Time Consuming But Useful Tip.

[Smowball]

Saw this on tv the other day. Havent done it myself yet but probably will.
Basically, you list everything in your freezer and stick the sheet of paper on side of freezer. So you would go throughfreezer and list Meat items,FISH items,READY MEALS,VEG etc in different columns. Then when you use something you cross it off list. When you go shopping you add to to the list.

That way you always know what you have and what needs using up, and you dont over buy things that you already have 2 or 3 of.

Makes sense,doesn't it?

[Ratty2E]

That does sound like quite a good idea. I do know generally whats in my freezers but seeng it written down could help with meal planning. Will have to put at least 2 pairs of gloves on first though.

[rockyracoon]

That is a very good idea. The only problem is, I'd have to look for a pen, in this house it's like looking for a needle in a haystack.

[emmie]

rocky, you can have some of my millions of pens, no idea why i need so many, bought more yesterday, or borrow the ones at the bank x

[Smowball]

Well I think its a good idea. my freezer has both drawers and shelves, so anything could be at the bottom of the drawers!

[rockyracoon]

Thank you Em, I really don't know where they disappear to, I buy the Bic packs containing about 10, within a week they're gone.

[coccinelle]

I keep my list on the computer and keep it upto date every couple of days. it does make me aware of what's in there without getting freezing hands. I find drawers much easier so meat's all together, fish together etc.
Saying this I'm the only one who goes into the freezer so I suppose that's a lot easier.

[Canary42]

It's called Stock Control :-)

[B00]

Also a good idea would be to label your tupperware leftovers in the freezer too. Lost count of the number of times I've defrosted a tub of unidentified "stuff" only to discover it wasn't what I originally thought it was!

[coccinelle]

Boo, I do that too. I often make a meal for 6 and freeze 4 parts of it into individual portions so need to know what I'm eating that night when I get it out.

[mrs_overall]

I know exactly what is in my two freezers at any one time.
Unfortunately I usually neglect to label containers/freezer bags.
This has resulted in some very interesting meals, such as the time I was cooking a roast beef dinner and took what I thought was a cauliflower cheese from the freezer.
Take it from me, fish in cheese sauce does NOT go well with roast beef

[TheOtherHalf]

we had to do that once a week when we cleaned out the freezers where I worked. It was a chest freeze and we had to clean up all the odd bits that had fallen loose in the bottom, eg peas, sweetcorn,bits of paper. A small work colleague had to climb into the freezer to do this. My home one now is only a small 4 drawer freezer, so I just have a quick look inside before I shop to see if I need anything

[Old_Geezer]

It's a good practice if you always want the same things in your freezer. I prefer the random surprise of what caught my eye when I shopped previously :-)

[Valmave]

It would be handy to be able to scan the inevitable bar codes and feed those directly into a computer stock holding program - maybe they already exist ?

[diddlydo]

I used to make such lists but have now decided that life's too short.