How to Pack Your Freezer Efficiently

When you own a small chest freezer like I do, you discover quickly that there isn’t a lot of space for storing foods. While this is fine as long as your freezer contains nothing more than a few frozen pizzas and some ice cream, it’s isn’t so good when you’re trying to sock away 200 pounds of food for the winter.

The secret to maximizing the storage ability of a freezer is all in how you pack your frozen food items. Here’s a few tips to help you pack your freezer efficiently.

Avoid wasted air space. When I pack food for freezing, I match the quantity of the food to the size of the container so as to avoid wasted air space. Food that will be stored in freezer containers or glass jars are packed within 1/2 inch of the rim (to allow for expansion). Freezer bags are also packed to the max with all the air squeezed out before sealing. Even grocery store meat packages are often repackaged into smaller bags to avoid wasting valuable freezer space.

Package food in similarly sized containers. If you’ve ever tried stacking cans for a food drive, you’ve probably discovered that mismatched sizes are tough to stack efficiently. The same goes for stacking food in the freezer. If you freeze homemade sauces and pie fillings like I do, it helps to package these items in similarly sized containers which are easy to stack and take less room. I prefer using pint size mason jars though square shaped freezer containers will work equally as well.

Flatten the bags. Bags of frozen produce and meats should never be thrown helter skelter into a freezer. Instead, they should be pressed flat and allowed to freeze in that shape before stacking. Flat bags are easier to stack, take less room, and can be slid along the inside walls of the freezer if needed.

Sort by type. To avoid the hassle of digging deep into a freezer to find a package of hamburger, I try to organize my frozen food items by type. For example, my frozen meats are kept to the left side of the freezer while the frozen produce is kept in a paper sack (for easy lifting) on the right. Sauce and pie filling jars are stacked near the end while my frozen blackberries are stacked under the veggies. Knowing where the various food types are stored in the freezer makes them much easier to find.

Packing a freezer efficiently is all about using the available space wisely. Following these little tips Is an easy way to make the most out of your freezer space.

More by this contributor:

How to defrost your freezer.
How to sauce tomatoes and save freezer space.
5 reasons to keep a casserole in the freezer