Jump to content
  • Welcome to the eG Forums, a service of the eGullet Society for Culinary Arts & Letters. The Society is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of the culinary arts. These advertising-free forums are provided free of charge through donations from Society members. Anyone may read the forums, but to post you must create a free account.

Cool Idea for Freezer


dcarch

Recommended Posts

This troublesome pandemic has forced many to have to stock up food. Not many have a freezer, and not many have the extra room for a freezer. Besides, you will soon find out it is impossible to find a freezer to buy. Anyway, what would you do with that extra freezer when the pandemic is over?

 

So you try to pack your freezer. Then you realize you have to deal with an universal freezer packing problem - most of the packages in the front will fall out when you open the freezer door.

 

I spent a couple of hours in my shop and came up with this idea, which I think increased the freezer capacity by at lease 1/4. Cost? $20

 

Anyone has other ideas?

 

dcarch

 

1955227051_freezermodc.thumb.jpg.cb52de863b7f0ad7a16c1c512ff2049f.jpg

 

441386159_freezermoda.thumb.jpg.b43ee754fa6d3428eaf3b87e82a49f20.jpg

 

138759056_freezermod.thumb.jpg.c3cd09398cd87d427c07675623e9f191.jpg

 

1793014818_freezermodb.thumb.jpg.4170d6d4efe4b8c11b7b09851d4d077a.jpg

 

 

  • Like 6
  • Thanks 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have my upright's shelves lined with plastic tubs to hold the actual food, but there's a bit of wasted space between/behind/in front. This looks much more efficient.

 

  • Like 1

“Who loves a garden, loves a greenhouse too.” - William Cowper, The Task, Book Three

 

"Not knowing the scope of your own ignorance is part of the human condition...The first rule of the Dunning-Kruger club is you don’t know you’re a member of the Dunning-Kruger club.” - psychologist David Dunning

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have lived with freezer problems for 60 years now.  And we do have freezers.  Two chest freezers...one of which was bought in 1976...in the cellar for people food, and one newer second hand freezer in the garage for dog food and other things on a temporary basis...as in food to be frozen often goes into the dog freezer first... it's newer and colder...and then transferred to the cellar later.   Plus the kitchen fridge freezer and the garage fridge freezer.  Yes, that many.  One son lived with use for a couple of years and so we got him his own second hand fridge.   

 

So what am I complaining about?  Well, the dog freezer is not a problem.  Breakfast is on the right hand side...dinner on the left.   The middle is pulped dog vegetables and stock and things for people soup.

 

The cellar freezer is the bane (or was) of my existence.  So deep that I could barely manage it and defeating of every idea I ever had with containers and crates and diagrams to be filled out and you name it.  Finally Ed came up with a brilliant and it works! idea.  Various foods and items get stored in those bags which you now buy from grocery stores with pictures on them or highly colored or distinguishable one from the other easily.   And big.  And with handles so easily slung around and lifted out.   And collapse into nothing when mostly empty.

 

So I made a list which hangs over the freezer which says what's in each bag...as in 1. frozen uncooked meat.....blueberry bag. 2.  Frozen fruit....green Dollarama bag....3. pulled pork...brown JoAnne's Place bag.  Works like a dream.  Who knew?  And so late in life...

  • Like 3
  • Thanks 1

Darienne

 

learn, learn, learn...

 

We live in hope. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, dcarch said:

This troublesome pandemic has forced many to have to stock up food. Not many have a freezer, and not many have the extra room for a freezer. Besides, you will soon find out it is impossible to find a freezer to buy. Anyway, what would you do with that extra freezer when the pandemic is over?

 

So you try to pack your freezer. Then you realize you have to deal with an universal freezer packing problem - most of the packages in the front will fall out when you open the freezer door.

 

I spent a couple of hours in my shop and came up with this idea, which I think increased the freezer capacity by at lease 1/4. Cost? $20

 

Anyone has other ideas?

 

dcarch

 

1955227051_freezermodc.thumb.jpg.cb52de863b7f0ad7a16c1c512ff2049f.jpg

 

441386159_freezermoda.thumb.jpg.b43ee754fa6d3428eaf3b87e82a49f20.jpg

 

138759056_freezermod.thumb.jpg.c3cd09398cd87d427c07675623e9f191.jpg

 

1793014818_freezermodb.thumb.jpg.4170d6d4efe4b8c11b7b09851d4d077a.jpg

 

 

Where's your vacuum sealer?

  • Haha 2

Mitch Weinstein aka "weinoo"

Tasty Travails - My Blog

My eGullet FoodBog - A Tale of Two Boroughs

Was it you baby...or just a Brilliant Disguise?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We have a chest freezer in the basement.  In retrospect I wish I would have bought an upright, but this was many moons ago and it served its purpose.

 

I have milk crates which stack on top of each other that we have inventoried both contents and location of.

 

The bugger is keeping that list updated!

 

Waiting for Ken's barcode or 'facial' recognition scanning system!

 

 

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

@dcarch interesting solution.   @KennethT I wondered the same thing about a landslide.

 

We've had both, upright and chest. We have an upright now and that's all I'll ever own in the future.

 

I apparently don't keep enough stuff in my upright freezer. I keep most of the meat for our meals in the garage fridge freezer. There's a lot of blue ice in there, including the door. The bottom shelf is ren faire-related food, including 65+ lbs of corned beef that was destined for the Southern California Renaissance Pleasure Faire this spring that COVID-19 put the kebash on. Hopefully the Northern California Renaissance Faire will happen and I can cook it and sent it up there.

 

 

Freezer 9 May.jpg

Edited by Porthos
Fix photo orientation (log)
  • Like 2

Porthos Potwatcher
The Once and Future Cook

;

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Good project @dcarch , are open shelves common for freezers in the states? most uprights here have drawers for each shelf

Our (only) built in fridge freezer broke down just at the time people started to panic buy. First the fridge went so I picked up an almost free 2nd hand one to tide me over for the few days until the engineer could come out to fix it. Only when the engineer came he couldn't fix the fridge and his attempts killed the freezer too. Whilst it was only a small freezer so I didn't have masses of food in it there, there was enough to keep us going for a month or two, and it was at the point where supermarket shelves were actually being emptied. Turns out people were also panic buying freezers because it took me half a day of searching and ringing round shops before I managed to find (what felt like) the last freezer to be had for miles around.

On the plus I have a bigger freezer which means I can make homemade ice cream again, and when things settle down we'll replace the built-in, but for now it's serving as a quaratine snack cupboard.

 

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

@Amy D. I turn 67 this year. I've been around freezers my whole life here in Southern California. I've never seen an upright freezer with pull-out shelves anywhere here. I have baskets that I use. I recently did a complete clean out and defrost and still need to get a couple of them back in. The ones that still need to go back in have one end of the basket much lower for reaching in.

For grins I'm going to search on the internet and see if freezers with drawers can be had here, as an academic pursuit; I have no need of a new freezer.

  • Like 1

Porthos Potwatcher
The Once and Future Cook

;

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@Porthos, could you please  post photos of these?

 

6 minutes ago, Porthos said:

I have baskets that I use. I recently did a complete clean out and defrost and still need to get a couple of them back in. The ones that still need to go back in have one end of the basket much lower for reaching in.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This is the one I use in our house freezer (from a thrift store). The ones for the upright freezer are maybe 4-5 cm narrower.

 

 

Freezer Basket.jpg

Edited by Porthos (log)
  • Like 1

Porthos Potwatcher
The Once and Future Cook

;

Link to comment
Share on other sites

×
×
  • Create New...