Deep Freezer Organization

[Lytro]

As the deer are piling up, I'm interested to see if anyone has a good organization system for their deep freezer. The best I've been able to come up with is placing cardboard boxes inside the freezer to keep steaks, roasts, ground, sausages, etc. grouped together. Has anyone come up with anything else that works well? Pictures are appreciated if you have them!

 

[Fatcamp]

Bumping this as we have the same problem. Next freezer will be standing, that much I know.

 

[Michael54]

I bought an upright. Each shelf is separated by meat type and date. We use the oldest dates first. As soon as we kill something this year the oldest of last years starts making it to the dehydrator for jerky.

 

[Brendan]

I use a frost free upright as my primary (much, much, nicer). I have a small chest freezer that will be for more longer term storage.

My plan for the chest freezer, buying some 1/4" plywood, and cutting stackable boxes to fit and minimize wasted space. Put a whiteboard on the top of the freezer - write what's where inside. A box of stuff to be ground on the bottom, a box of shanks on the bottom. Surplus steaks and roasts in another, etc.

Like others, first in first out. But, my freezer was pretty empty before the season and now I have about 300# of meat I got within a two week period...

 

[Randle]

I bought a bunch of various size plastic baskets at the dollar store a it works well for us.
we use them for meat, huckleberry bags, frozen garden stuff, and freezer jam jars

 

[CoffeeGoat]

We use milk crates and the white board on top - though we do a crummy job of keeping the white boards up to date and the milk crates are big enough that they are quite heavy when full. I think the right solution is an upright...

I'd love it if someone has a better approach - one problem we have is if you have big stuff in there like a full pork shoulder or a big bag of frozen veggies things don't pack well.

 

[Brewski]

This year for my chest freezer with foodsavered meat I switched from reuseable cloth grocery bags to ziplock big bags, the extra large size. I put the meat in the big bags for checked luggage airplane transport, then the bag goes in the freezer once I get home.
I sort the meat by cuts and each gets a bag. They are easy to move to get to deeper freezer layers, easy to see what's inside, and add a layer of protection against frost, less wasted space then milk crates, and so far durable. My $10 big bag investment has lasted all year.

 

[spur60]

I cut dividers for my wild game chest freezer out of 1/4" plywood. Just re-organized it over the weekend after finishing up processing a deer. by putting the dividers in I have four 12"-16" sections. Two sections for deer/antelope, one section for ducks & geese, one section for pheasants & fish. Every three months I'll take an inventory and re-organize so oldest dates stay on top.

 

[MuleyFever]

One of these days I’m buying an upright freezer. So much easier to organize.

 

[Oregonboy]

I have the same issue. The boxes idea didn't work for me as it blocked too much of my view and took up too much room. I just decided to keep game meat on the right side and store bought stuff on the left. It's not perfect but it works.

My next freezer will also be a stand up. My parents have one and it's a dream in comparison.

 

[go4thegusto]

Bumping this as we have the same problem. Next freezer will be standing, that much I know.

Don't do an upright. They are typically frost free. They cycle the temp and wreck your food quickly. Also all the cold spills out when you open it. Chest is only way to go.

 

[go4thegusto]

I bought my son one a few years back with great plastic dividers. When I went looking for another they were discontinued. Likely to cut cost. I also have been making keyed together organizers with 1/4 hardboard. Works great!

 

[PADave]

upright and small plastic bins
empty cardboard (10 box cases) shotshell boxes work well too

 

[Gbrecka]

I found boxes that fix in the freezer perfectly without wasting much space. I have maps above each freezer so that the Mrs can find what she needs without too much hassle

 

[Laramie]

I use cloth grocery bags that have a zipper on top. I have several different colors so it's very easy to find what I am looking for. For example, red is 2020 elk burger. Blue is 2020 deer burger. Green is 2020 elk cuts, etc... These are very easy to move around as you just grab the handles on top. I also have an upright that is mainly used for store bought goods but I also keep a small amount of each meat in there for grabbing quickly.

 

[ericwh]

We use milk crates in our chest freezer.

 

[sram9102]

Aldi bags have worked best for me. I froze a lot of vegetables this year and they hold their shape pretty well and make moving stuff if needed very easy.

 

[KG406]

I used to do stacks of cardboard boxes and plastic crates... all burger in one stack, steaks in the next stack etc. so never had to go digging. But this summer when the freezers were close to empty I went ahead and built dividers with 1/4" plywood and like that system much better.

 

[WCB]

We use milk crates in our chest freezer.

I 2nd plastic milk crates....Roasts in separate ones than steaks or backstraps etc.

 

[AK_Skeeter]

I use milk crates with 2 chest freezers.
When we have a -40 cold snap, I take all the milk crates outside to the deck.,
and rearrange sol oldest meat/fish is towards the top, newest on the bottom.