Maximizing and Organizing Your Small Freezer Storage

(*This post was originally written in 2008. It's been updated in 2025)

I'm assuming you have a refrigerator with a freezer either on the top or on the bottom.

You need it to hold a multitude of food items to feed your family with.

Early on in my marriage I was struggling with this same thing. At that time I only had the small freezer space above my refrigerator. I was already starting to prepare freezer meals and freeze produce from my small garden so I needed to maximize this space.

As small as it was. My small freezer, that dinky thing hovering above my refrigerator, held a multitude of meals and ingredients.

Back in the olden days (2008) I didn’t have a chest or stand alone freezer. I really wanted one but we were living in an apartment where we didn't realize (learned we could later) that we could have a chest freezer and at the time it was just learning about how to use my freezer. But as I learned I really tried to make the most of that small space (which then inspired my husband to get us a chest freezer).

Not only did I keep frozen foods like veggies and meat in there I also kept pre-made dinners, excess butter, frozen celery and parsley, frozen tomato paste, cookie dough and much more. I put that freezer to work! I got a lot of comments from friends and family so I think I was doing okay.

True I had to be innovative in getting it all in there but I did it. And here’s how I made it work (these days my freezer situation has changed quite a bit but we can talk about that at another time).

First: Containerize

When you have a small freezer it pays to use boxes and bins to containerize items and keep them in their little spots in the freezer. Depending on the type of plastic you use, some plastic bins can crack after a short while in the freezer. You can also repurpose cardboard boxes or pick up some wire baskets specifically made for the upright freezer (do some measuring first to make sure you have the right size for your space).

I do have my share of plastic bins in my small freezer but these are all repurposed from around my home. The cheaper ones will crack and break after a while.

The cardboard boxes work very well. for organizing. Especially smaller little packages that can get lost in the freezer.

Extra: I freezer a lot of butter. But I don't repackage it. I keep the butter blocks in their original paper boxes on the door of the freezer. When butter went sky high a few years ago we started stocking up on it whenever it went on a good sale and still keep up the practice. Due to my food allergy I do personally use butter (and coconut oil) in all my baked goods from cakes to cookies and have never had a problem with the frozen butter.

Second: Use a Vacuum Sealer

My first tip for maximizing your small (we're talking the little one above the fridge or the one at the bottom of your refrigerator) freezer space is remove the air that is taking up valuable freezer real estate.

Not only will removing the air give you more space but it will help prevent freezer burn.

I would repackage meats, and frozen veggies with my FoodSaver. Not only does this baby suck out excess air so that my food lasts longer and doesn't get freezer burnt, getting all that air out means less space is taken up in my freezer and that means I can stuff more in!

With higher food prices and my love for bulk shopping it was the best choice to help me maximize my space.

I froze most everything in the vacuum storage bags. Once the air is out of the bags you can get a ton of them in the fridge. I used these for soups, sauces, marinating meats, my tomato, and parsley ice cubes, my celery, bread crumbs and whatever else will fit in there. Foodsaver recently came out with a mini version Vacuum Sealer.

The vacuum sealer is not the only way to remove air. There are several options and even a DIY method.

• Vacuum Seal Food storage containers. I have these in my kitchen. I'm slowly moving away from glass but I do have this full kit and love it for the fridge and freezer. It's a manual pump which is nice.
• I also have a hand held vacuum sealer (the one I have is no longer for sale) that can be used with vacuum sealer bags.

How to Choose what to Freeze

If you only have a smaller freezer it's important to be particular about what you freeze. While ice cream takes top billing after that you want to make sure you save that valuable real estate for the most necessary.

• Meat: Beef, chicken, fish, even pork. To make the most of meat in your freezer space look into freezer meals.
• Cheese: Cheese is one of those things that you can stock up on when it goes on sale. And then you can freeze it.
• Fruits and Vegetables: If you garden or your grocery store has great sales on produce at the end of the summer you may want to freeze some for those winter soups and dishes.

Extra Freezer Maximizing Tips

• Get to know what kinds of foods can be frozen (pretty much anything but some need a little processing first).
• Use safe defrosting methods to make sure your food does not spoil during the thawing process.
• Write on your freezer bags so you know what is in there.
• Keep a freezer inventory. Update it weekly.
• Get a gadget to help you vacuum seal your food.
• National Center for Home Food Preservation
• General Frozen Food Guidelines

So that’s about it for what I do to get the most out of my freezer.

2011 Update

So I have a new chest freezer and I've been spending some time hugging getting to know it. I'm a little shocked that after emptying the above the refrigerator freezer into it that it is more than half full already. I think that's pretty telling of how packed my above the refrigerator freezer was.

So here are some great tips and resources I found that might help you too.

Organization

I knew that although the freezer came with two hanging baskets the real job is organized below that. The stuff at the bottom. After reading around I discovered that those plastic crates you find in office supply stores can work pretty well. I have an 8.8 cu ft freezer and was able to fit two of these in there. I designated one of those for raw meats and the other for prepared meals. I will admit that I have a tiny bit of frost on the sides of my freezer and when I pulled up one of the crates it grated against that little bit of ice and ssshhhhiiiivvvveeerrrrrr it was like nails on a blackboard. I can still ‘hear' it now… ssshhhhiiiivvvveeerrrrrr

I also have smaller baskets that I'm using for butter, veggies, fruits, and my specialty flours (buckwheat, barley, graham, teff) . I have room for a few more baskets and I know I'm still getting accustomed to the whole thing.

Filling it Up
My goal for the freezer is preparing those meals that will help save time in the future and storing good buys and excess from the garden.

For great tips on preserving your foods from all sorts of sources I found this site Pick Your Own it's about pick your own farms, how to can, freeze, dry and more.

For ideas on what kinds of meals to put away I have quite a few resources, mostly books. There is this nice article to give you an idea of what you can put away.

Books I'm using for freezer recipes.

Frozen Assets Lite and Easy: Cook for a Day, Eat for a Month: I'm like the way this books is organized. By mini sessions by meat. For example I'm eyeing the ground turkey mini session. It's all laid out with recipes, shopping lists and preparation instructions. I never thought our menus were so light but I could work with this book.  I'm checking it out from the library.

Make-A-Mix: I don't use all the recipes in this book but I do like the cookie and the baking mixes. I own this one.
More Make Your Own Groceries: This is an excellent book for freezer cooking and making staples. I have no idea why it is so expensive on Amazon. I own a copy. There are two editions, 1 and 2. I have both. 2 is the cover of the link and 1 has a yellow cover. They are both excellent.

Keeping Track

For keeping up on what's inside I printed up a new sheet from my planner and put it in a sleeve. For now I taped it to the top but I'm looking at other ways to attach it. I opted for writing the ususal suspects in pen and then hash marks in pencil for how many I have going there.

I hope some of this has been a help to someone.

2015 Update

We've moved to a new home now and had to buy a new refrigerator. Our chest freezer came with us of course but the former refrigerator was property of our previous rental home.

When shopping for our new refrigerator, since we had a chest freezer, it was more important what was happening up top with the fridge. We ended up getting one with the freezer on the bottom option. You can see it in all it's messy glory in the pic up top.

I have yet to clean it up and organize but when I do you will be the first to know. Incidentally I don't use it as much as the chest freezer. I toss odds and ends in there and there is an ice maker we hardly use.

2026 Update

We have been in our home for many years now and have also amassed a couple more freezer. We started purchasing our beef from farms and I got lazy about canning and freeze instead. I also freeze grains and flours hence the extra freezer(s).

Organizing our freezers is still an ongoing chore.

More Kitchen Organizing

Cleaning and Reorganizing the Pantry

A Clean and Organized Kitchen

Cook Faster By Being More Organized

Cleaning Your Refrigerator