Quick & Clean Freezer

Everyone likes a good
BEFORE

And
AFTER

Have 15 minutes? Sure, you do! AND you can have a clean, organized, useful freezer space. I got home from grocery shopping today, opened my fridge and freezer and was a little shocked. I'm not quite sure what has happened and when (haven't I seen the disaster every time I've opened it in the last couple weeks?) but holy cow, what a mess. This ever happen to you? Probably not- you're organized and are on top of everything in life. But just in case you're not, this is for you.

I got the oldest in her high chair with her plate of lunch and went to it. I knew I had between 15 and 20 minutes before she would be trying to climb out for nap time, then the baby would want to eat so I needed to work fast if I wanted to get this done.



Supplies I used:

• Disinfectant. Lots of disinfectant. 
• Cleaning rag
• A big trash bag
• 5 containers from Dollar Tree. I got two snap top containers and 3 CD/DVD baskets- cheap, small & I can choose to clean or toss them guilt-free if/when they get extra yucky

What I did: 

1. I pulled everything out of the freezer. As it came out, it went into one of 6 piles: trash, protein, vegetable, fruit, dessert, packaged (like frozen rolls). 
2. Next came the disinfectant. Just as my mom taught me, I sprayed and cleaned from top to bottom and I was pretty surprised by the amount of "stuff" that was waiting for me at the bottom. 
3. Using the containers I got at the dollar store, I next sorted and organized our proteins. We apparently need a flock of poultry in our freezer- three of those containers had bird in them. We do like to buy in bulk when things are on sale and then freeze them and this is going to help us see what we have and what we need. The snap top containers have cornish game hens in one (they tend to roll around and get knocked behind things) and individually wrapped tilapia and cod filets in the other. The baskets have twin-wrapped packages of chicken breast, pork products and more chicken parts. 
4. Things that I use or replace frequently- such as the ice packs, frozen lunches, butter packages and Skinny Cow bar- moved to their new home in the door.
5. After everything was sorted, things were put in their new home.  I love that the dollar store CD/DVD baskets are long enough to be useful and narrow enough that I can fit TWO side by side in my small freezer. 
6. At this point, I knew I was running out of time so I grabbed some painters tape and a sharpie so the containers would have temporary labels. (If things aren't labeled around here, they tend to end up put in the wrong place.) While the peanuts are napping, cute, laminated tags will be created and added to our delightfully clean and organized freezer!

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