Good for you - clean organized freezer always is nice. I usually take care of mine once a year in early Fall (getting it ready for meat), defrost and take care of any surprises I might find in it then.

I wish I were more organized about using what's in it, I've never come up with a way to inventory I'll reliably keep current. Freezer located in the basement is part of the problem - if it was just a few steps away I think I'd always know what I have.

Out of sight out of mind is a problem for me too. I bought a vac sealer and was so thrilled to have it but I was lazy enough that instead of getting it out of the pantry and using it, I would just grab a plastic bag. Now I have it on the counter and use it almost every day. My freezer is close by and I might not know the quantity but I sure know what's in there. I am actually pretty pleased that we will be running out of stuff just as the garden comes in........

oh, ruthie, what a satisifed feeling a clean freezer gives!

Thanks for the reminder---it's time to do mine. There'll be lots o' local rhubarb and asparagus to put up soon (though my own tomatoes are still three inches high and indoors under lights...).

Boy, do I hear you both about the out-of-sight, out-of-mind thing. When I got a freezer, I knew it would HAVE to be an upright, because I was sure to lose stuff even if it was just under another layer of frozen food in a chest freezer, let alone downstairs! My freezer's in the mud room, just steps from the kitchen, and I do pretty well with it that way. But I'd like to have it in my pantry, a few steps closer yet to the working part of the kitchen and *without a closed door* in between. THEN I'd really use it effectively.

And, having learned my limits over the years, I never even put my Foodsaver into a cupboard. I was out of counter space so it lives on top of the toaster oven---not the most decorative arrangement in the world, but it's there when I need it so I use it all the time.

I too love it when I run out of stuff just as the new comes in. I seem to be on track for canned tomato products that way (except I ran out of crushed toms---I KNEW I needed to do more of those and just didn't get to it).

Now if only it would stop raining for a day. I find it easiest to clean the freezer by dragging it out the back door (just a few steps).

Z

Oh, good for you. I did this last year on Labor Day weekend. Now, I need to go through and do it again, and pull out the oldest stuff and feed it to my birds. I am planning on doing mega-preserving again this year -- every trip to the gas station and supermarket freaks me out, prices just continue to jump. Funny, I haven't had a raise since 2008, go figure.