Organizing your freezer meals with crates in your chest freezer

One of the problems with freezer cooking is that sometimes meals can get “lost” at the very bottom of your freezer. Let’s face it, who really wants to move around enough frozen food to actually get to and see what lies on the very bottom? Not most of us! Here is a way to get the maximum use of space out of your chest freezer while making it easier to find and get at what is in the bottom.

First, measure the width and depth of your freezer. Then hit one of the many stores that sell various size crates… even the dollar store if you need to keep on a small budget for outfitting your freezer. For a wide freezer, you might be able to go four crates wide, and two or three high. It is best if they stack on top of each other, instead of inside each other, as this will help prevent crushed or damaged freezer packaging.

Pick crates with handles if possible. Especially when your hands are cold, you will appreciate the secureness of the handles for moving the crates.

Pick up a couple extra, if possible. That way as you rearrange food to organize your weekly meals, you have an extra crate or two to work with.

Once you are using crates, you can also use them to organize your freezer meals into weekly plans right in the freezer.