....Aaand here are the results of my freezer cleaning!
A couple weeks ago, I posted my brim-full refrigerator before picture, and a nice, sparkly after picture, along with a teaser of my deep freezer before picture, which revealed a freezer so full it's about busting at the seams. As promised, I have returned with an after picture and a list of what's really stored inside!
The main reason the freezer was so full is because I had just received a cows worth of beef bones, which I turned into some delicious bone broth. Once I was able to clear those out, I finally had room to rearrange and take inventory of what was inside.
I had a pretty good idea of what I had before I started, since the freezer came with these nice handy, dandy dividers where I can section off categories like ground beef, steaks, roasts, etc. These are super helpful because we buy our beef in bulk and can fill up an entire section with one variety of cut rather than everything being strewn about and it being a treasure hunt whenever I manage to dig below whatever is on the surface.
Because of this, I did not dig through the steak section to see exactly how many of each cut I had (round, sirloin, etc.). Knowing I had an almost-full section of steak was good enough for me to know we weren't going to run out anytime soon!
Ta-daaa!
Here it is! The after shot. Still full, but much neater.
And here is the inventory. I included the list of my upstairs refrigerator/freezer inventory, since I am frequently transferring things between the two.
Since making this list, I have used up the whole turkey, a roast, some steak, a bag of zucchini, the beets, a bag of hotdogs, and several pounds of butter. It has been nice having this list handy so I can plan my meals accordingly without having to open my freezer, although I do sometimes get better inspiration when I see the actual food. :)
Want to know what's cooking? I have a beef roast in the crock pot at this very moment! Mmm.
Soooo... I think there's probably a tub or two of Cool Whip in my freezer. Somewhere. LOL. Boy I would love to have a deep freeze.
ReplyDeleteDo you use up all of the zucchini and apple cider before the next season? The hardest things for me to use up are seasonal stuff like zucchini, rhubarb and strawberries. One year I froze watermelon, thinking I'd use it for smoothies. Only problem is, smoothies aren't as wonderful in the winter when you just want a cup of tea or cocoa. I guess, the seasonal stuff looks scrumptious when it goes into the freezer, but limp and out of season it doesn't have the same appeal.
Also do you freeze your herbs and teas? I saw some of them on the list too.
No, I don't use everything up in one season. I prefer not having to grow/process everything every year. Both the zucchini and cider are actually from two years ago. Fruit is one thing that I prefer not to keep in the freezer much more than a year, so I aim to freeze strawberries and blueberries every year, even if I don't do jam that year. Any frozen fruit usually gets used up right away, since we tend to blow through smoothies during the summer months!
ReplyDeleteYes, I do freeze all my herbs and teas. I guess to keep them fresher since I really don't use them very often.