Anyone have a good freezer inventory system?

[Ali in OR]

Yesterday was the magical day of the year when I cleaned out the garage freezer. This can only happen this time of year when we've eaten down most of last year's blueberries but haven't stocked this year's yet. I'm 6 weeks past the last Costco trip (will do that again this week), and we spent a careful week eating stuff out of both freezers to have room to cram everything into the kitchen freezer while the garage freezer defrosted yesterday (this didn't take too long--a few hours for the ice to melt and then another for me to get motivated to wipe it out for 15 minutes. Then only another couple of hours to get back to a safe temperature after I plugged it back in).

So anyway, I made a list of everything we have in there. I think I'll clean out the kitchen freezer today. As I start with new fresh freezers and a list of everything in them, I'm wondering if anyone has a great system for keeping an inventory list up to date and using up frozen food in a timely manner. The garage freezer has a magnetic whiteboard on it and I used to keep track of at least the meat in there, but I'm out of the habit. And wondering if there's a better way. Anyone have a system that works for your household?

[Junie]

I need a system, too, so I'll be watching this thread!

(My current system is something like "Hey dd14, can you go down to the basement and see if there are any peas in the freezer?")

[Moonhawk]

Don't have a full system, but one thing I do is for everything that goes into the freezer: I put an expiration date. Not the date I pack it. This helps me keep aware of what things need to be eaten sooner. 

Used to have  a tally count of everything in the freezer, too, and then just erase a tally mark when I take something out. It was on the door on a white board so easy to erase at the same time. 

[lovinmyboys]

I’m following this too. I would also love to know if people have a system for putting things in and taking out. I feel like the last few times I have had to take everything out to get to what I was looking for 

[katilac]

This works well when I stay on top of it. Inevitably, I let it slide at some point and have to re-inventory, lol, but it is helpful and simple. 

You can use a notebook, index cards, a whiteboard on the freezer, whatever. 

Write down the item, say ground beef, and then put an empty circle for each package you have. When you pull out a package, you checkmark the circle. I do it by hand, but this will give you an idea. It shows the freezer started with 6 packages of ground beef; 2 have been used, 4 are left. When you add more packages, add more circles. 

Ground Beef ⬤⬤○○○○

 

[Ali in OR]

6 minutes ago, Moonhawk said:

Don't have a full system, but one thing I do is for everything that goes into the freezer: I put an expiration date. Not the date I pack it. This helps me keep aware of what things need to be eaten sooner. 

Used to have  a tally count of everything in the freezer, too, and then just erase a tally mark when I take something out. It was on the door on a white board so easy to erase at the same time. 

What do you set as the expiration date for things like dinner leftovers? A quart bag of chili or spaghetti sauce say.  And the tally system is what I used to do for the Costco meat, and maybe I'll just go back to that. Then for the next trip I can just look at the whiteboard to see what needs to be restocked rather than dig to find out what I have.

1 minute ago, lovinmyboys said:

I’m following this too. I would also love to know if people have a system for putting things in and taking out. I feel like the last few times I have had to take everything out to get to what I was looking for 

I can only tell you that we have dh's film he refuses to part with at the bottom of the chest freezer, then a layer or two of blueberries (more blueberries are stacked more accessibly), then a layer of more rarely-used meat (steak, pork tenderloin), then two little freezer bins, 1 with hamburger pounds, 1 with Costco 2-breast chicken packets, then the freezer basket which currently has popsicles and dog bones but will have a lot of frozen fruit later in the summer (like little cup containers of peaches). This is the deep side of the freezer. The side with the shelf (over the motor I think) currently has more random Costco stuff like taquitos or fudge bars, bacon, butter, rolls or bread, or whatever else I throw in there. After July it will be mostly full of blueberries. So there is still a little digging if we have say pork tenderloin for dinner, but at least I know where it's supposed to be. The kitchen freezer tends to be more leftovers or things we eat often like ice cream. Kid foods. It's easier to access things, but I still forget what's there.

[Ali in OR]

11 minutes ago, katilac said:

This works well when I stay on top of it. Inevitably, I let it slide at some point and have to re-inventory, lol, but it is helpful and simple. 

You can use a notebook, index cards, a whiteboard on the freezer, whatever. 

Write down the item, say ground beef, and then put an empty circle for each package you have. When you pull out a package, you checkmark the circle. I do it by hand, but this will give you an idea. It shows the freezer started with 6 packages of ground beef; 2 have been used, 4 are left. When you add more packages, add more circles. 

Ground Beef ⬤⬤○○○○

 

I like that this would also establish what you want your max inventory to be. Like if you want six pounds at your max, this tells you how much you need if it's time for the restocking trip.

[Moonhawk]

Just now, Ali in OR said:

What do you set as the expiration date for things like dinner leftovers? A quart bag of chili or spaghetti sauce say.  And the tally system is what I used to do for the Costco meat, and maybe I'll just go back to that. Then for the next trip I can just look at the whiteboard to see what needs to be restocked rather than dig to find out what I have.

Leftovers with meat get 3 months from date of packing. So if tonight I make chili and I have some for the freezer, it would be marked as Sept 8, 2020. 

Leftover with no meat get 6 months from date of packing. So if I make a spaghtetti sauce with no meat, just tomatoes and onions and herbs, it would be marked as Dec 8, 2020.

[TheReader]

4 minutes ago, Moonhawk said:

Leftovers with meat get 3 months from date of packing. So if tonight I make chili and I have some for the freezer, it would be marked as Sept 8, 2020. 

Leftover with no meat get 6 months from date of packing. So if I make a spaghtetti sauce with no meat, just tomatoes and onions and herbs, it would be marked as Dec 8, 2020.

This is super helpful, thank you!

 

[TheReader]

20 minutes ago, lovinmyboys said:

I’m following this too. I would also love to know if people have a system for putting things in and taking out. I feel like the last few times I have had to take everything out to get to what I was looking for 

When I was debating a switch from a stand-up/upright freezer to a chest freezer, someone on this board (I do not remember who) shared their tip: bags. Reusable grocery bags for storing the meat in the freezer. 

So, I have purchased several large-ish tote bags/reusable grocery bags (the kind that are the wipe-off plasticky material) and have one for packs of ground beef, one for packs of chicken, one for packs of pork, one for packs of other beef, etc. You would use these for whatever things you need to keep sorted. Then, anything that gets stacked on top is the easy stuff like the frozen pizzas, etc. 

Big meats go in the side by themselves, longways (so, brisket, turkey, ham, big pork butts for pulled pork, etc.); then the bags of meat in the middle/main section, then the "grocery items" either in the smaller section or on top (pizzas, corn dogs, etc.) and in the baskets are loafs of bread and assorted sausages (bratwursts, breakfast sausage, Italian sausage, etc.). 

But the main thing is the bags. Helps SOOO much by kind of making divided sections to keep everything in, and then when I want chicken or beef or what have you, I just have to pull up that bag. When I buy new, I do take the bag out, empty it, put the newest pack on bottom, and stack it back in, but with everything in bags, nothing else shifts around, so it's pretty easy. 

 

I also keep a tally mark (sort of) on top, but I like the version someone just posted with the circles; that seems easier. 

[Pawz4me]

17 minutes ago, TheReader said:

When I was debating a switch from a stand-up/upright freezer to a chest freezer, someone on this board (I do not remember who) shared their tip: bags. Reusable grocery bags for storing the meat in the freezer. 

I use three of these in my chest freezer. One for meats, one for frozen veggies, and one for frozen potatoes, rolls and biscuits.

[Carrie12345]

🤣😂😅

Nope.

[cjzimmer1]

I have 2 upright freezers and then the freezer that is on each of my 2 fridges.  The upright freezers are the manual defrost type so that's where my long term meat gets stored.  The bottom of one of them has a basket so the hamburger from my 1/2 beef goes in there.  Usually there is some that has to go on another shelf but I make a point to use that up first.  One shelf is roasts, ribs, soup bones and stew meat.  Another shelf is steaks.  My whole pig goes in the other freezer, again shelves dedicated to specific cuts.  I  get my meat in February when my summer produce is at it's lowest (and clean both freezers right before picking up the meat), and my summer produce goes in July/August when my meat is at it's lowest (I clean the freezers again right before starting produce).  The top shelves of each freezer is packed with fruit and the second shelf and doors contain veggies and premade stuff.  As things get emptied out sometimes things end up on the wrong shelves but by emptying things out twice a year things get put back in place.  The freezers on the fridges have things like ice cream, frozen pizza store bought frozen veggies and anything else that gets used very quickly since those have the auto defrost are it's much easier to end up with freezer burn if things are there long term.

[Pam in CT]

2 hours ago, Carrie12345 said:

🤣😂😅

Nope.

+1

[TheReader]

3 hours ago, Pawz4me said:

I use three of these in my chest freezer. One for meats, one for frozen veggies, and one for frozen potatoes, rolls and biscuits.

Those are the same shape as the kind I have, but those look really nice! I may  have to upgrade.