This works for me...

Every time I open the freezer, I take just a minute to tidy any shelf that may need it.

If I have to pull out things on a shelf or basket, put them back in a logical order.

And of course, "like things together" work in every room of organization.

I sometime put 3x5 cards, in little plastic bags, at the side of the shelf to remind me what's "hidden."

well first thing is you have the best type..upright..chest freezers are notorious for old food in them hidden at the bottom.

i have 3..side by side, upright full size..and med size chest..hate the chest one.

be careful where you put what in your freezer as the bottom freezes colder than the top in uprights.

put your ice cream and breads on your top shelf..any things that are bought in boxes should be stacked by box size..not by item unless you have enough room to sort them that way..always rotate and put the oldest on the bottom so you take off the top..

bagged items should be stored in the drawer bins..about 1/2 way down and bulky meat items and larger items in the bottom bin.

store things to get at quickly in the door..we freezer butter so it is in the door, as well as rolls of sausage, smaller items and partially used up bags..where they are easily seen and not lost.

Labels: No matter how sure I am that I will remember or that it is apparent, I label because more times than not I forget.

Repackage: I repackage a lot of the boxed frozen food - Ex: frozen fish filets, they come with excess packaging that takes up a lot of room. I cut out the product label and the directions, stick it in the ziploc or food saver bag so it's visible, then add the frozen food.

Freezer baskets: Lowes has them for side X side freezers. This allows me to pull them out occasionally and mine for hidden treasures.

Good luck with your project!

It depends on what you have the most of.

I settled for geographical:

Top shelf = ready to heat and eat
Next shelf = ingredients like pesto, sauces, broth
next lower shelf = frozen meats and cheese
Bottom = big bags of frozen veggies
Door = Ice cream, grated cheese, yeast, etc.

The larger freezer in the garage has the same basic arrangement ... the closer to the top something is, the less work it is to cook.

FYI I just got my real simple magazine and there was an entire article on organizing the freezer..you might enjoy it

Robre, Thanks for the heads up on the article.

It is a real pain to keep my side-by-side freezer organized. One thing I learned is that it's better for me to keep it simple in terms of what I keep in the freezer. Here's the problem: once you organize the shelves around certain things, then only certain things fit on certain shelves. Let's say you have a couple of frozen lasagnes or family size casseroles, and use them up. Someone goes out and buys a different frozen what's-it of a completely different food stuff and puts it on the lasagne shelf. Presto, now no place to put a new lasagne. Same for pizza. Or sizes of vegetables. Or I have a loaf of bread and ice cream on the same shelf, you take out the bread, someone decides to add another flavor of ice cream, now no place for extra bread. Of course, looking at the bright side there, you run out of bread mid-week but might have ice cream.

Maybe I am making this too complicated, but that's been my experience. So I feel I need to kinda be the "enforcer" certain shelves are only for certain things ( several staples and things that help us have something on hand for busy nights), be happy to allow some "empty space," and also buy frozen foods that I plan to use in the next week or 2's meals and not go crazy and stock the freezer for doomsday.

The frig is somewhat like this too, but the frig side is more forgiving, while the freezer side is dimensionally impaired and won't tolerate much extra or weird sizes and shapes as well.

If I were more into lots of frozen food, I would just have to figure a way to have an extra freezer, 'cause the attached freezers don't cut it.

Frankie, I hear ya' and admit that monitoring the freezer is an ongoing task. Purchasing frozen food is predicated more on space rather than need. Fortunately I have a extra refrigerator with top freezer in the laundry room.

Just want to thank everyone for their comments. Monday I emptied my freezer, cleaned it thoroughly and reorganized. Of course, the trick will be to keep it that way but I am thrilled with the way it looks at the moment.

In case it's of interest to anyone, I put dh's meats in the top basket (he's very tall and sometimes works late and makes his own carnivorous dinners so I always have plenty of individually wrapped red meat options for him). Second and third basket have chicken and fish and bottom one has pastas, veggies and the few prepared foods we purchase. The door holds ice cream and the top shelf holds coffee.

I'm really hoping the new organization helps me keep track of what we have so things don't get buried and, ultimately, have to be thrown away. Again, thank you to everyone who responded.

I have a fridge with a top mounted freezer and a stand alone upright freezer. I find that when a freezer is chock full of stuff it is too hard to organize or find what you're looking for. I've labeled clear plastic bins and placed them in my upright freezer--putting like items together. I also placed labeled clear shoe boxes in my fridge freezer--again like items together. I use the upright freezer to stock my fridge freezer but being careful to limit the number of items of any one kind of food I bring into my fridge freezer. I find I only have to stock up about every two weeks. If you can afford a separate freezer, I think it is worth it.