After years of organizing, I’ve realized that one type of freezer doesn’t fit every family. Many of us with a second freezer, merely upgraded our primary kitchen freezer and stashed the old one in the garage. We work with what we’ve got. There are several types of freezers out there and it can be hard to determine how to organize them in a way that is practical. I’ve tried everything from keeping a freezer inventory to scheduling regular clean outs to buying a stand up freezer for backstock. Here’s what I’ve found works best for each freezer type when it comes to organizing and finding what you need easily. For each freezer type, I’ve shared a general diagram plus products to use for each type of freezer. You can adapt for your own categories and your families needs but I’ve found this works as a great starting point for each type of freezer.

Freezer Products + Resources

When it comes to organizing any freezer, here are a few guidelines and foolproof products:

Keep it simple. Use these bins with handles (under $4 each) and these freezer labels. The bins come in a variety of sizes, are affordable and hold up well. The tape will allow you to label your freezer items like casseroles and the shelving in order to maintain your system (and they will stay put in the wet and cold!)
Inventory lists are hard to keep up with but a regular (once a year) reset of your freezer will keep you in good standing with organization.
Use this Freezer Storage Guide to know how long to keep certain items.
Flat packing your items is the best way to maximize space in your freezer. While you can do this using freezer bags, I recommend this vacuum sealer for maximum space and food quality.
Measure your freezer before you buy bins to make sure you get the right size in these bins and maximize your space. Keep categories broad and label everything - directly on the door shelves, on the bins and on anything you place in the freezer afterward that doesnt hvae a designated label or bin (i.e. casseroles)

Click any photo to see the suggested products or scroll to the bottom of the post to see my suggested products for each freezer.

Stand Up Freezer

This is my favorite type of freezer. If you have room for a full size freezer in your kitchen or to use as your garage/basement freezer, do it! These freezers hold a lot of food and its so easy to see what you have. I’ve found this to be the key when it comes to freezer organizing and decluttering. For organization of this type of freezer I recommend using medium clear bins and labeling them with these freezer labels in broad categories.

Pull-Out Drawer Freezer

The pull-out drawer freezer (found at the base of most french- door fridges) and the deep freezer are by far the most challenging to organize. It can be a black hole of stuff in both cases. I’ve found that the drawer freezer works really well when paired with a standup freezer so you can move your frozen foods for the next time period into your kitchen drawer freezer at regular intervals. Here is my suggestion for how to organize a drawer freezer:

Contrary to popular belief, you don’t need a lot of products to organize a drawer freezer. Keeping it simple works best here (believe me, I’ve tried many routes and failed!). For the top drawer, file your items and side stack them side by side. I suggest items like ice packs, frozen veggies and fruits, and prepared meals.

For the bottom drawer, utilize the divider that comes with the freezer to divide your bottom area into two sections. I’ve found that flat packing meat with a vacuum sealer really maximizes space in these types of freezers. On the left side, I suggest you put all of one type of meat. Keeping your items grouped is key for staying organized in a drawer freezer. On right side, use ONE BIN to corral chicken and fish. The bin will act as a drawer and make it easy to lift out and see what products sit at the base of your freezer. This prevents the deep dark black hole from happening. I suggest putting items like bulk broccoli or dino nuggets and other bulk items at the base of the freezer here. Often the base of the freezer is not square and so there can be a lot of wasted space if you aren’t utilizing bagged items like oversized vegetables and nuggets.

Deep Freezer

Talk about a black hole. The deep freezer is my least favorite type of freezer. Please don’t be offended if you have one and love it. I’ve just found it hard to navigate and find that most people lose more food than they are able to save. If you already have one, great! Lets organize it well. If you are looking for the best freezer to purchase, I highly suggest a stand up freezer if you have the space. For the deep freezer the goal is to create a bin system by grouping things into like categories. I suggest the same freezer bins as I’ve used in the above freezer but you will need to make sure to measure the interior width and depth of your particular freezer to determine what fits. For a standard deep freezer, I’ve found that 9 medium bins work really well and give enough breathing room to be able to get things in and out and allow for ice build up.

The most important part of organizing your deep freezer will be to create a diagram of where everything is in the freezer. You can laminate it and tape it to the exterior top of your freezer. This will make it easy to find what you are looking for and to store things in the appropriate places so your freezer stays organized.

Side-by-Side Freezer

Although the side by side freezer is an older style than the drawer freezer, I really like how it mirrors the stand up freezer in useability. Generally, you can see everything you have in the freezer and its easy to access. For the side by side freezer, I recommend using bins to coral like items like chicken and fish that can leak and storing them towards the bottom of the freezer. Bagged items like frozen veggies and butters can go in the door. The extra space next to the bins is a great spot for meal bags like Trader Joes Orange Chicken or a Stir Fry Mix. Stacking big items like frozen pizzas at the base of a top shelf is a great way to create more vertical space as you can store items like soups and broths or a casserole on top of the pizza boxes. Don’t e afraid to label the door shelves directly using these freezer labels and make sure your bins are labeled too! This is the key to maintenance.

Top Freezer

Last but not least, we have the standard top freezer. If you know how to organize this one it works quite well. Again, less is more here. Use your bins for your big meat categories like chicken, beef and fish. Side stack breads, and prepared box meals on the top shelf along with casseroles. Use the doors for flexible items like ice packs and frozen vegetables. The key with organizing a standard top freezer is not to overfill it.

The Ultimate Guide to Organizing Every Type of Freezer