Question for those with a Vac sealer and an upright freezer.

[shtrdave]

How do you keep all those vac sealed bags filled with odd shapes from sliding all over the place and falling out every time you open the door to get something out. If they don't come sliding out when you open the door just touch one of them and it is like a meat slide.

Anyone have any advice on what they do? I picked up some plastic dishpans at the dollar store I am going to try when I defrost it her in a week or so.

 

[java]

The better half picked up some wire baskets from a dollar store and they work pretty well.

 

[handymanstan]

Go to post office... ask for a few large flat rate boxes.  There free and last me about a year in the freezer.  They have different sizes too.

Stan

 

[chiefusn]

Well, as far as what we do, when I seal ground beef or sausage, I flatten them out and stack. Ribs, I'll stack, steaks get stacked, and the rest like roasts, butts, briskets, etc, get there own separate spot on the shelf.

Chad

 

[jarjarchef]

Boxes for most after they have been pressed flat. And based on how they fit I will stack odd shapes between them.

 

[eman]

Freeze Portions flat on a tray then stack. If you have big freezer you can use milk crates to hold stuff.

 

[ibbones]

There is no right or wrong way to do this but what works for ME is freeze packages flat and then have a box that will fit on the shelf.  I take the frozen packages and stand them up so it's like looking through a filing cabinet drawer. 

 

[davea37]

Well, if your like me and have more than one freezer, you still will have a problem with irregular shaped packages.  We have two upright freezers, two refrigerators with top freezers and one small chest type freezer.  (Why have sooooooooooo many dang freezers?  Good question but no good answers. :)

I solved some of the problems with small plastic tray shaped containers and some smaller metal baskets.  Obviously, the chest type freezer doesn't have the sliding out problem but having the small metal baskets allows for a basket to be removed when seeking something buried deeper in the freezer.

My only suggestion is to use your imagination and improvise as necessary.

Good luck with what ever you choose.

Dave

 

[shtrdave]

Well we defrosted it on saturday, I had 2 plastic pans that we were not sure would fit that I picked up at the dollar store, on e emptied and defrosted, found out they would fit so a trip up to the local dollar Gen and found some different ones, bought a bunch of them and it definitely helped out. They fill up fast and but for ow things are not falling out when I open the door and when we defrost again it should be a little easier.

 

[davea37]

Glad it worked out for you.  Dollar General is sometimes a good place to look.

 

[goliath]

DSCN0457.JPG

• goliath
• Apr 1, 2014

i suggest if you choose cardboard boxes to slice some holes in them for air flow.

i also have 4 chest freezers and in the larger ones i have built dividers out of thin plywood that "finger groove" together so that each compartment has its own variety in it. burger, steaks, roasts, chops etc. no card board boxes to move around. i drilled some 3" holes in the boards also for airflow within each compartment.

this way the wife doesnt have to crawl in to get what she wants out of it ...  ha ha ha

 

[davea37]

I also used a vertical divider in the chest freezer to separate my elk and deer meat from other types.  Works quite well.

I like the "organization" of you vertical freezer.  Gives me a few more ideas.

Thanks for posting the photos.