Meat Storage: A New Method

A while back, I did a post to show you how I freeze my meat and stretch my chicken.  Well, change is sometimes a good thing to experiment with; and I'm a master at changing things up (a good AND bad thing).  I love the space-saving aspect of flat ziploc bags of meat.  But what I've learned is that it really doesn't work well for me since I have wire shelving in my freezer -- and not enough shelves.  Bags can not stand upright or else corners (or whole bags!) slip through the cracks.  Stacking flat is ok... until you barely brush against them and the whole stack slips apart.  Frustrating.  Irritating.  And downright dangerous to your feet.  (I can vouch for the fact that a pound of frozen hamburger falling on top of your foot HURTS.)  I had to come up with something new to see if I could use more vertical space in my freezer and reduce the amount of slippage that was occurring.

ARGH!  Dislike.  (Except for the ice cream...)

I had a coupon for a value pack of Glad containers which stack well and are not a huge investment if something goes wrong with them or I end up not liking the new method.  First step... wash 'em all.

I also tried out buying all of our meat for the month at one time (thank you, BJs Wholesale Club, especially for your low price on chicken... cuz it's insane everywhere else).  I've really enjoyed not buying meat every week!  Anyway, I had all my beef and chicken and all my washed Glad containers set up.  A pound of beef fit nicely in one size/shape, and a meal's worth of chicken fit nicely in a more flat, square shape.  At the wisdom of my mother and against my lazy will, I patted plastic wrap down over each serving of meat to help prevent freezer burn.  :-)

I promise I'm not trying to be a commercial for Glad brand... it just happened that way.

It didn't take very long to divide up all the meat, and I love how perfectly uniform stacks of [item] look!  I'm a sucker for organization.  ::dreams of closets like the Bed Bath & Beyond's towel area looks::

 And here's the way my freezer ended up looking.  I threw out what needed to get out, put all my bean ziplocs in the drawer, and just generally straightened things up a bit.  Look at all that vertical space now in use!  I'm still waiting to determine if I truly like this method long term, but so far so good.  I also REALLY like how I can just reach in and pull out tomorrow's meat, pop it in the fridge to thaw, and not have the slightest worry about a bag leaking raw meat juices (eww) everywhere.  Another bonus?  WASHABLE.  No more going through bag after bag after bag and buying more bags after bags.  And no, I will not wash ziploc bags -- that just negates the convenience factor they are intended for!  I'm not that un-lazy!  ;-)

Note:  Kathie has a freezer drawer which lends itself to flat ziploc bags as you can "file" them neatly.