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Once-a-Week Cooking

freezer space

22 years ago

Hi all!

I would LOVE to try OAWC but the refrigerator in our current house has a teeny tiny freezer and I am lucky to have room for ice, some frozen veggies, and the few other regularly used items that must remain frozen.

Aside from purchasing a 2nd freezer, can anyone give any suggestions as to how I would attempt this without the necessary freezer space? I am thinking it just might not be possible.

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Comments (6)

lisbet
21 years ago
Are Dumb Questions allowed? (know I am about embarrass myself.) What is OAWC??
HeidiHoHum
Original Author
21 years ago
Not a dumb question! OAWC means Once A Week Cooking which means you plan and cook all your meals for the entire week on one day, then freeze each day's meal until the day arrives when you planned on eating it. No cooking hassle...just defrost and warm and eat:)

It would be great for people like me who never plan ahead and end up scrambling for something decent to feed my family each night!
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It's not only milk I am thinking of - just more food storage in general in the future, as we will be eating at home ourselves more as well, and we feed our 3 cats a frozen diet so their food takes up a lot of freezer space. We are already jammed in there and could use more space now. But yes I do plan to return to work and pump, though I am aware that things don't always work out as planned. And yes before our baby is mobile we will need to baby-proof the house which would include ensuring the freezer is lockable. She will be in our room for at least 6 months anyway maybe longer. Drains do not need towels or drain by themselves on the floor, they have plus and to manually defrost you remove the plug and attach a hose, feed hose to a drain or suitable container. We have no carpet in the house, LVP flooring. I think the best spot would be the hallway closet beside the stacked laundry, where there is already an outlet and space. It's upstairs not near the kitchen but I could store longer term bulk items there and move them to the kitchen freezer as things get used up. Then the question is upright or chest format and brands/models?
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lisbet
21 years ago
Wish I could help, but can't think of a solution to your problem! Unless you have a magic wand and magical powers!
Perhaps you could scout around (like on E-bay) for a used small, apartment size freezer for cheap. Newspaper classifieds is another place to look. Even though you don't want to spend a lot of money...check around at the regular appliance places, anyway. Just to see what's available, for limited space.

Considering the convenience that it would be for you, perhaps is is best to spend a little money on a small freezer. In time, it would certainly pay for itself. There are also "under the counter" freezers.
yellowhair
21 years ago
Maybe you could try stacking your frozen items differently in your small freezer space. I've read where some freeze the meals and then stack them sideways. Just a thought.
BigMama
21 years ago
one way to conserve space is to freeze everything in plastic bags...flatten them as flat as possible and stack them on top of each other...My suggestion would be to buy a small freezer...if money is a problem try a used one...small ones are cheap...
HeidiHoHum
Original Author
21 years ago
My huge upright freezer is in a lovely storage facility while we live in Germany for a couple years (military family). I am pretty sure my DH will not go along with buying even a used freezer since we can't take it with us when we leave (different voltage).

I will try the bag thing and just try to become really organized. There just isn't much space after adding frozen veggies and ice! If I could just fit in a few meals, it would be great!

Thanks for everyone's help!!!

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