I wish I could help you, Michael, but I just throw stuff in mine, half a beef at a time, LOL, then dig...

Actually, I have kind of a method. Pork in the front half, beef in the back half, smaller chest freezer for fruit and vegetables. A wire basket for fish and chicken, but all those ducks threw my method off, so they're in the back, under the beef.

Mustangs is very organized and I just KNOW she has a method.

Annie

I'm like Annie, I dig. I try to write on the bag what it is but sometimes I get in a hurry and dont do that. Then it's mystery night.

There are 3 of us that go in and out of that chest freezer so there is no such thing as organization in that thing. You have to move the ice cream to get to the french fries which are under the soft pretzels.

I bought baskets at the dollar store and made labels wrapped in sealing tape to make them freezer proof. It has really helped with organization.
I have baskets for vegetables, bagels, frozen dinners, fruit, chicken, seafood, soups, etc.

I have baskets also. They are labeled chicken, boneless, skinless breasts,beef, pork and vegetables. Not perfect but does save some time. It also lets me know when I'm running out of something.

Like most of you, digging is my "system". When I look for a pack of frozen peas, I dig to the bottom to make there's no more before I use the pack on top. Same thing as frozen fish and chicken etc. We only have 2.5 people (little man considered half LOL) in the house, we don't need a huge freezer. Digging through it is not too big a pain. If I had more people in the house I would need a bigger freezer and a better system. But for now, it works for me. :-) Al

Hmmmmm bumblebeez you might be on to something. I like the idea of making a bunch of waterproof labels 'chicken' 'beef' 'stew' to package with the food. Just grab and apply (insert between two plastic bags, tape to container, etc.

We have an upright freezer, and I have been married to an engineer for 38 years, so our freezer is ORGANIZED!
The top shelf is for breads, biscuits, muffins, and herb butters. Second and third shelves are for vegetables in reusable plastic containers that are labeled with contents and date, and stacked in rows. Fourth shelf is for meats, also wrapped and labeled and dated. The door shelves are for nuts, berries, prepped vegetables like chopped onions.
If "digging" were the way I found things in the freezer, he'd divorce me (no, he wouldn't, he'd just organize the freezer for me.)

Each shelf has a number and I have an excel spreadsheet. Think elevator: Level 5, the top one, is for ready made Poofable meals. level 4 and down is beef, chicken, fish, etc and teh ground floor is for veggies.

The spreadsheet show the type, Qty and items:

Type Qty Item Level#
Beef 2 Strip steaks 3
Chiken 1 Whole roaster 2

Printed out and posted both on the freezer and in the kitchen. I try to update it every 3 to 4 months before I get to the treasure hunting stage of chaos.

And no bins for me, they took up too much room.

From what I understand too, the bottom is the coldest (I also have an upright) so the foods that need to keep the longest go there. I use the bottom drawer for meat and seafood, and the top for bread.

Keys for me are:
Label, label, label
Repackage-packaging take up too much room, cut out labels and directions and put in foodsaver or Ziploc bag
Added shelves to eliminate wasted head space
Bins - got freezer bins at Lowe's
Ice cube bins to hold more on door shelves
Freezer manager (me not DH)

Mustangs, that's a thing beauty! I've tried something similar in my small refrigerator/freezer section. It has to be organized and in bins or the space is lost. The wire mesh baskets look really good. Nice air circulation and visibility.

Peppi, a spreadsheet?

You win. :)

Thank you Dirtgirl.

I'm still lobbying for an affordable home barcode reader and organization software to keep food inventory.

Here is a link that might be useful: Too Expensive

While this doesn't really help with the labeling of things *in* the freezer, I keep a large index card on the freezer door where I list all the meats / frozen meals I have in there, and then cross them off as I take them out...