I’m going to keep this post as simple as possible because I know these things can overwhelm some people. Keep in mind freezing food looks different for every family. Some like to freeze meals a month in advance, some like to freeze their groceries and cook only from that. Whatever it looks like for you, the trick is to keep it simple, organize it by the date you will use it, and it will allow you to grab something really quick. This is an ongoing process that I teach my kids. It’s important to do things in an orderly fashion. Even 1 Corinthians 14:40 can apply here as well.
I had given you examples of what is in our walk in pantry in a different post. Our 2 deep freezers are in there as well. This isn’t an exhaustive list, but I will try and give you a good idea how I stock up on fresh foods and butchered meat for the year. Organizing my food buckets, my freezers, and my pantry is something that I thrive on. I love having the neatness to it and the ability to have a mini grocery store in the house. For us, it saves a lot of time and money doing it this way.
Deep freeze number 1 has almost all the fruit we picked or purchased from orchards, homemade vegetable puree, a variety of nuts and seeds, my daughter’s fruit pies, and homemade beef and chicken broth in it.
Deep freeze number 2 has all of our butchered meat (beef, pork, chicken, turkey) and lard (pictures below of some of what’s inside.) The butcher gives us the meat already separated in bags, so I store them accordingly. For our family, 2 deep freezers keep items organized to grab what we need quickly, when we need it.
It saves a lot of time not digging and shuffling around looking for one item. Jason made dividers for the food so they don’t fall and I use 1/2 bushel peach boxes for any jarred fruit I have frozen. I keep all my homemade sourdough muffins and breads in the kitchen side-by-side freezer part.
When we prepare supper for an evening, we cook quadruple so that we can have plenty of leftovers, and freeze the other meal(s). This covers us when we are in a pinch or when we take short trips and outings. I have found this works the best for our schedule. Now you see why I have so many food buckets! I quickly run out of freezer room for all the other things that can be stored elsewhere.
This is how we freeze strawberries every spring. I have found this to be the most efficient way for us to pick, wash, and freeze all in a 2 day period.
I hope you find this helpful as you organize your pantry and freezer space to fit your family’s needs. We find when we work hard the many months there is harvesting to be done, our table in the winter is filled with an abundance. At the very least, I hope you are inspired to go make what works best for your family and encourage those kids to keep up their great efforts in running a smooth, harmonized home alongside you.
Blessings to you,
Natalie