How to organise your freezer

While it’s nice to shut the freezer door and pretend that everything is cool (pun intended), the reality is that most freezers could probably do with a little overhaul. It’s time to leave behind the doubled up peas, the freezer-burned mystery stew, and Christmas ham from two years ago - instead, use these tips to fill your freezer with convenient extra meals, milk, and other frozen essentials to make your life easier!

5 tips to organise your freezer

1. Use quality packaging and containers

Say farewell to freezer burn! Choose freezer-proof containers that are airtight, moisture resistant and easy to seal. Silicone or plastic zip lock bags work well too. Old takeaway containers tend to break easily and aren't airtight, unless you wrap them in plastic wrap. Choose containers that are an appropriate size – lots of air can lead to freezer burn.

Avoid glass containers unless they specify they are freezer safe, as they have the potential to break as the food freezes and expands in them.

2. Freeze flat

Where you can, skip the chunky containers and freeze food flat in snap lock bags to maximise your space. Foods that are frozen flat also tend to freeze and defrost much faster. Try things like corn, rice, grated cheese, berries, peas or thick sauces.

Check out how much you can fit in with this technique!

Taking mince meat out of their containers and freezing them flat in this way is a great space-saver too. Watch the easiest way to freeze mince below:

3. Label everything

Label your food containers and snap lock bags with the contents and use-by-date of food. It's a good way to make sure no food goes to waste, and it means there's no guesswork for the rest of the household either. Once frozen, it can be surprisingly hard to tell different foods apart.

The Organised Housewife has a great labelling system that ensures her labels are easy to read, plus these printed waterproof labels ensure the labels never rub off and stay nice and clear.

Image via The Organised Housewife

4. Know the necessities

For an average size freezer, this list will stock you up and help avoid needing to dash to the shops.

Bags of peas and greens
Fruit such as berries and bananas for smoothies
1 x carton of milk
1 x loaf of bread
1 x block of butter
Portions of chicken, mince or fish
Basic freezer-friendly sauces such as bolognese, tomato sauce
1-2 made ahead meals (get freezer-friendly recipes here)
Puff pastry

5. Freeze in portions

Freezing in individual portions can help minimise waste, because you can defrost only as much as you need to eat. Plus, smaller portions defrost more quickly and easily, making food preparation more convenient.

Try separating meat into portion sizes for stir fries or barbecuing. Freeze soups and stews by the serve. Separate a mix of frozen fruits and veggies into bags to make easy smoothie packs.

This idea by Dessert Now Dinner Later is a wonderful tip for getting your morning breakfast ready in advance. Simple empty the contents of the “smoothie packs” into your blender, add liquid and blitz.