Organizing Stand Up Freezer

Joined
Aug 2, 2017
Messages
488
Location
Colorado
I finally stepped up from a small 5.2 cu ft chest freezer to a 20 cu ft stand up freezer! I wanted to see if you guys had any recommendations for organizing your freezers. Do you guys use baskets or just stack the meat as high as you can? Or should I get more shelves? My processor freezes the burger flat so I want to make sure I dont have a meat avalanche when I open it too. I'll have a bull I shot a week ago as well as a mule deer and antelope from last year. I have another deer and antelope tag this year so I should have quite a bit of meat by the end of the season. I'm probably overthinking it but hate having to search for roasts, steaks or meat from a particular animal.

BTW I will be adding a WKR sticker to the freezer. Hopefully a WKR doesnt steal my FOAL (freezer of a lifetime) while I'm away from the house.
 

elkyinzer

WKR
Joined
Sep 9, 2013
Messages
1,257
Location
Pennslyvania
Definitely recommend totes or baskets with some type of organization system.

One thing I'll caution against is the plastic totes I use get brittle in there. Not a big deal but you do have to handle them a little carefully or they crack up.

I'm not a very organized person and it works pretty well for me. Once in awhile I'll find something 4 or 5 years old but generally I have a good handle on things and I'll do a bit of a flip once in awhile.
 

cnelk

WKR
Joined
Mar 1, 2012
Messages
6,799
Location
Colorado
You’ll save a lot of room if the meat packages are flat, vacuum sealed items.

Avoid moving the packages around as that dings and makes holes in the plastic.

I have 2 upright freezers in my shop. The shelves and door wings in them are sufficient to hold a lot of meat.

A freezer alarm is also a good investment
 

Matt83

FNG
Joined
Sep 24, 2022
Messages
23
Location
Maryland
If your looking for a cheap option, boxes from Costco work great. I like the cardboard boxes that peaches and nectarines come in. They work great and the best price…..free


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Joined
Jan 2, 2013
Messages
1,777
Location
Colorado
Echo what others have said. If you have shelves already, they will work great. I don’t have anything else in mine and things stay organized well enough. Plus one on the freezer alarm. Mine saved a bunch of meat one time.


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OP
mattferg84
Joined
Aug 2, 2017
Messages
488
Location
Colorado
You’ll save a lot of room if the meat packages are flat, vacuum sealed items.

Avoid moving the packages around as that dings and makes holes in the plastic.

I have 2 upright freezers in my shop. The shelves and door wings in them are sufficient to hold a lot of meat.

A freezer alarm is also a good investment
I was looking into a freezer alarm too since this is a used freezer. Do you know if theres any thatll send a notification to your phone? Just worried in case I'm out of town.
 
Joined
Dec 31, 2021
Messages
1,625
Location
Montana
Top two shelves- steaks and chops, bottom three shelves - roasts. Second upright - hamburger top to bottom. Chest freezer - unground hamburger meat in 80-90 lb bags waiting to be ground. Smaller chest freezer - sausage, pork chops, ham, ribs and what ever else we made out this year's pigs. Throw in a collection of waterfowl as encoutered. The collection will hold up to three elk, two pigs and 10 geese.
 

Gwchem

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Dec 27, 2021
Messages
128
Wire baskets and cardboard boxes in the upright.

My upright died, so it's baskets and milk crates in the new chest freezer
 

magtech

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Feb 15, 2018
Messages
237
Location
Michigan
How to organize freezer:
Find empty space, jam in meat
Stack door until its full, but doesn't affect door closure
Becareful when putting in unthawed meat. If its stuck in the grate you'll hate it.
Last but not least, don't let your wife go in there, she'll leave the door open once and ruin the whole party.
 
Joined
Sep 28, 2018
Messages
1,670
Location
VA
Freezer alarm. It will save you from loosing meat and possibly having to replace your freezer. You can buy a 3rd party alarm that runs over wifi and sends you alerts

Keep a list of everything you put in there and mark it as things go in or come out
 

92xj

WKR
Joined
Apr 22, 2016
Messages
1,234
Location
E.Wa
Flat package all your grind/fresh sausage/etc. You can fit twice the pounds per shelf when doing this.
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