the great freezer cleanout

One of the first major purchases Steven and I made after we bought our house was a freezer. We bought an upright freezer that is out in the garage. We have kept it full with all sorts of food--beef, ground beef, chicken, pork, vegetables, jam, butter, juice, bread products, etc. It has served us well.

When doing my research, one thing that was mentioned quite a bit was to NOT get a frost-free freezer. There was too much temperature fluctuation to keep it frost-free which meant lower efficiency and higher energy bills. So frost builds up on the shelves. Once a year, I empty out and unplug the freezer to let the frost melt, then plug it back in and refill it.

Usually I get it about half empty then stuff what's left into my kitchen freezer, putting the rest in coolers with ice packs. I also usually do this in the summer. This year I decided to do it earlier, and I'm not going to defrost until we have eaten nearly everything that is in there. We still have plenty of meat and vegetables, and some fruit. We have butter, juice and jam. My goal is to use up the meat, vegetables and fruit. We'll continue to use the other foods as we need them. Once the meat, veggies and fruit are gone, I'll defrost and clean the freezer and restock it.

I'll be tracking my grocery spending over the course of this freezer clean-out to see just how little I'm spending when I'm making a conscious effort to create meals from what I already have in the house.