How do you keep track of what's in your freezer?

[WannabeMathematician]

Do you remember? Have paper taped to the front? A white board? Have the joy of lucky dip every time you open the door?

I need help with our chest freezer.

I used to have a chest freezer. I wrote what was in it on the lid with a marker, above where the item was located, and crossed stuff off as it got used. It had a glass lid like the supermarket ones so that made it easier.

There are 8 drawers and I keep everything well organised so meat in one, bread in another, fruit, milk, etc. Easy to see what's what that way.

There’s very little so we can just see it.

however if you have a lot, I have seen people on YouTube get clear plastic containers and use them so no random items get lost. Each container could be a category or sub category. Everything would need a date sharpied on or whatever.

We have a lot. Everything is labeled but we do a lot of batch cooking so somethimes I just find things at the bottom from 6 months or longer ago. I think I'm leaning toward paper lists or a white board taped to the top.

When it starts to look like it needs filling up I have a route around to see what is still leftover and pull it to the front to remember to use up. I can't be bothered with lists and stock checking its just something else to keep on top of.

Random lucky dip. It is part of the fun!

I use reusable carrier bags for the chest freezer. So veg. Fish, game, snacks go in their own bags . That's in the garage. The kitchen drawer one however gets in a muddle so we sometimes have pot luck meals to use up leftovers

I have grown most of the stuff in the freezer so that's how I track it. Once it gets full I do a little stock take and make sure that we don't buy any more bought X until all the Xs in there are used. I usually have just one 'bought stuff' shelf.

I collect bread and make a huge batch of stuffing in one go and use it all up, and then freeze those balls and use them over the next few months...so I then collect bread again until the next time. When the next summer comes along I've usually used up all the tomato based frozen stuff but as we get closer to harvesting the next year's stuff I will make a plan to use up the frozen stuff.

I made pasta sauces from the end of season tomatoes and basil. Just have to remember to use them

I don’t and that’s how I end up with 4 bags of peas and only 3 fish fingers left in the box.

On reflection, I might not be the kind of person you were hoping to hear from on this question. …

Hi there

I add the freezer list to my calendar on my phone and have set it to repeats every Sunday. Then most days I either delete what has been used or add what has been put in. I do online shop so can also copy and paste from confirmation email. Its the only thing that seems to work for me. I do a shopping list like this too. And a cupboard list 😃

I use the MealBoard app for meal planning. It has a pantry section, which I use for keeping track of what’s in the freezer. That way, I plan my ‘too busy to cook’ day meals based on what I can defrost the night before and just heat up quickly.

I have a bit of a mixed system, based on 3 crates that stack on top of each other. The cooked batch meals are in the top crate, along with anything else that can just be cooked or reheated 'as is' - pizza, fishcakes etc

Then I buy when meat is yellow stickered, and stock up. New stuff and Sunday roast meat in the bottom crate.

Every 6-8 weeks I go through it and move things up from the bottom to the middle crate to provide a selection in the middle crate. So if e.g. I have several portions of turkey mince that start at the bottom, each time I go through it I move one or two portions up to the middle, which is where I start when choosing what to defrost and cook with...

Bread/rolls etc in a smaller crate that slots down alongside the main crates.

Frozen veg, spices, stock, breadcrumbs and other bots and pieces are in the freezer part of the fridge/freezer.

The most important thing is to go through it regularly and move the older items to the top/front.

Piece of paper on the outside of the fridge/freezer held on with a fridge magnet. Works well

Thank goodness - someone like me.
The other respondents obviously have a great deal more time than I do.
My freezer is for jamming frozen food in to keep it frozen till I shove it in the oven.

I don't. My freezer is for chips and ice cream and for storing things that will eventually be discovered five years out of date and get thrown away.

Following for tips . . .

Some of the responses clearly aren't about chest freezers. They need more organisation really, or you end up with tons of food lurking at the bottom. It's a different beast to a normal freezer or fridge freezer that has convenient drawers.

This is a good idea! That would help with the chaos!

Yeah, that's the problem. It's much harder to rotate a chest freezer it would be better just to have an inventory, or you just loose stuff to the depths.

Small freezer here, everything's wrapped in freezer bags with a description on the front so I can see immediately what's inside. Plus a list on the fridge door.

I have 5 drawers freezer, and each one have specific things in it, like 1st one, ice cream and dessert, 2nd vegs, 3rd meat, etc. I always check my freezer before I go shopping, so I never had problem.

Oops, I think I misunderstood what was the problem, sorry.

Chest freezers in particular require a lot of organising otherwise things get lost in the depths. I now have a full size tall freezer instead with drawers and it is so much easier to access and categorise.
For a chest freezer I would use tubs to separate into categories like veg, bread, meat, seafood etc. Everything needs to be labelled and dated and you need to update this somewhere like a whiteboard or notebook and be vigilant about updating it every single time you add or remove something.
I try to plan a meal or 2 from the freezer every week and add this to my meal plan so I know to take those items out the day before to defrost in fridge. I stock take every couple months and use up older dated items and smaller portions of things so I don't get the random odds and ends lurking or anything being freezer burned.

Me too! Everything is labelled, in takeaway boxes, but aimetime I find something I'd forgotten all about and the joy! The joy!
Last night it was leftovers from a takeaway curry. Treat night!

Bags for life in chest freezer to separate out white meat from red meat , bag for fish , one for veggies and the final one is for batch cooked meals / pasata/ curry gravy

top drawer in house for frozen fruit / ice cream / lollies
middle is for cooked meats and ingredients like frozen ginger
bottom is for cheese (yellow stickered) and convenience stuff like frozen paratha and garlic bread