How to Store Food in a Bottom Freezer

When it comes to storing food in a bottom freezer, proper distribution of weight and food organization is the overall goal. This helps ensure that food is stored properly and stays fresh as long as it's stored in your freezer. Moreover, with the right organizational system, you have the ability to easily access food without taking the entire freezer apart.

Instructions

1. Empty the entire freezer. This is the best way to start an organized storage system in your freezer. Take everything out of the freezer before beginning to stack new food along the bottom.

2. Label everything with a date. Because you are storing food in a freezer, without labeling it first, you won't have any concept of how long it's been in there by the time you pull it out to use it. Using a black permanent marker, write the date of purchase and the use by date on the front of the food package. This will help you remember how long the food has been in the freezer and prevent freezer burn from occurring.

3. Organize like foods together. Use dividers to make organization in the freezer easier to achieve. By keeping similar foods in the same place in the freezer, you'll find it much easier to access things as you need them. For example, keep meats with meat and even subcategorize foods, such as chicken with chicken.

4. Line the heaviest food items along the bottom. This is usually the meats because they are less affected by weight. However, be sure that everything you plan to store in your freezer is properly packaged to avoid any tears that might allow ice to form on the food itself, resulting in freezer burn. Large packages of food, large containers of meat and family-sized servings of food are best stored along the bottom.

5. Layer the rest of the food items according to weight. Be sure to stagger them so you don't have one dense stack of frozen food. Zigzagging the items as you place them into the freezer makes it easier to access food toward the bottom.

References

• Refrigerator and Freezer Storage Chart