How do you keep a chest freezer organised?

[attheendoftheday]

Boring thread of the day alert!

We have a chest freezer which is generally kept quite full - we get snowed in a couple of times a year so this is a necessity. I've tried a few ways to keep it organised, but it always seems to end up a horrible mess it which I have to go mining for food. I seem to have to half empty the bloody thing in order to put new shopping away too.

So, does anyone have a good way to keep it in order?

I don't have a chest freezer any more but when I did I grouped items into strong plastic bags, so all veg in a green bag, meat in a red bag etc. At least then you can pull the right coloured bag out from the depths!

I keep to a rough organisation - meat back right, fish back left, bread front right, veg front left, etc - and then keep an inventory on a notepad that lives on top of it. Every time I put in something it gets written down, every time I use something it gets rubbed out. At least that way I know what's supposed to be in there before I go foraging into the depths. Oh, and I keep a pair of ski gloves in the room to make the foraging less painful. Theoretically I write the dates on the list as well to stop things staying there for years but that often fails. Have also tried using baskets for different things (fish basket, bread basket etc) but they got stolen for something else and never replaced. Worked quite well though. Have you tried building subdivisions with plastic crates or something similar?

Thanks for the answers. I might need to invest in some plastic crates or bags. I tried to have an organisation system of different things in different areas but I kept having avalanches of chaos.