison from eight deer in the freezer. Actually, we can a lot of that too... You mentioned that you dehydrate a lot of things. What do you find dehydrates well? Post new comment |
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I think you can guess who this is :). There is always room for two 1/2 gal.s of ice cream in Nana's freezer and if not, its time to clean out the freezer and make room for the icecream :0