For ten years I fed my young family out of the 120 litre freezer and Darren's old fridge that had a small freezer compartment inside. Space back then was at a premium and boy, did I stack those freezers well. Not one box of convenience food could fit in those freezers ( not that we could afford it back then ). Bread, rolls and icecubes went into the little freezer compartment in the fridge and mince, chicken and a few meals went into the 120 litre freezer.
When we outgrew Darren's old fridge we upgraded to the 660 litre side by side. About 2 1/2 years ago we were given another freezer but unfortunately it only lasted two years. So a few months ago I bought the 180 litre freezer.
As you know we have a vegetable garden and fruit trees. The freezers come in handy for storing excess garden produce. This saves us money as quite often we can eat our produce from the freezer when it's out of season and costs a fortune at the supermarket.
Here's a list of what we store in our freezers - LEGEND -
MEAT
HM = homemade
Mince divided into 300 gram sizes
Lamb chops 4 per package C = convenience
Chicken fillets individually wrapped
Fish G = from our garden
Legs of Lamb bought in Spring on sale
Sausages 6 per package
Diced beef in 400gram snap lock bags
Roast beef cut in half to serve 4 people
Silverside cut in half to serve 4 people
Salmon patties 10 per package HM
Fish fingers C
Sliced ham
Hamburger patties HM
Whole chickens
Chicken drumsticks 4 per package
SOUPS
Chicken stock HM
Vegetable soup HM
Pumpkin soup HM
Chunky chicken and veg soup HM
Chunky beef and veg soup HM
Potato and leek soup HM
MEALS
Spag bol sauce HM
Lasagne portions HM
Leftovers of casseroles in single serves HM
Pie meat - ready to make a pie HM
Meatloaves HM
BAKING
Raspberry and white choc muffins HM
Blueberry and white choc muffins HM
Chocolate choc chip muffins HM
Wholemeal bread with extra goodness HM
Pita bread C
Rolls HM
Pumpkin scones HM
Plain scones HM
Chocolate brownies HM
Cakes for church morning teas HM
Biscuit dough - assorted varieties HM
Saved bread crusts to be made into dried bread crumbs HM
Raisin bread C or HM
Pizza dough HM
Hot cross buns HM
VEGETABLES
Corn cobs G
Beans G
Corn kernels
Celery
Capsicum
Broccoli stalks diced G
Broccoli G
Cauliflower G
Cooked and pureed pumpkin
Cooked tomatoes G
Zucchini G
FRUIT
Lemon juice in ice cubes G
Raspberries G
Strawberries G
Cooked apple
Oranges - blitzed
Blueberries
Bananas
Fruit icecream HM
OTHER
English muffins C
Crumpets C
Sweetened condensed milk in 1/2 and whole can portions HM
Tomato paste in ice cube size
Mini quiches / flans HM
Sausage rolls HM
Rice - cooked leftovers
Icecream C
Yoghurt - to be used as a starter HM
Butter
Vegetable stock ( given to me ) HM
Icypoles C or HM
Pastry C
Zucchini slice HM
I think that the entire contents of our freezers. Of course we don't have everything stocked at the same time, but we do try to keep as much a possible.
In a few weeks I'll talk about the best way to store food in the freezer
This is the freezer part of my side by side fridge. That's pita bread on the top shelf bought at a market. Baking is on the next shelf with the lemon ice cubes and sweetened condensed milk. Crumpets are on the third shelf with cooked rice stored in the white container. Veggies are on the next shelf. .
Then there is the bread shelf and below that are two slide out drawers with frozen fruit and biscuit dough
The 120 litre 23 year old freezer and our new 180 litre freezer. They hold the meat, soups, garden produce and freezer meals
Our 660 litre side by side fridge / freezer
Oh that is incredible Wendy! What a wonderful illustration of your hard work and organised home! I'm in awe. Mimi xxx
ReplyDeleteHi Wendy
ReplyDeleteJust wondering what you do when you have a blackout. I'm from Queensland and panic when we have a blackout. Very common as itstorms heaps here.
We rarely have blachouts. Maybe once every few years and then it's only for an hour at the most. If it happens in Summer, no one is allowed to open the fridge.
DeleteWow Wendy, what a great post, makes me want to organise my freezers abit better.
ReplyDeleteI sometimes have problems with freezer burn or the taste of say muffins, taste different once thawed out. Also, when i thaw out pumpkin soup its very watery. Interested to hear about you freezing Zucchinis.
Can't wait for your next post on storing food.
Maureen
Dear Wendy, What an asset to have your freezers full and well organised. Also to be able to find room when you get a great special like legs of lamb, bread for free and so on.
ReplyDeleteI have only once lost food due to power blackout, several years ago we lost power ona heatwave for two days. I had a small freezer then. However I put in a claim to the electricity company and they paid me! with big freezers like yours and when they are full they would spray solid for a couple of days with no power I think. No door opening as you say. Anyway as you say that is rare.
Over Christmas I try to reduce what's in ours so I can fit in turkeys I find on special and hams, after New Year. This is a highlight! I get as many as I can fit and one to cook straight away.
When my freezer is full I can add to Mums freezer one street away. This is so handy!
If I have gaps I try to fill them with bottles of water. If I need the space I let them defrost and water the garden with them. With love, Annabel.sxx
Brilliant, you are so well organised. I currently have two freezers, the biggest is unfortunately a chest freezer which means I have to move things around all the time, (think freezer Tetris) as what I want is ALWAYS at the bottom.
ReplyDeleteI need to do a checklist of what is in there I think and get it properly organised like yours.
What a great effort you have put into making your freezers work for you. I see you also freeze yoghurt as a starter, I only recently read that you could do this. Once I tidy my freezer I will be freezing some of this bought batch to use as a starter.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing Wendy. My mum had a very large chest freezer and it was always so difficult to find things and I swore I'd never have one, but one was passed to us and I still have trouble either finding things or keeping it organised. They are supposed to be better to keep things colder so how do you find the upright freezer - or is it a case of keeping it full (either with food or water bottles to fill the spaces). I think they are better to physically get things in and out of but you obviously think they work ok since you've got another one.
ReplyDeleteHelen I keep mine organized by grouping foods in different colored reusable shopping totes. This has worked excellent for me and now nothing gets lost or shoved to the bottom. I divide the meats, breads, etc into categories and the handles on the bags make it easy to access as well as rearrange items. I no longer fight with my chest freezer! I hope you can find an easy solution as well.
DeleteHelen, Cath from Cheapskates has a chest freezer. She uses the recycle colored shopping bags to kep things in order.
DeleteI've only ever had upright freezers and never had any problems with keeping things frozen. You are right, it's best to have a reasonably full freezer at all times.
If in the future you need to buy a new freezer, consider how old you are, how long you think the freezer will last ( say 10 - 15 years ) and work out if an upright might be easier to use if by then you are getting on in age. In other words, don't buy a chest freezer when you are in your 60's, 70's, 80's etc.
Good to know thanks Wendy
DeleteWow, I thought I put my freezers (only 2) to good use, but yours top it for sure, plus they look so organised. I really need to work on that. Thanks for the inspiration, I need to sort mine out!
ReplyDeleteMay I ask about the cost of running them? We normally have an approx $400 / quarter electricity bill. More in Summer as it can get very hot here in Penrith. Having another appliance would up it even more.
ReplyDeleteWe didn't notice a change in our bil when we added the third feezer recently. The saving you make from having the extra freezer room far outweighs the cost of running a freezer. Think of all the specials you could stock up on .
DeleteWe are very energy wise so we use the two light rule, standby lights off, limited tech gadgets etc.
We limit our lights too, especially in the warmer months.
DeleteI would love to get a small deep chest freezer but am having trouble convincing Hubby.
Thanks for your reply Wendy.
Frugal In Norfolk put a link today to your Dry Crumble recipe from a few months ago which can be stored in a cupboard, such a good idea as I usually have some stored in the freezer but it's taken up precious space and I don't have quite as many freezers as you! :-)
ReplyDeleteThankyou for letting me know Sue xoxo
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