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6/3/10

Cook More Real Food - Cleaning Out the Freezer

I got a little behind on Keeper of the Home's Cook More Real Food Series, since I just started a new job and also got in a car wreck yesterday (everyone is fine... except my car, that is). I'm pretty excited about the next step in the series, which is Cleaning Out Your Freezer.  My freezer is like a grocery store in and of itself, so I was super excited to see what I could find in there that I didn't even know I had (and unlike some of the things in my pantry, most freezer items don't go bad unless they have been in there for a long time, so I was excited to find things that I could actually eat!!)

I started off by taking everything out of my freezer. I tried to work pretty quickly, since coolness is a factor here, and my house is hot (we don't have A/C). I don't want things to start thawing out, so I speedily took everything out and put it on the floor.


After that, I took this opportunity to wipe down the inside of the freezer and really get a good cleaning in. This needed to happen very badly, so I was excited for the chance!


Once everything was cleaned out, I wrote down everything that I have in my freezer on my handy-dandy freezer inventory list which you can print off here for free! I found all kinds of things I didn't know where in there, like some spaghetti sauce for a casserole that is one of our favorites, and three more containers of homemade freezer jam! I even recorded the liquor that we store in the freezer, even though it never gets used....but I didn't want to throw it away in case we have a party or something where it would come in handy! I chose to write down the items in my freezer in two separate columns - one for individual items, like pie crust and butter, and the other for freezer meals, like my sauce that I just have to add pasta to, and the breakfast burritos.



I then put everything back in, in a somewhat orderly fashion.  I also have a chest freezer, so I took the opportunity to reorganize things and put some things into the chest freezer instead of the side by side, which I really like to reserve for things we use on a daily basis, like the breakfast burritos my husband brings to work.


I didn't get a chance at that time to reorganize the chest freezer, so I am probably going to have a "cleaning out the freezer round 2" this weekend. The chest freezer is a bit more work, since it kind of just piles everything on top of each other (if you are in the market for a freezer, I would not recommend a chest freezer! Although I love the space, it is a pain to organize. I would love a stand up one!) So anyway, there is my progress! I recorded everything on my inventory list, which I am going to file away in the homemaking binder that I am creating. 


Are you following along with Stephanie's Cook More Real Food series? I hope you are joining me! I am very excited about the upcoming steps (including the Meal Planning one, which I am already behind on!) I can't wait to do my freezer cooking and really dive in! 


I'm reading this: Cook More Real Food - Cleaning Out the FreezerTweet this! Posted by Lauren on Thursday, June 03, 2010
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