Organizing A Chest Freezer: Ideas & Solutions

Organizing a chest freezer is not always easy to do, but if you don't do it you'll soon begin to have to dig down in the abyss for your frozen items and it can get very frustrating.


This type of freezer is popular because it can hold so much food in such a relatively small space (less space than uprights, typically).

But, they are notoriously bad for accumulating food clutter, and if not loaded properly they can waste your money and food because it is easy to forget (or lose) what's in there.

Below I've gathered ideas shared by readers who did Week #4 of the Organized Home Challenge which had, as one of its tasks, to organize your freezer.

These readers did an awesome job and they happened to have chest freezers, so I separated out their hall of fame submissions for those of you who have this type of appliance, because of the unique organizational challenge they pose.

Just make sure before you start organizing that you first declutter your freezer using the instructions in the linked article, because you only want to be organizing edible food!

If you organize yours I'd love to see your pictures as well. You can submit them here and I'll add the best ones to the hall of fame!

Organized Freezer Baskets To Labels Plus Inventory

by Megan L. @ Life of the Lorenzens
(Waverly, IA)

Megan from Life of the Lorenzens shared some of her pictures from her freezer organization project here, for the hall of fame.

Megan says:

I completed a much-needed reorganization of my freezers and cleaned out the fridge. I had fun making cute, reusable labels for new freezer baskets. I also updated my white board inventory system.

Taylor says:

Megan, your pictures are lovely, and I can tell you put a lot of work and effort into your organization project. Thanks for sharing a couple of the pictures with me here for the hall of fame.

Plan To Eat From Your Freezer Both Before & After Your Project:

One of the great tips from Megan's blog post was that she and her family ate from the freezer for a while before she began organizing it, so it could be more emptied out before she began.

She did it before, but I know many readers have been inspired to eat out of their pantries and freezers for a few more meals after they went through the organization process too. I think either works great!

Stackable Baskets Are The Best For Chest Freezers:

If you don't use any type of storage containers when filling your freezer you'll quickly have a jumbled mess.

Baskets are perfect because they keep like items with like, keep things from spreading out over more space than they should take, and allow stacking.

Stacking is important because you want to be able to easily lift the baskets out to move that stuff out of the way to get something lower down when you need it, and then easily lay the baskets back to put everything away.

Create An Inventory Map:

One of the reasons it is so challenging to organize this type of appliance is because you cannot see everything you've got in there at once.

Instead, some baskets of frozen food are a layer or two deep within the chest.

That means just knowing you've got chicken somewhere in there is not good enough.

A freezer inventory map shows what you've got on hand, but also where in the chest it is -- the right, left, bottom layer, middle layer, top layer, etc.

Megan made a map, and I love how she did it -- because it is changeable and erasable since she used a white board.

This is important with any type of inventory because it is always going to be changing as you buy new things and eat others.

Not only does she know where each basket is in her chest freezer now, but she also can add and subtract from the list as she goes, so she's got a freezer inventory form at the same time.



Here's another organized chest freezer using baskets and bins in action, shown by another reader, Karen.

Organization Of Chest Freezer: They Hold A Lot

by Pauline
(Millmerran, Queensland, Australia)

Pauline shared these pictures of how she organized two different freezers in her home, and actually combined everything into her chest freezer in the process.

Wow, Pauline, you really worked hard, didn't you?

I note that your "after" pictures for your fridge freezer is completely empty. Hopefully you've started filling that back up by now.

It is interesting that actually freezers, I've learned, work better when they have things in them (whereas packing a refrigerator too tightly will make it not work as optimally).

I like your use of freezer baskets. These can really be helpful in getting things organized, such as separating the various types of meats or other frozen foods, such as produce and fruits.

Below is another photo, this one sent in by a reader, Lee, who also used containers to organize her freezer. She said, "Chest freezers are so much cheaper to run. I took out the dividers and went with containers."

Use Milk Crates As Stackable Baskets For Chest Freezer

A reader, Dianne, wrote in to give this tip. She said, "My husband and I use milk crates to organize our chest freezer.

We have been doing this for years. The crates stack neatly, are very strong, and are easily removed.

Each crate has its own meat. Beef, Chicken, Pork, and Fish.

Vegetables also have a crate.

Here's a photo from another reader, Vickey, showing a similar way she organizes her. She explained, "Used stackable plastic filing bins sold at Staples and flour bags for the wild game roasts."

Organizing With Reusable Grocery Bags

While many people love baskets and containers inside their chest freezer, I've also gotten several tips from readers who love to put their food into reusable grocery bags.

They can place different categories of food into each bag and then it is easy to lift the bags out by the handles when you need to get to one particular thing inside your freezer.

Above is an example of this organizational method shown by a reader, Michelle. She explained, "I mainly use our chest freezer for meats. I separated them in reusable grocery bags - one for each - chicken, pork, beef & fish. We also keep ice cream in there on the short side."

Refrigerator & Chest Freezer Organization Before & After Pics

Amy from Amy's Corner shared before and after pictures for this challenge, which you can see above.

She says: "So I have completed the next phase of kitchen declutter - fridge and freezer.

I want to thank my entire family for not only their efforts to clean out the deep freeze but their efforts to keep the fridge organized all week.

WOW! We had a lot of nasty food: old meat from deer, fish, and turkey, things that I couldn't even decipher their origins, corn from our garden in 2007.

It was scary. That is what you get when you put an entire bag from Walmart in the freezer at one time instead of sorting through it.

Believe it or not I once found a bag of candles in the freezer. Anyway, I feel so much better now that I know what is in the freezer."

In addition, here's another before and after set of photos from another reader, Sarah. She said, "Before and after photo's of our chest freezer. Thanks for the inspiration. I used multiple sized baskets to organize the deep freeze and should be better than the system I had, pulling out one thing at a time and digging through the cold mess! Fingers crossed it sticks."

Are You Inspired To Get Organized Now?

I hope these before and after pictures gave you ideas for how to organize this object in your home.

If you've gotten inspired to organize though, not just your freezer but your whole kitchen, or maybe your whole house, I would love it if you'd join the 52 Week Organized Home Challenge.

Over the course of the year we organize your entire home, room by room, item by item, developing good habits and consistency along the way.

And once you've organized this large appliance make sure to send me your before and after photos here and I'll add the best ones to the hall of fame.

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Related Pages You May Enjoy

Getting Clutter Free 15 Minutes At A Time Hall Of Fame

Freezer Storage Times Guidelines {Printable Cheat Sheet}

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