How to Empty Out the Freezer Without Getting Frostbitten!

If you're like me, and you get stuck often with a freezer full of food and you can't fit anything else in there, come with me...I don't know how it happens...oh yes I do...I am remembering now...you go to the grocery store and you see things on sale, but you don't need them. You buy them even though you don't need them, figuring, hey it goes in the freezer, it will last at least 6 months or a year in there and I would have saved money. When I think about all the money I have chucked in the garbage, I want to scream. All I have ever found after 6 months in the freezer is freezer burn foods. When you add it all up, you've thrown away $50, $100 or more. I tell myself every time I wont do it again. But I do. I still do it.

Ok, so I promised no frostbite...get your digital camera and a pair of outside gloves and a pair of surgical gloves. I have a side-by-side freezer with many shelves, but this method will still help you not get freezer burned. First, you open the freezer doors and take digital pictures of each shelf. Make sure you get at least all the foods visible. Go upload them in the computer and print out a black and white plain paper copy of the pictures.

Now, with a highlighter and black magic marker start marking the items you see. The highlighter is for the keepers and the black marker should circle the stuff you chuck. Put a question mark on anything you're not sure about.

Then when you've assessed the foods from the pictures, go ahead and put your gloves on. Slip the surgical gloves on over the gloves. Get a laundry basket ready for foods that you are keeping and bring the garbage pail close to the freezer to chuck stuff you don't need or have to get rid of. Start with the pictures...separate those items you've highlighted with those you have circled in black. Once that is done...pretty quick with the pictures...if you have a lot to go thru, like me, go ahead and take pictures of the second layer of foods in the freezer. Print them out and highlight those you are keeping just like before.
Keep a bucket with hot water with a little white vinegar or lemon juice in it and a cloth near you, so when you find sticky spots, you can clean them up fast.
This process takes at least an hour for side by side freezers, so you might want to set aside a day that you're not rushing anywhere. Before you know it, the freezer is cleared of old freezer burnt food and stuff you don't need. The trick here is to keep it this way. Try and maintain restraint when you go thru the frozen food sections at the grocery store. And by golly stay away from the Cosco's, BJ's, Sam's clubs and alike...no one needs 48 waffles in their freezer at one time!