[Goosegirl]

Whilst my husband is still in hospital I decided to do a freezer inventory drawer by drawer for the one in the garage and the one in the kitchen. I lost my first one somewhere in the upper stratosphere then my niece-in-law is going to take some of the larger meat cuts which she moved into a separate drawer, so I did another one. Meanwhile, I got a Waithere delivery including some ready meals which I bunged in wherever they fitted. Bad move!  Did yet another one then forgot to cross out what meals I'd used then repeated the above. Now I've got some fridge magnets for my lists and another delivery due today so must give myself a big slap and to do better this time.

[mumofstig]

List on the door & fridge/magnets is my modus operandi, it's not always perfect - but I try 

[hamstergbert]

Use a printed out diagram of the various shelves, drawers etc, plastic laminated, which sits on the front of the freezer under magnetic things.   Contents in the different spaces are listed in wipe-off marker.

Starts off each time really well and is kept up to date very rigorously for the first week or two, but inevitably get sloppy over updating what has been taken out or moved.  Sometimes put stuff in while in a rush to get to the loo or whatever and the "I'll do it later" gets forgotten.  Over time therefore it becomes less and less acurate/helpful.

Eventually it reaches the point of what the late great Douglas Adams might have called "Reversciprexclusion", where nothing at all that is in the freezer is accurately reflected  on the list, presence or location,  and furthermore that absolutely nothing on the list is actually in the relevant freezer slot.  This is then the trigger to carry out a full stocktake (possibly coincident with a defrost if conveniently mid winter) and reset to accuracy.  Hooray.  Before the list and the actuality again begin their inexorable trudge towards entropy...

Doesn't help the accuracy of lists that some of the items' labels seem to have disappeared also.

[Growster...]

I use one sheet of A4, with the left-hand-side describing our four drawer freezer, and the right-hand-side describing the three drawers of 'Haze's', (Mrs Growster's mum's freezer).

Like everyone here, they get catalogued about three times a year, there's always crossings out, and soon, I'll have to find room for Lily's meat and veg, but I can't at the moment as we have about thirty plastic bags of tomatoes in her drawer, (Haze's bottom drawer)!

As for labelling, that's now done on a slip of cardboard-cutout, about two inches by a half-inch, and stapled to the bag above the sealing strip, to avoid rust contamination, and it seems to work OK...

But of course, whenever I see a bargain, all that gets shifted around so the only two drawers with recognisable items are the beef and lamb one, in our freezer on the top two and the chicken and pork one underneath - or is it now on top..:0~

[snowdrops]

Oh I’ve tried everything & like many it starts off well with the best of intentions 
Currently I write, in pencil on white plant labels as amazingly I have access to loads (they were new!) each addition to the freezer ha humm! Then when I meal plan, usually before the weekly shop I go through the labels that are in categories, & wired together, lamb, beef  etc there’s also a miscellaneous one,(  they get stored above the kitchen freezer in a tub, but that needs working on). Once it’s decided what day etc we’re having what, the said label is slid into a specially 3d printed menu planner ( hubby has said 3d printer   )
Parts of this works well but there is the fact of human apathy for keeping it all updated to factor in!

[Goosegirl]

Ah - I feel so much better now I know I am not alone in this idee de procrastination. I'm going for a sleep-over to my niece-in-law on Saturday so hopefully she will remove the big joints and other stuff and take them home. This wonderful act will enable me to finally sort out my drawers (lace not included) so's I can get organised (or should that be organdy-ised?) and not end up with half a bag of frozen peas up-ended all over as I didn't put a bag tie on them, four spag bols but no cottage pies, three unknown items (not my doing), two large loaves that will need splitting as I'm now on my own, and a partridge breast sans pear sauce. 

[snowdrops]

Gg, the large joints could be cooked & made into ready meal sized meals for you? I freeze roast meat in 1 portion sizes,  freeze the gravy separately, can be used for a quick midweek roast dinner or turn into a stew or hotpot, or chopped up & make into a curry/casserole/cottage pie etc

[GraciesGran]

Freezer defrosted and inventory made.  Everything neatly in sections.  Feeling very smug.  Off to yoga.  Get back and CHAOS!  Husband popped into supermarket to get milk and came home with an assortment of goodies from the reduced section, mainly meat, which he has put in the freezer. My system ruined before it was 24 hours old. 

Task for today is ........ reorganize the freezer.

[mrs bouquet]

I need very badly to defrost chest freezer in the garage.  The problem is it is full of food - no inventory, so no idea whats at the bottom.   Not really sure how to go about this, any ideas please,Then when it is all done, I shall make a list.  Mrs Bouquet

[Growster...]

I need very badly to defrost chest freezer in the garage.  The problem is it is full of food - no inventory, so no idea whats at the bottom.   Not really sure how to go about this, any ideas please,Then when it is all done, I shall make a list.  Mrs Bouquet

One way to start, is to get a table close by, and a load of newspaper, so that you can wrap each item and insulate it for quite a while, and plonk it next to the freezer! The stuff won't melt for quite some time!

I'll let others take over...

[jaydig]

Going through the contents of my freezer can be a bit of a magical mystery tour.  I sometime come across plastic boxes where the "permanent" marker pen has either rubbed off altogether, or bits of it has. It's a bit of a disappointment when you think you've got a pack of ready made cottage pie filling, which I make in batches, then when it's defrosted it turns out to be onion gravy, also made in batches for bangers, mash and gravy.

[Goosegirl]

I need very badly to defrost chest freezer in the garage.  The problem is it is full of food - no inventory, so no idea whats at the bottom.   Not really sure how to go about this, any ideas please, Then when it is all done, I shall make a list.  Mrs Bouquet

One would presume that the oldest stuff is at the bottom, so happily remove what's at the top then proceed with increasing care as you go down into the depths. Old stuff can get freezer burn so chuck it out rather than use it, or donate it to someone who has a dog. BTW, maybe a good idea to try and empty one side then put a step stool there so a) you're able to wang stuff out without continually bending over and, more importantly b) you don't fall in! Now then, about the list - is it going to be to port or starboard?? 

[Subversive_plot]

Chest freezer cleanout is always scary!
Ours is a small one, that makes cleanout easier.

Something that helps is freezer bags with a white label section on them.  I mark inside the white with an INDUSTRIAL permanent marker, which is a tad more expensive, but less prone to rubbing off. Other containers get labeled with masking tape. A date goes on the label, and contents if it might not be obvious. A small freezer is a bonus as it is less likely to accumulate 'fossils' ("is this joint wooly mammoth, or Irish elk?").

Anything frozen meat more than 4 months old is "suspect". More than 6 months old, it is consigned to making "Murray's rice", for the dog (well cooked meat, aging frozen vegetables, brown rice, SOMETIMES with added vegetables from the garden; we mix into his kibble). Stuff that is too old or uncertain for the dog gets binned.

[hamstergbert]

Anything frozen meat more than 4 months old is "suspect". More than 6 months old, it is consigned to making "Murray's rice", for the dog

In January 2021 doing my de-icing defrost when contents are temporarily decanted into eskies out in the garden during freezing weather, I found a well wrapped chunk of Salmon  cut silverside and rather than return it to the ice-free freezer yet again I roasted it and had the sons and significants round.  It was utterly delicious.

It was a little later that I realised that the joint had been bought by Mrs HGB so therefore had to have been in the freezer since before December 2012 - ie. I fed us all on beef that had been in the freezer for at the very least EIGHT YEARS (and repeatedly out temporarily and then replaced at each defrost).   Strewth.

[Subversive_plot]

Anything frozen meat more than 4 months old is "suspect". More than 6 months old, it is consigned to making "Murray's rice", for the dog

In January 2021 doing my de-icing defrost when contents are temporarily decanted into eskies out in the garden during freezing weather, I found a well wrapped chunk of Salmon  cut silverside and rather than return it to the ice-free freezer yet again I roasted it and had the sons and significants round.  It was utterly delicious.

It was a little later that I realised that the joint had been bought by Mrs HGB so therefore had to have been in the freezer since before December 2012 - ie. I fed us all on beef that had been in the freezer for at the very least EIGHT YEARS (and repeatedly out temporarily and then replaced at each defrost).   Strewth.

I have no doubt (though I'm a little confused about getting a joint of beef from a frozen salmon?  I think maybe something got mis-edited).  However, in order to maintain a more perfect union, and preserve domestic tranquility  with my better half, we have rules about what we eat, what the dog eats, and what gets binned.

I've no desire to repeat this: https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2019/12/permafrozen-dinner/604069/