I’ll share what works for me. For labeling foods in the fridge or freezer, I like Post-It Super Sticky notes. The extra-strength adhesive seems to help the notes stay on in the refrigerator and freezer better than the regular varieties of adhesive notes.
If I’m labeling something that’s in a freezer bag, I just write directly on the bag with a permanent marker.
I also like that I can look at the freezer and know exactly what’s in there before I open it. It makes the “What’s for Dinner” question easier too! When I originally set this board up, I was trying to use one column for poultry, one for beef, one for seafood, one for vegetables, and one for packaged foods — you can see how that’s worked out as squares get erased and re-written in. I’m still pretty happy with this method though.
Amazon’s got these Expo calendar boards as low as $1.66
I’m curious to hear your thoughts too! What works best for you as far as labeling (and using up!) leftovers and managing what’s inside your deep freezer?
soapboxtray says
Thank you so much for sharing your tips, I have a dry erase board that is quite large that I am going to hang above my 2 jewel freezers, I was curious what people did to meal plan and keep track of things in the freezers. I also have a spare fridge and freezer in the basement near my freezers and a small magnetic would be perfect, I will have to look around the house I may have already.
I love the calendar layout/squares to put items in there. I will keep an eye out for those to replace the jumbo dry erase I have. I haven’t started writing it down yet but I thought it would be fantastic if there was an app that you could scan the bar code and it will list it, but trouble is then when someone else takes things out, which almost never happens at my house but you never know!
After your posts about the Corning Ware crock pot I was started using and love… seriously why did they stop making this? I have been trying to make meals ahead and freeze since we have been super busy these middle school and now high school (ugh 2 boys and 2 step sons all between 8-14) years so making ahead and planning meals has become crucial to us eating as a family with work and school and other activities.
Great info and I too am curious what others do to keep track. I do struggle with this and HATE to waste food but sometimes find some things forgotten at the bottom of the freezer.
Outlander says
I don’t keep a list at all, but I mostly remember what’s in there. I see you keep pizza in boxes, but I don’t. There’s no room for all that cardboard. I take them out and just write on top of plastic with a permanent marker the temp. and time for baking, if needed.
And I don’t use post its for labeling containers, but masking tape on which I also write what’s in it and the date.
And I also have a bunch of those markers and boards from Meijer. They were also on clearance, and there was extra discount on clearance, and there was also EXPO Q out at that time. I can’t remeber exactly, but I only paid a few cents probably. Great deal on markers! :)
Anyway, I should probably use it the way you do, that’s a great idea.
Thanks.
Violet says
My system is a mix of “I just remember” and “I am forced to repack my freezer every month or so anyway.”
When there’s a great sale on food that needs to go into the freezer, I end up playing “freezer tetris” to get it to go in there. If it looks like I’m going to lose, well, I guess it’s time to thaw a turkey or ham for dinner an upcoming weekend because that always gives me the edge I need (and my husband is never disappointed with this solution!).
A list wouldn’t really help me anyway because I put stuff that I wouldn’t normally just grab for a regular dinner (like extra turkeys from Easter or Thanksgiving sales) on the bottom, along with anything that’s a “newer” version of something I already have so I can rotate… so new bags of meatballs or vegetables go on the bottom and the ones that I already had go to the top.
I also use my chest freezer to restock the freezer part of my refrigerator, which makes for better rotation. If I’m putting 6 pounds of bacon into the bottom of my chest freezer, and there were already 2 pounds of bacon in there, I *could* put the previous two on top… but odds are that I would just take them out and put them in my smaller freezer and use them in the next couple weeks.
I don’t date anything I freeze at all, but I do find myself using up entire categories (I just found that I ran out of chicken??) so I know there’s nothing sitting in there for years on end. I do freeze homemade breads (like banana bread or cranberry bread) in foil-wrapped mini loaves, so I do label those for practical reasons. :)
SouthernReverie says
For leftovers stored in the refrigerator, I keep a list, with dates, on a magnetic chalkboard on front of the fridge. I have one shelf in the fridge dedicated to leftovers. This method has helped me to use up almost all the leftovers and there’s no guessing as to what is in a container. On garbage day, I scan the dates on the chalkboard to see what I need to throw away. With all the available leftovers on one shelf, my husband can easily find things to re-heat for lunch. If there is something I want to save for a specific dinner, or for my own lunch, I just put it on a different shelf. I wish I were this organized with my frozen stuff, but it just hasn’t happened yet, although I do keep a somewhat up-to-date list of frozen items on a legal pad.
palatino says
Your 3rd photo from the top. “Heart Attack Casserole?”
We have to know. Anything called Heart Attack Casserole has got to be delicious. =)
soapboxtray says
I didn’t even look at what you wrote on the post-it’s I was so intrigued by the method and organization. My goal this weekend is to get my wipe board up and the magnetic one on my smaller fridge and freezer all of which are in the basement.
Jill you are right with my thought on scanning a bar code. I took a glimpse in my freezer and probably half of my food are my own recipes or repackaged meat. I think the wipe board will be great. I have gone for years now with nothing and it is just so hard digging around in there.
I have yet to take my corning ware from the freezer to the crock pot, do you put it on low when it is from the freezer? I have a pot pie mixture in the freezer, a little nervous, thinking I should do it when I am home since my crock pot was handed down to me and is a little rough. :-) BUT WORKS!
micoliver1226 says
I love how you have siopao in your freezer!!
llamalluv says
I used to use tongue for taco meat, but my husband doesn’t care for the strong flavor. So now, we use the tongue for BBQ sandwiches, which better masks the very strong flavor of the meat. I cut it into cubes and cook it in the crock pot on low all night with equal parts pork roast (also cut into cubes) and one thinly sliced onion per two pounds of meat. Then I drain and shred it (using my stand mixer to make quick work of it), and combine it with a strong tasting barbecue sauce (store purchased or home made) and pack it into 8 oz freezer safe deli containers. One they freeze solid, I pop the disks out and put them into freezer storage bags. On serving day, I put two disks into the crock pot and heat it up on low and serve it on home made pretzel buns.