Have you ever lost food?

[roadfix]

One reason we got rid of our chest freezer. Often times we had no idea what was buried under the bottom half of the freezer. We often found frozen meat over a year old. We used to throw out more food because of that freezer.

 

[joesfolk]

I try to keep my chest freezer organized, pork in one spot, beef in another potatoes etc in another. You get the idea. But dh thinks everything should be all mixed together so that he doesn't have to dig for any one thing. So after I clean out the freezer (I do it twice a year) it is all nicely organized and I can put my fingers on anything I need. But once Dh goes in there it's anyones guess where something might be so of course we forget what is actually in there. Totally ticks me off.

 

[roadfix]

The problem with these chest freezers is you tend to pile food on top of one another and the next thing you know you have no idea what's buried 2 feet under. We definitely had a problem with over stocking.

 

[jabbur]

I just did a stint in my pantry and FOUND 8 (count 'em - 8!!!) cans of mushrooms. I'm the only one who likes them so they don't get put in many dishes. What am I doing with that many? Had 2 stashed here, 2 stashed there and 3 more over on the other side and one that fell off the shelf at some point and ended up behind a box of macaroni!

 

[Skittle68]

My kitchen is too tiny to lose anything

 

[babetoo]

My kitchen is too tiny to lose anything

 

[Zhizara]

I'm glad I'm organized, small kitchen or no.

I finally decided against buying a small chest freezer. I just need to use up what's in the one I have now!

It's hard sometimes because there are so may new recipes I'm trying now and I get a lot of inspiration for changing old recipes too.

 

[PrincessFiona60]

I'm glad I'm organized, small kitchen or no.

I finally decided against buying a small chest freezer. I just need to use up what's in the one I have now!

It's hard sometimes because there are so may new recipes I'm trying now and I get a lot of inspiration for changing old recipes too.

I wonder sometimes if I should ditch the chest freezer. It's full and it doesn't get opened for weeks at a time.

 

[Skittle68]

I wonder sometimes if I should ditch the chest freezer. It's full and it doesn't get opened for weeks at a time.

How many people do you cook for? I only cook for two, and sometimes I feel like I would like to have one because I like to freeze leftover chili, soup, have hamburger and chicken on hand... Stuff like that

 

[PrincessFiona60]

How many people do you cook for? I only cook for two, and sometimes I feel like I would like to have one because I like to freeze leftover chili, soup, have hamburger and chicken on hand... Stuff like that

There's just me and Shrek...I cook 3 days a week, work 10 hour shifts the other 4. I don't have time to cook on my work days, barely have time to eat some days. I do make extras on the days I do cook and make up my lunches for work.

I do have the extra on hand, but it often gets lost in the shuffle or just plain forgotten until it's no good anymore.

 

[Skittle68]

There's just me and Shrek...I cook 3 days a week, work 10 hour shifts the other 4. I don't have time to cook on my work days, barely have time to eat some days. I do make extras on the days I do cook and make up my lunches for work.

I do have the extra on hand, but it often gets lost in the shuffle or just plain forgotten until it's no good anymore.

I heard someone else saying they do this, and it works really well- my mom dates everything in the freezer, but she also has a log with everything in there and the date it was put in there written down. She has everything organized in boxes, so that it's easy to move whatever is on top to get to the stuff on the bottom. Nothing ever gets thrown out, because she can see exactly what is oldest, and knows exactly where to find it. It's uncanny. She'll send me down to her freezer to grab something and give me the most ridiculously specific instructions you would think she was giving me driving directions. I would definitely try to emulate her system if I had a deep freeze. I think one of the things that makes it work is the clip board taped to the top of the freezer, with a pen on a string lol. No excuses for forgetting to write something down

 

[Claire]

I had a small chest freezer for years. Heck, decades. The smallest they make (8 or 9 cubic feet). There are still times I miss it. I always meant to buy a new one when we moved here, but the need never really became that important, and the two places I could put one in this house would be very inconvenient. So I just have the top of the fridge freezer, and let me tell you, it is no-man's land. Literally. My husband couldn't possibly find anything in it. It's like a 3-D puzzle.

 

[Claire]

Oh, and I, too, "only" cook for two. But when I get up in the morning and decide on the day's meals, I like options, not having to get in the car to go get dinner. When we lived in Florida, I fed my extended family a lot, so the freezer was a necessity (for example when turkey would go on sale during the holidays for next to nothing, I'd buy one every time I hit the grocery store and usually had one in the freezer, I couldn't do that now).

 

[Zhizara]

I wonder sometimes if I should ditch the chest freezer. It's full and it doesn't get opened for weeks at a time.

Which leads to:

I found this 5 year old roast. Do you think it's safe to eat?

 

[Nicholas Mosher]

I found this 5 year old roast. Do you think it's safe to eat?

It depends on how long you left it on the stove after cooking it...

 

[Zhizara]

It depends on how long you left it on the stove after cooking it...

Plus how long it sat in the refrigerator before freezing it

 

[CookLikeJulia]

That's why I don't bought a huge quantity of food that we rarely eat. it happened to me before and still sometimes today.

 

[Rocklobster]

Oh, and I, too, "only" cook for two. But when I get up in the morning and decide on the day's meals, I like options, not having to get in the car to go get dinner. When we lived in Florida, I fed my extended family a lot, so the freezer was a necessity (for example when turkey would go on sale during the holidays for next to nothing, I'd buy one every time I hit the grocery store and usually had one in the freezer, I couldn't do that now).

I am with you. I live about 30 miles from the nearest grocery store. I probably have over 50 lbs of meat in my freezer at all times. It is so nice to be able to decide what you want to have that day and just go and get it. Almolst every item in my freezer was bought on sale. And, I have the room to buy lots when they do go on sale. Like last month whole chickens were on for 5 bucks each, so I bought 8. I'm good to go until summer. I would hate to live without it.

 

[PrincessFiona60]

Which leads to:

I found this 5 year old roast. Do you think it's safe to eat?

ROFL!!! Exactly...except I would be too embarrassed to ask...I'd just throw it away.

 

[PrincessFiona60]

I am with you. I live about 30 miles from the nearest grocery store. I probably have over 50 lbs of meat in my freezer at all times. It is so nice to be able to decide what you want to have that day and just go and get it. Almolst every item in my freezer was bought on sale. And, I have the room to buy lots when they do go on sale. Like last month whole chickens were on for 5 bucks each, so I bought 8. I'm good to go until summer. I would hate to live without it.

Mine is treated more like an oubliette...stuff things in and forget them. Until I open it to stuff more and nothing will fit. I think my shopping habits have changed and it's time my storage habits changed, too.