Restocking the Freezer

S is 6, and he tries, so I forgive him for little things that earn my husband a scowl, things like not quite shutting the upright freezer door because something got caught at the bottom. It looked shut to S, but it was really open 1/2", not thawing anything but allowing moisture in and resulting in a heck of a frost build up. Ugh. Today is perfect for defrosting the freezer - 80 degrees and low humidity, so when emptied, turned off, and left open, all of the frost melted quickly, and washing it out with vinegar water and drying it was a snap.

Now for the fun part: filling it back up! I have a 15 cubic foot upright freezer with a basket in the slanted bottom and three other shelves plus four shelves on the door. I have three 16"x13"x10" baskets - the plastic kind with lots of holes so that it's easy to wipe down but has some air flow. Two baskets go on the bottom shelf and each are devoted to a meat group: one for pork, one for beef/venison. The slanted bottom is for poultry. Another basket is used for small odds and ends: bags of gravy, sauteed mushrooms, sauteed onions, lemon wedges, that sort of thing. Cardboard boxes I have found over time are used for holding bags of vegetables and one whole box is devoted to breakfast foods. I've also discovered that 8x8 casseroles and flattened gallon freezer bags of soups and pie filling stand up perfectly on the top self, lining up like edible records, ready to replay gastronomic delights from my past.

Everything is cleaned and ready to go, and now I'm restocking. Favorites include taco meat (cooked, seasoned, portioned into 2 cup measures in quart freezer bags, flattened to freeze, then stacked); steaks, pork chops, and chicken pieces in different marinades; fajita kits (marinated meat, tortillas, shredded cheese, sliced peppers, wedged onions, all in their own medium bags and then put in a large freezer bag); pizza kits; cabbage roll casserole (shredded cabbage in the bottom of the pan, top with the cabbage roll filling); scalloped onions; scalloped potatoes; chili; Mexican turkey soup; Mexican meatball soup; hamburgers cooked; hamburgers raw; mashed potatoes with add-ins like roasted garlic and chives or black pepper and basil; mashed sweet potatoes (bake sweet potatoes, scoop out the insides, mash with a little melted butter, honey, cinnamon, and black pepper); individual meat pies (see another post I did on venison meat pies); meatballs (already cooked, just heat and add to all sorts of recipes); meatloaf (raw, need to thaw and bake); fully cooked bacon; boneless buffalo wings. I've been perusing *Fix, Feast, Freeze* which looks awesome and also *Don't Panic - Dinner's in the Freezer* which has some tempting recipes like chicken in raspberry sauce, honey pecan chicken, english toffee, baked blueberry french toast, and orange beef lettuce wraps.

So as I refill my freezer with the items that were in it, I will inventory the freezer and decide what I need. We'll do a shopping trip to Sam's Club and pick up some bulk foods then have a couple of cooking days next week that will result in a freezer fully packed with not only our favorite items but also a bunch of new items. Watch for the next week as I try recipes and go through canning days and freezer cooking days!