Cleaning out the freezer does not have to be tedious. It can actually be kind of fun. Discover what you have in the depths of your chest freezer or in the back of the freezer in your fridge and get creative. This is the perfect time to take a few minutes to explore new recipes or come up with some of your own.
Some of our pantry cooking and freezer cooking times have led to favorite recipes that we still enjoy. Look through your cookbooks or check online for interesting recipes. You can find lots of great ideas in Food and in Frugal.
Since it is not always easy to find meals that all six of us like, I tend to make many of the same things (or with simple variations). I get bored with that, so every so often, I get the urge to be creative. As I go through this and that in the freezer, it sometimes inspires new ideas.
This is also a really good way to take stock of your shopping habits too. If you find that there is quite a bit of out of date food, or stuff that’s freezer burnt (or on the verge), you may be buying more than you can use. You can pare it down a bit to avoid waste. You can also try rotating the items in your freezer in between cleanings.
Grocery stores rotate their stock so that the newest items go to the back and the oldest go to the front. You can do this with food in your freezer too. When you bring home a package of ground chuck that you just bought on sale, place it beneath the package you bought a couple weeks ago. This way, you will use the one with the oldest date first.
Freezer Cooking Through the Winter