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Preserving food in the freezer is a great way to take advantage of deals on produce and meat, but there can be a downside.

I love freezing things. Whether it’s great deals I scored at the produce auction, buying 1/4 cow, or just buying things on sale, freezing food is a great way to preserve the savings and keep the kitchen full. However, there can be a problem with freezing things. Frozen foods can take a while to thaw properly, which means a not so quick easy meal at the last minute.

Because of that, our freezer space has gotten out of control. It is so easy to get in a rut of buying the same basic staples over and over again and leave the freezer sitting there, bursting at the seams with food that is getting a little aged (and not in a good way).

We’re trying to save a little extra money right now and we decided a great way to do that is to force ourselves to “eat down the freezer” since it will be rather difficult to move a freezer full of food 6-8 hours away. My daughter gets a kick out of it every time she sees the note we wrote to remind ourselves of that. I had to explain it to her. I think she was envisioning us taking bites out of the freezer until it just vanished.

We will still need to buy things like milk, eggs, bread, and some fresh produce, but we are going to spend as little as possible.

Freezer Organization

The first thing we needed to do is create a freezer inventory. Yay! I’m so excited. That was loads of fun even with the kids’ help, but we did it! I finally forced myself to get rid of those years’ old things lurking in the bottom, and we sorted everything out –

  • “little freezer” (refrigerator/freezer) has the next 2 weeks’ of food
  • chest freezer basket has the 3rd week’s
  • the rest is organized in boxes in the bottom of the chest freezer

Operation: Eat Down the Freezer Meal Plans

Operation: Eat Down the Freezer Meal Plan 1

Operation: Eat Down the Freezer Meal Plan 2 and 3

Operation: Eat Down the Freezer Meal Plan 4

Operation: Eat Down the Freezer Meal Plan 5

Operation: Eat Down the Freezer Meal Plan 6 and 7

Operation: Eat Down the Freezer Meal Plan 8

Operation: Eat Down the Freezer Meal Plan 9

Operation: Eat Down the Freezer Meal Plan 10

Freezer Inventory

Little Freezer

  • Split Chicken (2) – USED
  • Beef Marrow Bone (5) – USED 3
  • Beef Boneless Ribeye Roast – USED
  • Chip Steak 1 – USED
  • Smoked Split Chicken (2) – USED 
  • Ground Beef (2) – USED
  • Chicken Griller Pack – USED
  • 2 D’Artagnan Buffalo Burgers – USED
  • Spinach and Feta Chicken Sausage – USED
  • Chicken Drumsticks (2) – USED
  • Salmon – USED
  • Ham – USED
  • Spicy Beef Sausage (1) – USED
  • Ricotta – USED
  • Beef Short Ribs (3) – USED
  • Chicken breast (2) – USED 
  • Artisan Rolls – USED
  • Cherries (Jam) – USED
  • Peaches for Pie – USED
  • Blueberries a few in bag – USED
  • Blackberries – USED
  • Cranberries – 2 1/2 jars
  • Applesauce (3) – USED
  • Cheribundi (2)
  • Grainful Vegetarian Chili – USED
  • Zucchini 2 cup (2) – USED
  • Banana puree (5) – USED 
  • Cherries for chutney – USED
  • Broccoli puree – USED (1 LOSS)
  • Tomato sauce (2) – USED
  • Peas (small) – USED
  • Peas (large) – RECALLED and returned
  • Corn (large) – RECALLED and returned
  • Corn (1/4) – USED
  • Asparagus – USED
  • Green beans – USED
  • Pierogies – USED
  • Pineapple – USED
  • Blueberries – 4 cups – USED
  • Strawberries – USED
  • Whole smoked chicken (small) – USED

Chest Freezer Basket

**UPDATED 6/25/16: With moving less than a week away I moved everything to the small freezer and noted what we have left there.

  • Whole chicken – USED
  • Beef soup bones (2) – USED
  • Chicken drumsticks (2) – USED
  • Spicy beef sausage (1) – USED
  • Ground beef (1) – USED

Chest Freezer

  • D’artagnan chicken thighs (2) (small freezer) – USED
  • Beef chuck eye steak -1 – USED
  • Beef brisket (3) – USED 
  • Ground beef (18) – USED 14 
  • Beef bones (2) – small freezer – USED
  • Beef boneless ribeye roast – USED
  • Beef oxtail
  • Chipped steak – USED
  • London broil – USED
  • T-Bone steak (2) – USED
  • Boneless chicken breast – USED
  • Beef rump roast (small freezer)
  • 2 tuna steaks – USED
  • Spinach and Feta Chicken Sausage (small freezer) – USED
  • Chicken links (3) – USED 1, LOST 2 while camping
  • Split chicken (2) – USED
  • Spicy beef sausage (8) – USED
  • Ricotta – USED
  • 8 cup grapes for jam (3) – USED
  • Peaches for pie/cobbler (4) – USED 2, LOST 1 
  • Applesauce – (small freezer) USED
  • Blueberry filling (small freezer) USED
  • Banana (3) (small freezer) – USED
  • Zucchini (4) – USED 
  • Peas (large) – USED
  • Corn (large) – RECALLED
  • Cherries for jam (2) – USED
  • Cranberries – jar (1) (small freezer) – USED
  • Cherries – jar (2) – USED
  • Blueberries – jar (1) (small freezer)
  • Strawberries (2) – USED 1
  • Strawberry puree (1) (small freezer) – USED
  • Pineapple – USED
  • Peach Puree (2) – USED

Operation Eat Down the Freezer

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