Fabulous Freezer Notes

Today's tip is perfect for the dead of winter when fresh veggies and fruit are not as available in the market. If you're like me buying the frozen kind, your freezer is probably chuck full. I'm also a big fan of making extra batches of meals to have on hand in the freezer for nights when there is no time to cook; or I want a night off. :-)

On average how often would you say you purge your freezer of old freezer burned food? For me it never seemed to happen and I would find some chicken in the back covered with frost. Ugg what a waste and total goof on my part.
I'm not sure how this tip found it's way into our home but today's tip will help tackle these problems.

Tip Tuesday:
Tack up on the front or side of your freezer a slip of paper and title it Freezer Notes. Jot down everything in your freezer as a starting list. Than when you add items jot them down too. When an item is depleted you can simply cross it off. This will help your grocery list as well.
Alternatively if you don't want the extra clutter on the face of your freezer, you can clip the list to the inside of your freezer door with either a clothespin or chip clip. (Tape tends not to work so well due to the moisture factor). Next to each item write the date that you put it in the freezer. I usually start a new list right before it gets to messy to understand. Takes secconds to transfer the info on to a new slip of paper.

If you keep meals in the freezer, I've learned it's a good idea to put a date on them. This way you're not left with the ??? when did I make and freeze this question. OK this may sound almost to simple, but I've been there several times. I like to use stackable Ziplock type freezer containers for meals. To label each container I place a rubber band around the container with my sticky note on the front where it's visible. The sticky note lists the contents of the container / or meal and the date it was frozen. If you have a different set up and your freezer is on the bottom you can place sticky notes on the tops of your Ziplock containers for easy viewing :-) I do the same if I have freezer Ziplock bags of items that aren't in their original packaging.
I keep a small stash of rubber bands, pens and sticky notes in a fridge pocket on the freezer for easy access. Fabulous Freezer Notes are fun! Say that three times in a row, ha ha.

Take it or leave it, that's my tip for this Tuesday. :-) As you probably guessed, inspired by all the extra meals I'm freezing in preparation for the birth of our son. I know I'm simply not going to have the time to do as much cooking right after we take him home. At this point my freezer looks a little like it belongs in a bomb shelter. All this nesting and cooking it's chuck full of meals. I think we're good for a few weeks at least! Three cheers for an organized fresh freezer!