Freezer Inventory

How many Americans have an extra freezer tucked away in the garage or basement?  Probably quite a few of us. Especially if you're a hunter or gardener who enjoys preserving your own food.  Or maybe you're just a bargain hunter who loves to stock up when the sales are hot.  Either way, how familiar are you with the contents of those freezers?  That's what I thought...not very.

We have a chest and upright freezer in our basement.  I love to preserve food from our garden, and usually stock up on meat when it's on sale.  In the past I toyed around with the idea of keeping a good inventory, but never could figure out how to keep track of what was in ALL the freezers....because remember there's also the one upstairs connected to the fridge.  Ahhh....what's a girl to do??  Don't pull your hair out, I have found a solution.

Here is how I do it...

The two basement freezers are delegated for different things.  One holds the meat, butter, frozen juice, and most of the home preserved goods.  The other holds the ice cream, shredded cheese, store bought frozen vegetables and bagged potatoes, and frozen breads. 

In my upstairs freezer, there is one section for fruits and vegetables, one section for meats/nuts, and the rest is miscellaneous.  For the most part the upstairs freezer contains easy made meats (nuggets, hot dogs, meatballs) and items you may grab for a quick smoothie or snack. When I'm meal planning, I pull from the basement, and most of the time use the entire quantity of a package for one meal. We are blessed to have a full service meat counter at our grocery store that will cut and package meats in whatever size packages you want!!!

Ok...ok...so now you know how I ORGANIZE my freezers, but wasn't this a post on INVENTORY?  Yes, you're right. It was....I mean is.

Now....

To keep it simple, I only inventory the basement freezers.  Once food makes it upstairs it gets checked off my inventory list.  I may only use half that bag of meatballs or a handful of frozen blueberries, but any opened packages or bags (with the exception of ice cream) stay in the upstairs freezer and out of my inventory.  That way I know what is downstairs is whole, unopened, and complete. No surprises!

Here is how I go about creating and maintaining the inventory of my freezers.  Follow the steps and you can too!!

First, download and print off a Freezer Inventory record sheet. On this worksheet, there is a list of various common foods in my freezer.  Your staples may be different, so I've included a few blank spaces for personalization.  Or...you can print off a Blank Freezer Inventory record sheet and make it entirely your own.  Following each food, there is a grid with room for recording an inventory of up to 8 items of that type.  (If you find more in your freezer you'll have to be creative!)

Second, as you inventory your freezer, place a small mark (dot or x) in the boxes to indicate how many of that item you have on hand. One mark (dot) means one item.

Third, Maintain your record.  When you remove an item from your freezer, shade a square on the grid to cover the mark, and indicate that item is no longer in inventory. If you replenish an item after a shopping trip, you can continue to place markers (dots) in open squares if space allows.

At some point, your sheet will get full and messy looking, so you'll need a new one.  This is a great time to re-inventory the freezer and make sure you've kept your records accurately!  Head back to step one, print of another inventory sheet, and start marking.  Alternately, you could laminate the inventory chart and continue to use it indefinitely by clearing away your markers (dots) rather than shading in each square to maintain your record.  It's really up to you to find the rhythum that works in your kitchen.

That's it!  You can do it!

Hope somebody found this helpful.  Leave a comment if you did.

Interested in learning more about packing meat for easy meal usage? This post on pre-preparing meat might be just the thing.

Need help with meal planning?  Take a look at my meal planning guide and grocery list here.