My Famous Freezer

My good friend Audra, over at Penny Pinching Penguin asked for some pictures of stockpiles. Well, I've only been doing this crazy couponing thing for a few months, and don't have much of a stockpile. But I grabbed my camera anyways and snapped a few pictures. I hadn't been out to my deep freeze in weeks and was appalled at how "messy" it was. (When my husband butchered a deer in early Jan, my six year old was in charge of putting it in the freezer!) I grimaced, but took the photos and even sent them to her. Since then, I've bought some more meat that was on sale, and got that freezer organized!



When we first got our freezer, I wondered how we would ever fill it up. And it's not even all that large. I had just been so used to only have the small one attached to my fridge and making things fit in there... It was months before we finally plugged it in and started filling it. Now, I don't know what we'd do without it! There have even been a few times that it was too full, but because of this cold winter I was able to stack things on top of it :)

Once it got so full, it was really hard to find things. If you're planning on filling your deep freeze, you really need to make a plan for being able to get things out, and not forgetting about what's on the bottom. Last fall, I found five packages of venison sausage that I thought I ran out of in July! My freezer came with a little basket, and that is useful for smaller bags of veggies, or your husband's fishing bait. There's also a "shelf" where the compressor is, and it makes a great spot to store frozen pizza or baked goods. The rest of my freezer is devoted to meat. Mostly we have venison, so that's just thrown into the bottom. In a dairy crate, I have stored all other meats. I can easily lift the crate out and access my venison. There is some wasted space because it's not a perfect fit, but the grocery sacks I was using previously kept getting brittle and breaking. At least this way I can still find my meat!

If you have any other tips or tricks for organizing a deep freeze, let me know. I'm always open to revamping the system! Also, check out Penny Pinching Penguin- she's got loads of great advice for saving money- and you can see my cupboards, too. :)