I grew up in Buffalo, New York — a city infamous for its snowstorms. It’s a place where everyone is prepared for the next blizzard, no matter the time of year. Pantries are loaded with countless cans of soup, every car has emergency supplies (and an extra set in case you come across a stranded stranger) and freezers are well stocked for the next “Snowmageddon.”
This is my only explanation for why my parents’ insanely cluttered freezer looks the way that it does. (Scroll up for visual proof of aforementioned clutter.)
Finding food in their freezer usually involves a quick prayer and a lot of patience. Not only is there very little by way of organizational systems, but there’s also just so much food. I can't count the number of times I've had to sift through layers of frozen fish packages, pizza boxes and vegetable bags just to find what I was looking for.
In the spirit of New Year’s organization (better late than never), I asked my mom if she’d be willing to let me give her freezer a makeover.
“Sure,” she shrugged. “You can’t make it any more disorganized than it already is.” She was right.
YouCopia 12-Inch FreezeUp Freezer Bin
To assist my efforts, I enlisted the help of YouCopia’s 12-Inch FreezeUp Freezer Bin. When I saw its 5x8x12-inch frame and four adjustable dividers, I knew it would be the perfect fit to store all the frozen bags that were eating up so much freezer space.
After surveying the contents of the freezer, I only needed to divide the bin into two equal compartments: One for frozen vegetables and the other for the inexplicable number of shredded cheeses. (The more I cleared out of the fridge, the more bags of cheese appeared.)
The bin’s dividers felt secure after I snapped them into place — a good start considering how much I was about to stuff inside them. But if you need to change the size of the compartments, they readjust just as easily. In fact, the whole setup process was quick and easy. (I spent way more time clearing out the freezer to find space for it.) After about 15 minutes, I had transformed my parents’ freezer from a cold mess into a cold, navigable food storage system.
When I called my mom over for final inspection, she was surprised. “Oh! It looks so organized in here!”
“You know you’ve got, like, seven packets of cheese in there, Mom? Some of them are expired.”
“Cheese doesn’t expire if it’s frozen,” she defensively declared. (Whether or not that's true remains to be seen.)
While the bin undoubtedly added some organization to my parents’ chaotic pull-out freezer, it was a bit of a tight squeeze. It may not be the best bet for freezers already jam-packed with frozen goods. (In this case, organization takes up more room than chaos.) But I can see the bin working flawlessly for anyone with a freezer with shelves and a bit of spare room.
YouCopia touts that the product’s transparent walls make it easy to see both what’s inside the bin and everything else around it — and I'd have to agree. It was clear what went where and, thanks to the slanted sides of the bin, it was even easier to pull items out.
After having the bin in her freezer for a few weeks, my mom is still happy with the result. “It definitely looks more organized,” she said. “And it’s a lot better than everything being thrown all over the place.”
Over the past few weeks, she’s made a few updates. She snapped a new divider into place and now uses the bin to organize frozen meals and, now, just a few bags of frozen cheese — because nobody needs easy access to that much cheese ...
More Amazon fridge organizers
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Silivo Produce Saver Refrigerator Organizer Bins
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YekouMax Fridge Drawer Organizer
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Utopia Home Egg Container
You get two egg organizers for the price of one in this deal. Based on its description, they should keep your eggs securely tucked away in an aesthetic fashion.