5 things that people with a tidy freezer always have – game-changing additions that will maximise space and reduce food waste

I don’t know about you, but I’d be nothing without my freezer. It’s where I store all my leftovers, and it helps me meal prep for the week (and sometimes even months), so I’m not stuck with the never-ending question: What shall I cook? But the one thing I hate is how messy my freezer is all the time.

I’ve recently been taking inspiration from what people with tidy fridges always have, and it’s made a huge difference to the space available and the freshness of my food. And while these products and tools have been transformative, it’s fair to say that it’s made my freezer look even worse - especially as everything is just shoved in there, and the drawers get stuck every time I try to open them.

So, I’ve made it my mission to organise my freezer and invest in the things people with tidy freezers always have in theirs. And I thought I’d share them with you, too.

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1. Freezer bags

I’ve recently been introduced to Kate Hall, a Home Food Waste Expert, who shares her freezer tips and tricks as @thefullfreezer. And one thing she swears by in her enviable freezer? Freezer bags! She uses them to freeze everything from fresh fruits and vegetables to nuts and hummus.

The beauty of reusable freezer bags is that you can freeze solids or liquids (as long as you freeze them flat first) and then store everything vertically - almost like a filing cabinet of freezables - to maximise space and even improve visibility. Then, when you want to defrost the contents, you should be able to pull the bag out without having to move anything out of the way and making a mess in the process.

To make this as efficient as possible, though, it’s a good idea to file them either by expiry date or by category. For example, vegetables with vegetables, meat with meat, and sweet stuff with sweet stuff. I’d also recommend keeping a freezer thermometer - like this Pack of 2 LCD Digital Fridge Freezer Thermometer (£7.49 at Amazon) - in there to ensure everything lasts as long as possible.

2. Labels

Let’s be honest, frozen food can be a bit of a mystery. The spaghetti bolognese you cooked three weeks ago looks like an indistinguishable orange mess when it’s frozen, and frozen soups basically all look identical when they’re bagged up. But labels can help you remove what you need from your freezer without rummaging around and knocking everything over.

I’m a huge fan of labelling anyway and find a label maker is one of the best tools for decluttering, so using them in your freezer is a no-brainer. Especially when you can label them simply and cheaply with a freezer-safe marker pen like these Fine Tip Freezer and Label Permanent Markers (£3.99 at Lakeland).

There are so many different ways to label your freezer, too. You could label each frozen item - such as each freezer bag - so you know exactly what the food is, when it was cooked and when it expires. Or, if you organise your freezer items by drawer, you could label each drawer with its contents so you always know where everything is.

3. Rectangular containers

If freezer bags aren’t quite your thing, food containers can also help to keep a freezer tidy - and these also come in so many different forms, from the soup storage the Ideal Home team swears by to these Lakeland 10 Stack a Boxes Food Storage Containers (£11.99 at Amazon) for chunkier or more fragile foods that you don’t want to damage in the freezer.

But while there are so many different food storage containers out there, the key to a tidy freezer is choosing rectangular containers that can not only be slotted next to each other easily, but also stacked on top of each other to make the most of the freezer space.

Airtight containers also minimise the chance of freezer burn, which you often get with freezer bags, as they keep air out and also trap any moisture inside. Plus, the beauty of these containers is that you can use them elsewhere when you’re done with them. Including tidying your kitchen cupboards.

4. Dividers and bins

Whether you have a traditional freezer with drawers or a deeper chest freezer, these spaces are often much larger than the things inside them, which means the contents rattle around and look messy. That’s where dividers and bins can help.

Yes, just as if you want to organise a fridge or organise your clothes drawers, these dividers and bins allow you to bundle the same kinds of foods together and break up the large space to ensure you can always stack them and keep them tidy without them falling over themselves or encroaching on other foods.

Food storage bins also make it easier to get your frozen items out of the freezer, as you can simply remove the smaller bin instead of removing the entire drawer and potentially exposing your other foods to hotter indoor temperatures.

5. A list

I know for a fact that my freezer is full of items that have been there for years, since it’s so easy to forget about them when they're stuck at the back. But that’s exactly why people with tidy freezers always keep a list - or inventory - of the contents inside this appliance. This way, they always know what’s in there.

If you have a magnetic freezer, you could use something like the SWEETZER & ORANGE S&O Magnetic Notepads (£5.99 at Amazon) to stick to the freezer door, making a note of the food in there and any relevant cooking or expiry dates. When you have a list to look at, you should stop buying any duplicates and wasting any money - and it can even inspire your weekly meal plans.

The downside is that unless you have an empty freezer right now, you’ll need to set aside some time to go through the contents and backdate everything in there. But once that list is compiled, it should be super easy to add things to it when you’re next batch cooking or food prepping.

Say goodbye to your messy freezer!