Freezer Meal Tips

Have you been wondering how to organize your freezer? Maybe when you look in the freezer, it’s a hot mess and you’re not even sure where to start. The good news is that you’re one step ahead of the game because you know that your freezer needs to be organized. It’s just a matter of HOW to organize it so that it stays that way and you save yourself some work down the road.

How to Organize Your Freezer

Here is a step by step guide to organizing your freezer in a way that is easier to have it stay that way. We’re also sharing some great little tips along the way.

Take Everything Out of Your Freezer

The first step to organizing your freezer is to take everything out of it. If all the frozen food is still in the freezer, it’s going to be impossible to see everything that’s in there. Because you are just taking it out for a short period of time, you don’t have to worry about the food going back. Just remember, the first step is to take everything out of the freezer.

Do a Quick Wipe Down of Your Freezer

It gets dirtier than you think in there! Do a quick wipe down. You may be surprised as to how much grime can grow in a fridge, even though the temperature is freezing. I’d suggest wiping down all the grime so that you don’t have to look at it the next time you open the freezer.

One tip here is to use a warm (almost hot) cloth when doing the wiping or the wet cloth will just stick to the freezer.

Defrost Your Freezer if it Needs it

This step is optional. Whether or not it is necessary will depend on what type of freezer you have and how much ice buildup is in your freezer. If you’re going to be following this step, your food will be sitting out for longer, so I suggest you place it in a cooler with ice or if you live somewhere that is below freezing outside, you can place the food is a box outside.

There are a few methods of defrosting depending on the type of freezer you have. Read about the methods and how to defrost your freezer here.

Throw Out the Bad Stuff

While you are in your freezer, knee-deep, this is the time to throw out the bad stuff. You can throw out old meat that has been in your freezer for longer than you can remember. This is also a great time to rid your freezer of anything that is freezer burnt. (Read about how to prevent freezer burn so that this doesn’t happen to you next time.)

If you haven’t eaten it in two years, you are most likely not going to eat it anytime soon. Feel free to toss out anything that you don’t think is edible.

Stock Up on Organizational Tools

If you want to go a step further in your freezer organization, then you may want to invest in some organizational items. Purchasing the right items can take your freezer organization just a little further.

Plastic bins – these are such an inexpensive way to organize your freezer. You can get plastic bins from the Dollar Store. Use these to store small items such as canned juice concentrate, individual steaks, small packs of fruits or veggies,
Magazine holders – Magazine holders are an excellent way to store items flat in the freezer.

Label the Items in Your Freezer

How many times do you just throw some food in the freezer without a label? Stop doing that because then you have no idea WHAT the item is or when you put it in there. When you label an item you are making your life a whole lot easier! You don’t need a fancy labeler to organize the items in your freezer, a permanent marker works just fine!

Freeze Things Flat

A big mistake a lot of us make, when we are trying to organize our freezers is freezing items as they are. If you are freezing soups, casseroles, fruit, or vegetables, it’s wise to freeze them flat. Make sure you label them items and then stack them up! Just because you freeze it flat, doesn’t mean it will taste differently.

Freeze Smaller Portions

When it comes to your freezer, you may be unmotivated to get anything out of your freezer and deal with it. However, if you freeze smaller portions, you are able to get to the items a lot easier. Freezing small portions makes more sense if you want to unthaw smaller portions at a time. Of course, this doesn’t work for everyone. However, it’s not a bad idea to keep in mind.

Know What’s In Your Freezer

You may think it’s weird to take inventory of what’s in your freezer, I think it’s smart. Whatever works best for you, take inventory and know what’s in your freezer. You may have 4 bags of chicken and 4 bags of corn. If you write that down, you’ll know what’s in your freezer. From there, you can plan meals and know what’s in there without causing more work for yourself.

You can use this Freezer Meal Inventory sheet to help you keep track. Then you’ll know at a glance what you have left. I suggest that you print it off and put it in a plastic sheet protector before hanging it. That way, you can update it using a dry erase marker.

These 9 tips for organizing your freezer are going to help you to get organized and stay organized. You don’t want to pass up any of these steps because I feel like it’s going to make your life easier. I do think that organizing a freezer is a bigger job than most people are willing to do. However, if you take the time and just do it, you will save yourself a lot of time and money down the road.

Good luck!

You might also find these articles helpful:

How to Prevent Freezer Burn

The Quick Start Guide to Freezer MealsFreezer Meal Hacks to Save You Time and Money

It is possible to prevent freezer burn. Have you ever had the night time munchies and needed a sweet snack? You remember that half-gallon of ice cream that’s tucked away in your freezer and you prepare to get a scoop or two, only to discover there are ice crystals covering your midnight snack. Talk about a downer! This can be not only a huge letdown, but also a waste of money. While you won’t get sick from eating freezer-burned food, that ice cream has certainly lost its appeal. How do you stop your food from becoming freezer burned? These tips will help ensure that freezer-burned ice cream doesn’t haunt you again.

How Does Freezer Burn Happen?

In order to prevent freezer burn, it’s important to know why it keeps happening. Freezer burn is the result of air coming into contact with the surfaces of food and causes moisture to escape from the food, drying it out. It can even change the colour of your food with greyish-brown spots. There are also a few other reasons why your food might be becoming freezer burned.

While it is technically safe to eat food that has freezer burn, it is not appealing visually or tastewise. Having to throw food away wastes money and it’s always a disappointment to discover freezer burnt food. Therefore, it is best to prevent it from happening in the first place.

Preventing Freezer Burn

Maintain the Right Temperature

Make sure that you have your temperature dial set to the right temperature to make sure that’s not part of the problem. Set the dial to low or cold. Freezers are meant to keep food frozen and under 0 degrees Fahrenheit. Food that reaches temperatures warmer than this are susceptible to freezer burn.

Keep a Full Freezer

You might think that the fuller the freezer, the harder your freezer is having to work to keep your food frozen. That’s actually not true. It works more efficiently when it’s not half-empty. There’s actually less warm air in your freezer when you have it stuffed. Your freezer doesn’t have to work as hard when it’s stuffed to the gills with other frozen foods.

Keeping your freezer more full also lowers the utility bill as your freezer doesn’t take as much energy to keep its contents frozen. This is yet another way that making freezer meals can save your family money.

Maintain Air Flow

While you do want to maintain a full freezer, you don’t want your food blocking the airflow. Make sure there’s space at the top and bottom of your freezer where airflow is not being blocked. This ensures that your freezer works optimally.

Freeze Foods at the Right Time

Don’t make the mistake of putting hot steak or pork chops directly into the freezer for future enjoyment at a later date. Because you won’t be able to enjoy them later. Putting warm or hot food into the freezer is a mistake which can also lead to freezer burn.

Instead, put your food in the refrigerator for an hour or two before moving it to the freezer, allowing it to chill first.

Use the Right Containers and Remove Excess Air

This is the number one thing you can do to prevent freezer burn. It’s important to make sure that you package your food in air-tight containers, and freezer wrap food when you store it in the freezer. Make sure that air is not being left in storage bags. There are some great containers that will do the trick like Ziploc freezer containers and Ziploc freezer storage bags.

Be sure to take out as much excess air as you can before freezing. One tip is to close a freezer bag almost all the way and then insert a straw in the tiny opening left and suck out the air before fully sealing. Vacuum sealing is another way to ensure there isn’t much air in there.

If something needs to be in a casserole type dish, place plastic wrap directly on top of the food and then place a lid or aluminum foil on top of the dish. This helps keep extra air away from the food.

Freeze Appropriate Portions

It’s also important to freeze your food in appropriate meal portions. This way, you’re not pulling out an entire batch of something, only to put it back in the freezer. Repeated exposure to air will cause freezer burns too. Make smaller batches by separating them into smaller containers or bags.

Don’t Open the Freezer Door So Often

This is another tip to keep in mind. Every time you open the freezer door, you’re allowing warm air in, increasing the possibility of freezer-burned food. Do your best to keep the freezer door shut as much as possible.

Our new freezer has an alarm that sounds when the door is kept open too long or when one of our kids accidentally don’t shut it all the way. That’s been a handy feature.

Don’t Keep Food In the Freezer Too Long

While putting food in the freezer may extend the life of your favourite slab of meat, that doesn’t mean that it will last forever. Uncooked frozen meat such as steak, roasts, and pork chops should remain in your freezer for no more than a year.

Ground meat, no more than 4 months, while frozen cooked meats, only 3 months. In general, freezer meals can be stored for 3-6 months.

Put dates on the container or freezer bags to help you stay on top of how long certain food has been in your freezer. You can print off our Freezer Meal Inventory sheet and keep it in the door of your freezer to help you keep track.

I suggest that you keep it in a plastic sheet protector and use a dry erase marker to mark off which of your freezer meals you’ve used. This also helps you to be able to see at a glance what you have left.

Freezing Greens

If you’re wanting to freeze your vegetables, a great way of doing this is by boiling them for 30 seconds. Then put them directly into an ice bath before putting them into the freezer. You should be able to put them in a resealable freezer bag where they will be safe for up to 6 to 8 months.

These are a few methods you can use to keep your foods from becoming freezer burned. Have you ever had expensive meat or food products tampered with by freezer burn, costing you a lot of money? What other ways have you discovered to prevent freezer burn on your food?

These tips will also help:

What Freezes Well (and What Doesn’t)

What You Need to Know to Make Freezer Meals

Fresh rhubarb is only available for a limited time each year. Once you know how to freeze rhubarb, you’ll be able to enjoy it later in the year. You can also use it in many delicious recipes. Both my neighbour Christie and my friend Denise grow rhubarb in their gardens. Fortunately, this means that I am the lucky recipient of fresh rhubarb every year. I am super thankful for this as I’m a fan of this unusual vegetable.

If you aren’t fortunate enough to have a neighbour or friend that grows it and gifts it to you, you can find it at Farmer’s Markets and even sometimes in the produce section of the grocery store when it is in season.

If you’re a fan of this vegetable too, there’s great news. Rhubarb freezes beautifully. Freezing rhubarb is very easy as it doesn’t require blanching beforehand.

How to freeze rhubarb:

Method for if you’re wanting to be able to take out smaller amounts of rhubarb from the bag:

1. Cut the leaves and the tails off the rhubarb stalks.
2. Wash the stalks.
3. Dry them well using a tea towel or paper towels.
4. Using a sharp knife, slice into 1/4″ to 1/2″ pieces.
5. Place the slices on a cookie sheet in a single layer and place the baking sheet in the freezer.
6. Once frozen, transfer the rhubarb pieces into a large resealable freezer bag.
7. Remove the excess air from the bag, seal, and freeze.
8. For best results, close the bag almost all the way and then insert a straw in the opening to suck out whatever air is left. This will prevent freezer burn. Do this whenever you take some rhubarb out and are resealing the bag.

Method for how to freeze rhubarb for use in recipes:

1. Cut the leaves and the tails off the rhubarb stalks.
2. Wash the stalks.
3. Dry them well using a tea towel or paper towels.
4. Using a sharp knife, slice into 1/4″ to 1/2″ pieces.
5. Measure into 1 or 2 cups and transfer to a medium sized resealable freezer bag.*
6. Label the bag “1 cup” or “2 cups” so that you don’t need to re-measure.
7. Remove the excess air, seal, and freeze. For best results and to prevent freezer burn, close the bag almost all the way shut and insert a straw in the opening and use that to suck out any air that is left.
8. When needed, dump the contents of the bag into the recipe you need it for.

*I measure all of mine into 2 cups because if a recipe calls for one cup, I just double it as we have a large family.You don’t need to thaw the rhubarb before adding it into a recipe.

Once frozen, rhubarb keeps for up to one year as long as the air is removed from the bag.

Ideas for using your frozen rhubarb:

In case you have rhubarb sitting in your freezer and aren’t sure what to do with it, I’ve gathered some ideas and recipes for you.

• Add it to smoothies. My husband loves the tartness this gives.
• Rhubarb muffins
• Easy Rhubarb Cake
• Rhubarb crisp or any variation such as combining it with strawberry, apple, or other fruits. I’m partial to pairing it with Saskatoon berries myself!
• soda
• Rhubarb compote
• Rhubarb Dream Bars
• ice cream (homemade or as a topping)
• jam
• stewed rhubarb
• Rhubarb Cinnamon Buns
• in salads
• Rhubarb pie
• salsa
• pickles
• Rhubarb & Date Chutney
• Rhubarb Platz (I had never heard of this before until my neighbour introduced me to her delicious squares)

You may also be interested in reading:

The Quick Start Guide to Freezer Meals

The Instant Pot is all the rage. Chances are, if you have one, you love it. Once you try freezer meals for the Instant Pot, that love affair will be taken to a whole new level!

Easy meets fast. They were a pair meant to be together. This easy guide to Instant Pot freezer meals will tell you everything you need to know to get started. 

The Easy Guide to Instant Pot Freezer Meals:

You will need two things in order to get started. You will need an Instant Pot and freezer meals. The Instant Pot should be chosen based on your needs. We have a large family (7 kids including some hungry teenage boys!), so I went with an 8 quart Instant Pot.

If you’re new to making freezer meals, you can find all the basics in this Freezer Meals 101 guide. (click that link to read)

The benefits to making the meals ahead of time to later be cooked quickly in the Instant Pot:

• shop less often (saves time)
• buy in bulk (saves money)
• never have to decide what to make for supper (saves sanity)
• no prep on the day of cooking (saves time)
• never have to run to the store for missing ingredients (saves time and money)

The first step will be grocery shopping. Whenever you make many freezer meals at once, it always saves time to prep your ingredients before you start assembling. Once you’ve done that, it’s time to assemble the meals.

The Shape Dilemma:

One of the nicest things about the Instant Pot is that you can cook from frozen. This is particularly good for those of us who sometimes forget to take out a freezer meal to thaw in the morning or the night before. I freeze most of my freezer meals in large resealable bags.

If they are frozen solid, their rectangular shape doesn’t lend itself well to being put into the round Instant Pot. This poses quite a conundrum.

If you want to place the meal into the Instant Pot completely frozen, the best trick I’ve heard is to make the freezer meals in empty ice cream pails or similar sized round plastic containers. That way, they can fit directly into the Instant Pot, no thawing needed.

The downside to freezing the meals in pails is that they take up a lot more space in the freezer. I like that resealable freezer bags can be stored flat. That way, I can fit several months worth of meals in the freezer.

There’s an easy fix to the space dilemma though. Just place the freezer bag in lukewarm water for a few minutes to thaw it enough to get the contents into the Instant Pot.

What Foods Freeze Well?

With freezer cooking, it’s important to know what freezes and what doesn’t. Read a full list here of what foods freeze well and which don’t as well on tips on how best to freeze them.

I’ve created a cheatsheet for you to print out as an easy reference to remember what freezes well.

Freezer burn is the enemy of freezer meals. The good news is, you can prevent freezer burn by taking all the excess air out of the freezer bags before sealing. Label your bags with the date so that you can track which ones to eat first.

Filling the Instant Pot:

Only fill your Instant Pot 2/3 of the way full. For recipes that will expand, such as those that contain beans or rice, fill it no more than 1/2 full.

I have made the mistake of overfilling and then out of the pressure nozzle came a FOUNTAIN of liquid. It covered my counter, my floor, my cupboards. Some of it even got on the ceiling. You had better believe that I never made that mistake again!

Adjusting Cook Times:

If you are cooking your meat from frozen, you will need to add some time to the recipe instructions. It will take longer to come to pressure from frozen.

If you are adding the whole freezer meal in completely frozen, then you will either need to add a bit of water or turn on the saute setting and allow to cook for 5 minutes before sealing and cooking. This is to create some liquid.

A pressure cooker needs liquid in order to do what it needs to do. Use your judgment about which recipes to add water to as it could affect the final meal. A soup for example would be fine to add a bit of water to. Recipes that are not intended to be watery wouldn’t fare as well. For those, use the saute idea.

Supplies Needed for Instant Pot Freezer Meals:

You will of course need to have an Instant Pot. You will also need good quality resealable freezer bags or empty ice cream pails, and permanent markers or printable labels for labelling the meals. I use Avery 5163 labels.

I strongly suggest that you also invest in an electric can opener. I wish I had gotten mine sooner. When you are opening dozens of cans in a day, it wears on your wrists and thumbs. It also eats up precious time.

Instant Pot Qt 7-in-1 Multi- Use Programmable Pressure CookerInstant Pot Freezer Meal PlanZiploc Freezer Bags, GallonSharpie Permanent MarkersCuisinart Electric Can OpenerLabels (5163)

Converting Slow Cooker Recipes to Instant Pot Recipes:

Many of our favourite recipes are freezer to crock pot recipes. If you want to use one of those recipes in the Instant Pot, you can, but you will have to adjust the times significantly.

Things cook much quicker with pressure cooking. In a slow cooker recipe that calls for 8 hours of cook time on low (4 hours on high), the cook time in the Instant Pot in the sealed setting will be 25-30 minutes. You will of course need to allow extra minutes for the pressure to release.

Instant Pots need liquid to cook things properly, so if your original recipe doesn’t have at least one cup of liquid (this can be broth, sauce, water, etc.), you’ll have to add some.

Don’t add freezer to slow cooker recipes that have milk or dairy in them (condensed or evaporated milk is ok). You can add the milk or dairy in at the end, but because of the high pressure, you don’t want to include them for the full cook time.

One last note about this: Instant Pots can also function as a slow cooker, so if you only have an Instant Pot, it’s easy to use your crock pot recipes in there using that feature.

Our Favourite Freezer to Instant Pot Recipes:

BBQ Beans Instant Pot (Freezer Friendly)

Buffalo Ribs in the Instant Pot (freezer meal)

Instant Pot Chicken Paprikash Stew

Country Style Instant Pot Ribs

Delicious Enchilada Soup (freezer meal)

Easy Instant Pot Vegetable Soup

Freezer Friendly Instant Pot Borscht Recipe

Hawaiian Chicken in the Instant Pot

Instant Pot Asian Noodle Soup

Instant Pot Bone Broth That’s Keto Friendly

Instant Pot Breaded Red Curry Shrimp Freezer Meal

Instant Pot Butter Chicken Freezer Meal

Instant Pot Chicken Tikka Masala Freezer Meal

Instant Pot Italian Chicken and Veggies

Instant Pot Pizza Casserole

Instant Pot Pork or Chicken Shawarma Recipe

Instant Pot Shrimp Boil (Freezer Meal)

Instant Pot Tomato Soup (freezer directions included)

Instant Pot Turkey Sloppy Joes

Instant Pot White Chicken Chili

Moo Shu Beef Lettuce Wraps (freezer to Instant Pot)

Philly Chicken Sandwiches (Freezer Meal)

Slow Cooker or Instant Pot Beef Taco Soup

Spicy White Bean and Chicken Soup

Stuffed Pepper Soup Recipe Make Ahead Meal

The Big List of Instant Pot Freezer Meals

Find freezer to Instant Pot recipes, shopping lists, prep lists, and printable labels in our Instant Pot Freezer Meal Menu Plan.