Yesterday when I went out to the garage to place a batch of freshly baked cookies in one of our 2 garage freezers, I noticed one of them was looking a little sparse. So I decided to move all of the frozen goodness in to just one freezer.
Which was actually a good thing because there is some serious frost build up happening in both of our garage freezers.
How often are you suppose to defrost freezers anyway? Well I have no idea, but I think we defrost ours about once a year. Maybe twice if I have nothing better to do.
Since we have 2 freezers, I’ll typically defrost one freezer, clean it out, them move all the food from freezer #2 to the clean freezer and then proceed to clean out freezer #2 and leave it empty until we start harvesting of fruits and veggies from the garden.
I know we have plenty of food in our freezer to get us through to the end of the year and well into the new year as well. But it’s having to buy milk that I’m worried about.
Lately milk has been priced around $3 a gallon, and we typically go through 2 gallons a week. So I seriously need to find a deal on 2% milk and stock up so I can reach my goal of spending $1,200 or less on groceries for 2012. I’ve only got $15 left in this years budget. Eeek!
How is your freezer looking these days? Is it empty, full, full of frost?
Mavis wants to know.
Also if you are looking for a way to maximize your freezer space, check out my post on How to Freeze Soup, Sauce, and Puree. It’s super easy to do!
Heather S. says
Didn’t you used to do a bunch of rite aid transactions to get free milk? Maybe you’ll get stuff you don’t want, but it might work? Or get some free stuff from Albertsons that you don’t want and trade it to someone??? Good luck – I’m sure you’ll make it 🙂
Mavis says
I stopped buying milk at rite aid when they started carrying milk with out the “no hormones added” sticker. It freaked me out.
Tracy Petitjean says
If you have an Aldi store in your area they sell milk from cows that are NOT given growth hormones and it’s 99¢ a gal here.
Lindsay says
where did you get those dividers that I see in the bottom of your freezer?
Jen Paulson says
I’m interested in those too!
Susan says
We have an upright freezer that I defrost once a year – in June before gardening. We also have a refrigerator in the garage (for overflow beverages and extra goodies) Really nice to have at the holidays!!
My freezer is looking a little on the empty side,too. This time of year I like to use up whatever is in there from this year. I like to start the New Year on a fresh start. I don’t like waste.
It makes for some interesting meals. I pull something out thinking “What did I buy this for??”
Kelly R. says
Defrost our freezer? Hahahaha! I haven’t bothered in the four years I’ve been living with it.
michelle guilmet-buck says
You can’t count the $40 of grocery certificates from Albie’s yesterday? You have to use them up in a week anyway, don’t you?
FM has 4 half gallons of milk for $5 through Sat.– store coupon in their flyer or print from the web site.
Mavis says
Thanks Michelle, I think I’ll go to FM. Sadly, I cannot use the $10 Albies coupons for milk as per the rules. 🙁
alyssa says
Remember reading on one of the blogs that FM has milk jugs with red
tags marked down to $.50 this week with expiration dates near Christmas.
Guessing that wouldn’t be a problem for you since you could use them up before
they go bad. Also heard you can freeze them. Good Luck.
Kary says
I buy FM coupon milk but I buy the whole milk and then add water to it. It stretches further and the kids have adjusted quite well to the change. My 17 year old actually prefers it now over 2%. That in itself is nothing short of a miracle, he loves his milk.
Megan K says
So, if you don’t have an Extra, extra freezer… What do you do with the food to defrost? Coolers?
Connie says
That’s what we did. See why in my other comment. 🙂
Leanna says
Yes, Megan that is what we used to do (before we bought a frost free one) and use a hair dryer to melt the ice faster plus put pans of hot water in it. I could usually be done in just a couple hours and my food never spoiled.
Connie says
Our freezer is beautiful with no frost. ONLY BECAUSE my HH was defrosting our old one with a mallet and hammer a few months ago … and YEP he busted the freeon line. BUT how can I be ticked when I have a very repentant HH AND a new (larger) freezer.
sheri says
When my kids were little and we were going through lots of milk, I used powdered milk in most of my cooking but only in the things you could not tell a difference and saved the “good” stuff for drinking and cereal….maybe you already do that. It helps and is cheaper!
Lucky L says
I do ours in “winter.” That is anytime it gets below freezing so the food can be out safely. We use a bunch of coolers and if there is overflow, then a garbage bag inside a box. It actually doesn’t take that long to defrost it. We just turn it off and give it about 1/2 an hour. Then I have the best ice scraper (for cars) and start hacking away at it. The larger chunks I can pull right out, but the ‘snow’ that goes to the bottom has to be wiped out. Kind of a head rush being upside down in the freezer to get to it. The ‘correct’ way is to turn it off and let everything melt into water and use the drain hole at the bottom. I don’t have time for that nonsense.
Mary Kellogg says
Both my chest and upright freezers are full, no room left!
30 lbs of bacon, 2 10 lb hams, 40 lbs of chick breast all from Zaycon; a 1/4 beef…..
Not to mention all the frozen goodies from Costco.
And several “Apple Pie in a Bag” in the freezer from free apples.
Keeps me from buying more!
Tracy Petitjean says
I wish I would have had the one small deep freeze I had when Zaycon sold chicken in October but I had nowhere to put it so I didn’t order. They haven’t sold anything in my area since then but I’m anxiously waiting for March so I can make my first order with them for chicken.
Julie says
I live in Pennsylvania, where the state sets a minimum price for milk. I usually buy 1% milk, which is currently $3.75 for a gallon of store brand. The lowest price I remember was $3.49 in early summer.
Faith says
We are a family of four and I buy 8 gallons of milk a week! It is all my son and husband drink! Half of my grocery budget goes to milk! Sam’s club here in Alabama has the best price on skim milk at $2.79 a gallon. I stock up when Kroger has a ‘buy cereal get free milk’ promo, and at Halloween every year they have chocolate milk for $0.99 a half gallon. Good luck living on $15 with milk drinkers in your house!
Heather D. says
What are those blue divider things, and where did you get them??? Those are awesome. We have a very small deep freeze, which is full to the top with garden produce, berries, applesauce, and a pig 🙂 The problem: It’s a mess, and near impossible to find anything in. I always freeze things flat in the small fridge/freezer, then transfer them to the deep freeze, which does help for stacking.
I am SO envious of your milk prices!! The cheapest I can get it here is $6.63/gallon…most stores are around $6.99. Of course that is the opposite side of the continent (Prince Edward Island), and one country north (land of the milk Quota). I’m sure with all your creativity & frugality (is that a word) you will find a way to get some milk. Maybe trade for baked goods? Everyone seems to want baked goods this time of year!
Mavis says
Oh MY WORD. $6.63 for a gallon of milk? Eeeek! The blue dividers came with the freezer.
Michele says
Yes our milk is super cheap in comparison! We live 20 miles south of the border in WA and we get an amazing amount of traffic from Canada just for dairy. The Indian population seems to buy the most, sometimes 20 gallons or more at a time at Costco. It’s pretty impressive to see that quantity of milk going out in a cart. And then you see another. And another. 🙂
Our milk, raw from a local dairy, is $9 a gallon. We just try to moderate our drinking because it’s so pricey!
LaToya says
Oh I’m so nosey….I love seeing what’s in other peoples’ refrigerators and freezers and medicine cabinets – scandalous! We have 2 in the garage…a chest and an upright. Just did the thaw thing a couple months ago. We do about once every other year – ha. We are total slackers. And our freezers are full. I buy more processed stuff than you do and have a lot of that out there….free Cool Whips and IHOP breakfast bowls….Totinos crap…. The best milk deals are going to be Fred Meyer like someone else mentioned.
Jules says
My mom used to buy milk and freeze it, but I never liked it that way. I usually defrost the freezer once a year, using an ice scraper; because really who has time for this!?
Seriously, I think you’re next giveaway needs to be you coming to organize someone’s (my) house and freezer. 🙂
Karen says
Isn’t there a free milk promo at Albertsons this week? Use your $10 catalinas to buy the cereal and get the free milk. 🙂
Sakura says
I have a huge upright freezer, and a garage fridge with a top mount freezer and of course our fridge in the house with a freezer on the bottom. Right now all freezers are full, but I’m not sure what’s in them. I know I have 1/4 cow I purchased a few months ago, and a drawer full of chicken and pork, but the rest is a mystery. I should take inventory this weekend. I froze a lot of veggies and fruit, we buy cheese and freeze it too. I keep my nuts and alternative flours in the freezer door. I would love one more freezer but I think my DH will freak out if I buy one more appliance this year.
Lynn says
Powdered milk is the way to go these days for storing milk. Powdered milk has come a LONG way. Check out some of the great ones out there. THRIVE powdered instant milk from Shelf Reliance is one of those good drinkable ones. No one can tell the difference.
Michele says
Thanks for the tip. I met someone recently who makes yogurt super duper cheap this way and I’m tempted!
Lorri F says
Try mixing half gallon milk with half gallon of powdered milk. That’s what my step mom always did. I grew up on powdered milk. don’t care for milk period but 2 of my 4 kids love it.
AlysonRR says
Hey, did your freezer come with those organizing panels and bins? Very cool! If they’re after-market, I’d love to know where you got them.
I’ve taken to organizing our freezer stuff in grocery store fabric bags – they’re cheap (sometimes free) and I can grab them by the handles to pull them out (I’m short…) and categorize each bag for a different type of food.
I try to defrost in January or February every other year so it’s cold enough that I can just set things into coolers or boxes while I chip or thaw.
AlysonRR says
Oops – the answer posted while I was reading. I see that some of the Kenmore deep freezers have those organizational panels/drawers. I’ll have to get mine from them next time!
The Prudent Homemaker says
Our family of (then 8) lived on $100 a month for food last year, and this year has been pretty similar.
The simple answer is–eat something else besides cereal for breakfast.
Eat oatmeal (without milk). I don’t know your stores there, but Winco had 25 pounds of oats for $9.50 the last time I was there. Their regular price is about $15.50.
Have some powdered milk for next year, so that you can make crepes, pancakes, etc.
I LOVE milk. But, I’ve changed what I’ve had to work within the amount that we have for food.
Trish says
Did you know you can freeze milk? It works better in the half gallon size jugs, but you can freeze gallon size, too. I’ve been doing it for years. When it goes on sale, I stock up. I put it on the counter on a towel or in the sink at night to defrost, it’s still icy cold in the morning when we get up.
Tiffany Merritt says
Hi there, fellow deep freezer organizer! 🙂 Wanted to let you know that I’m writing a blog post with a round up of deep freezer organization methods, and I’d like to include your post because your dividers are a unique feature I haven’t seen very much. All credit will be given back to you for your picture, and a link back to your post will be included so people can see more of your pics. Please do let me know if this isn’t ok with you for any reason. And thanks for sharing your method!
Mavis says
Yes, it is fine. Thanks Tiffany. 🙂
Laurie says
Ladies, learn to can! I can my Zaycon ground beef and chicken and LOVE having a can fully cooked that I didn’t forget to defrost the day before! Plus, the meat is super juicy and the chicken shreds apart and makes beautiful soups, chicken salad, chicken enchiladas, tacos, etc. It’s a big day of processing when you get the meat but it’s super nice to save my freezer for things I can’t can. 😉
Chelsea says
Where can you purchase those freezer organizers?
Mavis Butterfield says
They came with the freezer. 🙁
Raina says
Mavis, I found those dividers….. and I thought I would share because I am sure you are being asked ALOT where people can get them……. https://www.appliancezone.com/ShowProduct.aspx?ID=577