Could you attach one of those dry erase boards to the front using some strong magnets? That would be really easy and pretty cheap.

Sounds like a fantastic deal.

Before you stock up the freezer, may be you can try this:

Have a few small cups of vegetable oil and place them in various locations in the freezer, after a few hours, measure the temperature of each cup.

You will map out which part of the freezer is the coldest.

That's where you should place your ice cream maker and sanitize your sushi fish, etc.

dcarch

I do plan to put a couple of freezer thermometers in and move them to different places to check the temperatures at different locations.

I will not be using refrigerator magnets or any other kind of magnet to attach clutter to the surface - I have very bad associations with those and will not allow Kevin to use magnets either. The fridge in the kitchen is stainless steel and non-magnetic (Thank goodness!), but the side is magnetic, and I do have a magnetic kitchen timer there, but that is the only exception. A dry erase board is a good idea, and we can hang it next to the freezer on some shelving that already has peg holes for hangers. We also have two filing cabinets next to the freezer, and so we could store content information there as well.

Lars

Woo hoo! Congrats! Yeah, and butter and turkeys are on sale-good for stocking up. Now you really will be broke! Joking. The fun part. Even if you are not a turkey or turkey breast fan, they are good for company. Thanksgiving prices. Last a long time in especially new freezers. Although, maybe a little caution to see how well it works before you invest heavily in stock up stuff. Enjoy. Sounds like a great deal!

Woot! Yes, congratulations on your new toy! I'm sure you'll put it to good use! Wise purchase buying an upright. I cannot imagine diving down to find that last bag of...whatever!

I think you'll love the upright. I love Whirlpool products. We have a washing machine that's over 20 years old!

I was following your freezer opinion thread and was voting for an upright. Sounds like a great deal too.

I only have a side-by-side freezer and while I have organization in my freezer, I still loose things.

The narrow shelves on the door can be labeled (vegetables, desserts, meals, etc.) and the bins can be labeled for the main foods. Have fun!

Cool!

Sally

I have 2 freezers - an upright in my kitchen and a deep freeze in my canning kitchen. They are both half full now but during fruit harvest seasons they fill up until I can get to the canning.

When I defrost the upright I make a list of what is in there on note cards written with a Sharpie and enclosed in a plastic quart bag for each shelf. It is right in front of my face which makes me more disciplined when adding and subtracting. Besides, then my DH won't have to ask me if we have "such and such" = "just read the note cards".

And, I like the idea of putting bags of ice into a freezer for water when power fails.

Nancy

Here is a sample of an inventory form.

I'll email you a form that I made that you can customize for your needs.

Here is a link that might be useful: Freezer Inventory

"-----I like the idea of putting bags of ice into a freezer for water when power fails---"

Nothing wrong with that idea, but you may want to consider this:

If you have friends or relatives who buy steak, seafood on-line, or have medicine shipped, ask them to keep those thermal gel packs for you.

Water or ice stores not much cold. The thermal gel (phase change latent heat) can store much more cold, and can keep your freezer colder longer if power fails. You will save freezer space. The gel is the same stuff inside your ice cream maker because it can really keep things freezing cold.

dcarch

Congratulations on finding such a good deal, Lars. I think you're going to like having a freezer and the white board is a good idea. And no, you are definitely NOT decrepit, nor old!

I just took inventory of my freezers last week, although the turkey will be gone for Thanksgiving. I found I had a lot more eggs and more rhubarb than I had estimated, time to get some baking done!

I never seem to have empty space that needs to be filled up with anything and deer season opened Friday, so maybe some venison will be headed that way soon.

Good luck with the organization. I'm not all that organized, which is why I have to re-inventory about every 6 months, I fail to note what I take out and put in. Bad habit but I just don't care that much.

Annie

Congrats on such a great deal, Lars. I have had my J.C. Penny's upright freezer for 39 years and love it. I would have loved a chest style, but being just 5'1" tall I knew I would have problems getting into it. Or lets say getting out of it if I fell in trying to retrieve something. My DH would love that picture. Anyway, I read that the chest style released more cold when opened than the upright and that was the deciding factor. I know I will probably have to replace the one I have in the not too distance future and I will go back to an upright for sure.

Oh, make sure the door is truly closed after everytime you get in the freezer. When we were in another state for a month for my husband's heart transplant, one of the volunteer 'house watchers' didn't close the door and when we got home it had been pushed open with a foot of ice. Took forever to thaw and it wouldn't close solidly after that so DH had to put a latch type lock on it.

Cathy, I got your email but was unable to reply to it, and so I sent you an email from here so that you can reply to that with an attachment. Thanks!

Dcarch, I have been collecting thermal bags for some time now, and so I have quite a collection already. I saved all the ones that Kevin brought back from Seattle when he bought the salmon, lobster, and crab. I also have gel packs that are supposed to substitute for ice packs after oral surgery, and I keep those in the freezer as well. I am planning on storing stuff in the new freezer that I will not need in case of power outage, so that I will not have to open the freezer door. Although I am storing water in there, I would remove that only as a last resort, and it's always better to have more water than necessary. We have a storage container that holds several gallons of drinking water, which is way more than we will need, and we have the hot tub, which has water that can be used for cleaning, if necessary. Oh, and I will also be storing my ice cream innards, which should also help retain cold in case of power outage.

I'm going to have to sort through what I already have in the two freezer compartments that I already had. I am going to be very happy to have open space in the freezer in the kitchen again - it filled up very fast, and I need the open space for chilling things from time to time, such as chocolate molds, bowls & beaters for whipped cream, butter for pie crusts, etc. I probably will buy extra butter just to store in the freezer now. I'm going to keep flours in the kitchen freezer, and I will probably put them in plastic mayo jars. I guess they would be okay in glass containers, however.

One of my main plans for the freezer was to store more vegetables so that I can eat more of those, as part of a diet plan. I also will store more fruit and eat more of that.

I forgot to mention earlier (in my very long post) that Kevin and I had planned to go to the Lebanese market on Venice Blvd just down the street from Best Buy after appliance shopping, but since we had the freezer on the truck, we decided to go straight home. We managed to get the freezer unloaded and installed in the garage much more quickly than I expected and had time to go back to the Lebanese market, which has very cheap produce plus Middle Eastern specialty products. I bought a large container of Za'Atar (now I won't have to make my own) plus some garbanzo flour, fresh dill in bulk, some carob molasses, falafel seasoning mix (may not need that), more Tahini (They have a huge selection of that), and some Jallab Syrup (made with date molasses and rose flavour--their spelling), which I was unsure about and still am. I does have a strong rose flavor/fragrance but I can also taste the date flavor. I think I might like it better without the roses, but I also might get used to it. We had it on pancakes this morning. I'm going to finish making the falafel this afternoon, and I want to freeze some of the dill. I was thinking I might want to store the dill in lemon juice with some garlic, since I generally add those to dill when I use it.

I also need to plan what containers to use for the freezer, and I am thinking I want to get some plastic bottles for hot sauce. I have a lot of plastic containers that I'm not using, but I thought I would save those for leftovers.

I like the idea of storing index cards in freezer bags!! I'm definitely going to do that!

I have a feeling that the seafood section of my freezer is going to get the most use, but I will also be on the lookout for a cheap turkey. It's going to be nice to be able to shop and not worry about freezer storage space - at least for now. I'm hoping also to be able to cut down on trips to the market.

Lars

Speaking of saving the thermal gel, I save all the gel in Fiji water bottles because the square shape allows me to pack them more tightly in the freezer then pull them out to use as ice in our game day cooler or road trip cooler. Also, it is less likely to be punctured thank keeping them the bags.

(I posted this on Appliances after reading and thinking about your thread here. The link to the baskets is worth looking at.)

A recent thread on the Cooking forum about freezers got me thinking about organizing my large upright freezer. After a lengthy defrosting, I was determined to come up with a better way to organize the contents and simplify defrosting.
Right now wire baskets are the best idea I have found. I found a combination of two sizes on Amazon for a reasonable price. They are also available on the site below.

What do you use to organize an upright freezer? What do you think of these?

The sizes of the two of these (if I order a multiple of them) will fit my shelves quite well. (My main criticism is the wedge shape which wastes bottom area. Also they don't look really strong, but they won't really get a lot of pulling in and out.)

Any suggestions and/or alternatives would be appreciated.

Here is a link that might be useful: Freezer baskets

This post was edited by Bellsmom on Sun, Nov 17, 13 at 19:33

Check out "The Container Store" They have everything you need. They are big.

dcarch

This is something for you to consider:

When you open your freezer or refrigerator, you get a big chill from the blast of cold air. So you don't want your food to go bad, you close the door as quickly as you can. You yell at your poor husband and kids when they try to get something out to eat or drink. "Shut the damn door quick! the food will go moldy soon!"

Well, here is the science:

It takes 0.005 watts or 0.017 BTU of energy to heat up (or cool down)1 cubic foot of DRY air 1 degree F higher.

Assuming you have 5 cubic feet of air in a packed freezer and that comes to = 0.085 BTUs to cool them down each 1 degree F.

Assuming that all 5 cubic feet of cold air escaped out and replaced by 5 cubic feet of room temperature air. To cool 5 cu. ft. of 70F air down to 0 F, it will only take 5.95 BTUs of energy.

A typical freezer can easily deliver close to 1,000 BTUs of cooling per hour.

Relax! leave you poor husband alone when he gets his beer. :-)

And don't panic when the power is out and you have to get food out from the freezer.

dcarch

This post was edited by dcarch on Mon, Nov 18, 13 at 0:32