WHY-Wednesday: Why we don't own a deep freezer.

(Update on September 20, 2014-- I got a smart phone last week, and did not realize that the pictures on it where linked to my blog's pictures.  I began deleting a whole bunch of them, including the ones that were on this post.  You can still read the post and "learn" from it, and if you are absolutely in dyer need of seeing what's in my freezer, you can come on over anytime :) )

A friend of mine asked me a few weeks ago via Facebook if I had a deep freezer.  With all my chicken stock, and meat-freezing, where do I have room for everything?  

You must have a deep freezer! -- she assumed.

Well... truth be told-- I would love to have one, but don't.

We don't have room for one, they bring up the power bill, and the hubby is afraid I'll be storing 15-year old dinner casseroles, then serving him some.

So how do I do it?

How do I manage to successfully store everything in the one I have?

Let's take a peek at my freezer and see if we can answer these questions.

My lovely freezer as-is.  Nothing polished, nothing added, nothing (obviously) organized.

Nuts.

Bread scraps.

Butter.

All my whole wheat bread-making ingredients.

Which reminds me... I haven't made a loaf in a while.

Cheese.

Ground coffee.

(Only if it is not in an air-tight container).

Cookie dough.

Bacon.

Old bananas.

Bell peppers.

Cooked hot dogs.

Deli meat.

Squeezed lime juice.

Meatloaf meat, ready to be thawed and cooked.

Onion and celery scraps for making chicken stock.

Lentil soup.

Fully cooked black and navy beans.

Chicken breasts.

Ham bone, and leftover ham.

Frozen fruit for my morning smoothie, and some ice cream.

Pancakes.

Artichoke hearts.

Chicken stock.

Thoughts in response to what I keep in my freezer--

*  I hardly ever use my freezer space for fully-cooked meals.  I will never put a casserole, a whole pizza, or convenient food from the store.  What I'll do instead is freeze partially prepared food.  For example, I'll freeze my bread scraps, but won't freeze the french toast casserole I'll be using them in.  I use my freezer space to make dinner prep in the afternoon go smoother, not to eliminate it completely.

*  I always keep a few "regulars" in the freezer such as my nuts, bread scrap bag, onion/celery bag, and bread-making ingredients.  Other than that, everything else rotates pretty quickly out of the freezer.  Notice how aside from my meatloaf bag, all of my other ground beef bags are gone.  I've used them all!  Now I am working through my chicken breasts.  Only one main meat will "dominate" the freezer at a time.

*  Whenever I am planning my weekly meals, I always look through my freezer to see what I have on hand.  This is what helps me rotate through my freezer quickly.

*  Notice how I only have one ice cream box.  As a matter of fact, I rarely have desserts like that (it was leftover from the kids' parties).  Desserts and ice cream like that are yummy to have, but are not the best way to maximize your freezer space.

***

My concluding thoughts:

1.  Focus more on freezing partially prepared meals opposed to fully prepared ones,
2.  Rotate through your freezer quickly,
and
3.  Freeze items that would make your life easier, not yummier.