Freezer Hacks + Tour of my Freezers! (Yes, I Have Many…)

Mar 7, 2017 | Food, Meal Prep Made Easy

These freezer hacks are sure to help you save money. Come on a freezer tour and learn about a new food that you didn't know that you could freeze, too!

Get all of the freezer hacks from Fun Cheap or Free

You may or may not know that I have a crazy addiction to freezing things. Like, it's bad. I won't even tell you how many freezers I have, because you will judge me.

…he'em…cough…SEVEN!…cough…

What can I say?? We have the space, my husband loves me anyway, and it just makes my life SO MUCH EASIER to freeze all. the. things. Hopefully these little tips/hacks/ideas help give you confidence to conquer your freezer and use it to its full potential!

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So there you have it! Not too crazy, right?

THINGS YOU CAN FREEZE

For 800 years now I've had the dream to do a mega post for you entitled “Things You Can Freeze” (has a nice ring to it, right??) and bust out a giant list of aaaaaaaaall the amazing things you can freeze, but probably aren't.

Well, I FINALLY got around to writing it! Make sure that you go check that post out on my new shelf cooking site – find that list of things you can freeze HERE.

I also want to share with you my best freezer meals by way of my FREE Healthy Freezer Meals Ebook, and my other Freezer Meals Ebook. Make sure that you check those out!

TOOLS FOR MY FREEZER HACKS

In order to be able to use your freezer to its full potential, you've got to have a few additional tools to help you out. What good is freezing meat if you're just going to end up having to throw it out because of freezer burn? In order to prevent freezer burn (learn how to HERE), you'll need a few items to help you out.

  • Disposable Pans – These are great because they're not as bulky as glass dishes and they're cheap! You can freeze a whole lasagna without worrying about using up all of your good pans.
  • Aluminum Foil – This is what I cover my disposable pans with. I just double or triple wrap them and write the contents, date and baking instructions on the top.
  • Freezer Baggies – FREEZER is the key word, here. They're thicker and will help to prevent your food from getting freezer burn. Just make sure that you get all of the air out when you close them! And don't forget to write down the contents and date them. It's no fun to have a guessing game of what's in a bag and how long it's been in there!
  • Vacuum Sealer – This isn't a necessity, but it definitely helps you to store your meat for longer.
  • Meal Containers – These are great for making smaller freezer meals that you can grab and go for busy days.

FREEZER ORGANIZATION

Did you know that the deeper you go in your freezer (especially a chest or pull-out freezer), the colder it is? I make sure that I store all of my meats in the coldest areas so that they'll stay fresher, longer. Then I'll store the smaller stuff in the drawers and at the top of the freezer.

I also like to use a freezer cube to help organize my freezer baggies. Make sure that you lie them down and freeze them as flat as possible, then you can stack them in the cube to help keep them organized.

FREEZER INVENTORY

Keep a kitchen inventory checklist so you always know what's in your freezer! Freezer hacks from Fun Cheap or Free

“How on Earth am I supposed to know what all is in my freezer, especially if it's a chest freezer?” That's a question that I get a lot. Here's my simple answer – keep a freezer inventory sheet handy. I go over how to use one in my kitchen inventory post, so go read it for alllll of the details! It's really easy to know what's in your freezer this way. You can write down the dates that you put it in the freezer so that you know when you need to use your food by without having to dig through it all.

TYPES OF FREEZERS AND HOW WE USE THEM

You know of my love for my freezers by now, so let me give you a little insight as to how I use each kind that I have! My absolute favorite freezer is my upright freezer. It's so easy to organize the food and to find what I'm looking for without having to dig a bunch of food out.

The chest freezer is really great for storing meat, since it stays colder with everything sitting on top of each other. The chest freezer is the best for buying meat in bulk (I'm talking 40-50 pounds). We've also gone in on part of a cow and stored the meat in our chest freezer.

The freezer attached to the fridge is the last type of freezer that we use and it's great for items that we use the most often. Since this is the only freezer in our kitchen, I keep it stocked with items that we go through the quickest so that I'm not constantly having to run to the basement to get things out of that freezer.

SHELF COOKING FREEZER HACKS

One of my favorite freezer hacks and reason that I love my freezers (besides them saving me tons of money on food)? They're great for shelf cooking. I'm all about cooking with what I have on hand and supplementing from the store, rather than the other way around. You should try it!

Have you checked out ShelfCooking.com yet? Our brand new site is dedicated to helping you cook delicious, homemade, down-home-cooked meals for your family without slaving away in the kitchen! Basically every parent's dream, right? Join our Shelf Cooking Community today!

What are YOUR favorite things to freeze? What questions do you have about freezing? Let me know in the comments!

Easy freezer hacks everyone needs to know! Things you can freeze, organization tips, and ways to make your life EASIER.

Happy Freezing! WHILE YOU'RE HERE… Don't forget about my Secret Sauce online budgeting program, Budget Boot Camp! This super fun video program makes money easy to understand. All you need is a screen and you're set!

And don't forget, if you don't save at LEAST what you paid for the program, I'll refund every dime. You've got nothing to lose! Use the code FCFBLOG to get an extra 10% off, because I love you 😉

23 Comments

  1. Maureen

    Jordan. Dear, sweet Jordan. You have the same number of freezers as you do bank accounts and family members. I am just saying!
    How. Do. You. Fill. 7. Freezers? Hillarous!

    Reply
  2. MARY ROSE

    Happy Birthday! It’s my birthday too ?
    I love the freezer video you put on millennial moms. I want to get another freezer because I have 5 kids too and have been noticing that cooking chicken, cutting it up and putting it in portion size baggies is a game changer for lunch! It’s helping me get a healthy lunch in so I can lose weight instead of me just grabbing toddler food (corn dogs) or junk just because it’s quicker.

    Great tips, keep em coming!

    Reply
  3. Erin

    Are you ever worried your electricity is going to go out and you will lose it all? Our electricity was out for about 10 hours yesterday and I started freaking out about losing all our food and we don’t have near as much as you.

    Reply
    • FunCheapOrFree

      Um YES! Always a worry. We have a generator attached to our house for emergencies and if the power goes off, we just don’t open the freezer for as long as we can. Luckily it hasn’t happened to us in this house yet but if it does, we can hopefully keep things cool enough for those hours. At the end of the day, if the power goes off and we lose everything, we would also lose money. But the chances of that are slim compared to how much money we save using the freezers daily!

      Reply
  4. corinne

    I look forward to your blog. It always puts a smile on my face……

    Reply
    • FunCheapOrFree

      Aw thanks for reading! XO

      Reply
  5. Jessy

    You can totally freeze whole blocks of cheese and not have them be crumbly when defrosted! The trick is to let the block completely defrost at room temperature (on the counter) before putting it into the fridge. I learned this trick from an older friend and have been doing it for years without any problems.

    Reply
    • FunCheapOrFree

      No way! So good to know, I’ll have to try that!

      Reply
  6. Tara

    For our family of 3, we have 2 freezers and they are both super full! We love to freeze everything!

    Reply
  7. Amy

    Could you show how to use the brown bananas? I used to peel and then freeze but upon defrosting they get all liquefied and nasty. Does that happen when they are frozen with the peel on? how do you defrost? thx

    Reply
  8. Naomi

    Hey Jordan!! Thanks for all your AWESOME tips, ideas, helps… Your positive energy helps my life in SOOOOO many ways! Just a fun tip for freezer that I’ve discovered is peel and slice your bananas!! You don’t have to worry about the peel, the sliced bananas are like CANDY in the summer to kids and they work better in the blender too!!!

    Reply
  9. Kat Johns

    We have 4 freezers, they are wonderful!

    Reply
  10. Lauren Williams

    I’m horrible About freezing and if I do freeze I alwaays forget about it. How do you organize your freezer?

    Reply
  11. Brynn

    We have an extra upright freezer, and I love it! I have started freezing all sorts of things, that I wouldn’t have thought to in the past. Thanks for all your tips!

    Reply
  12. Mindy

    A freezer inventory sheet is brilliant! We often forget what we have buried and end up re-purchasing! Thank you for these tips!

    Reply
  13. Krista Sidhu

    One of my fav videos! I love freezing things and learned a few more tricks from this video!

    Reply
  14. Kourtney Dalzell

    I never thought about having an inventory list. Perfect for the chest freezer!

    Reply
  15. Sydney Haughton

    Jordan, tips on a getting a reasonably priced freezer? TIA.

    Reply
    • FunCheapOrFree

      Just keep watching for sales and save money for your freezer while you’re on the lookout! There are sales throughout the year, you just have to have patience until they come around.

      Reply
      • Danica

        Where do you get your meat in bulk?

        Reply
        • Fun Cheap or Free

          The place we used to buy it at went out of business, so now we just stock up on it at the local grocery store when it’s on sale or we have spare money in the grocery budget. You could also split a cow with someone if you’d like to be able to stock up more than that!

          Reply
  16. Porimita

    It’s always a bummer when a go-to spot shuts down, but adapting by grabbing deals at the local grocery store is a smart move. Budgeting for those sales or spare cash is key. Another idea is sharing the load by splitting a cow with someone – a great way to stock up and potentially save more.

    Reply
  17. Hello Neighbor

    These freezer hacks are sure to help you save money.

    Reply

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