how our deep freezer changed our lives

I know, that sounds a bit extreme right?  A deep freezer changing your life?  Well, it did for us.

Years ago when I started my fitness journey, I learned the importance of protein in a muscle building diet.  In my opinion, meat is the best way to get protein because it has all the amino acids your body needs.  I am a true believer that humans were designed to eat meat (please do not take offense to this if you are a vegan or vegetarian).  Meat also gives you more protein for less calories than most plant based options can give you.  Anyway, I knew that meat was an important part of my diet, but I also knew it was the most expensive part.  

​I am an avid Costco shopper, so our regular freezer would get full FAST.  My husband is also a hunter, so once the freezer was full of venison, there was basically no room for anything else...  Not even a frozen pizza!

After a few months of deliberating, I finally convinced my husband to get on board with a deep freezer.  

It was about a $300 investment up front, and it was a pain to get it into our basement because of our skinny stairs, but it was totally worth it.  We even loved it so much that we moved it to our next house!

how to organize your deep freezer

Let me preface this organization part by stating that our deep freezer is ONLY used for meat.  Yes, only meat.  Yes, we DO have that much meat to store. Remember how I said that I am an avid Costco shopper and have a hunter husband?  Well, in addition to those two budget friendly meat sources, we also belong to a few meat CSAs.  In my opinion, buying meat in bulk from a CSA is the absolute BEST option when it comes to getting high quality meat that doesn't break the bank.  By buying directly from the farmer, you avoid the middle man.  Buy buying in bulk you save even more money.  By buying local, you're helping out a small business and doing you part to make a difference in the world.  You can read more about the number crunching I did about CSAs in this article.  

SO, the ability to BUY AND STORE MEAT IN BULK is why a deep freezer is so life changing.

Maybe this will sound like you: You are trying to eat healthy, so your meals are centered around a protein, vegetable and/or starch.  Meat is the most expensive part of your meal, so it seems like it's the hardest thing to keep on hand, especially when you are limited to only a small freezer.  You plan your meals based off what meat you buy at the store every single week, maybe even multiple times a week.  You worry about those small sized packages going bad in the fridge if your social plans change throughout the week (like going out to eat unexpectedly), etc.  Maybe you can store some bulk items in your small freezer, but you quickly run out of space and get frustrated. 

With a deep freezer, all you would need to do is take a trip down to the basement (or wherever you put it) and it's like you have a fully stocked meat counter at your fingertips.  Sound nice?  I promise, the investment up front will pay off in the long run both financially and mentally.  

On to the organization part.  Our deep freezer is 7.0 cubic feet...  That's BIG.  Luckily, it came with two baskets that slide across the top rail.  These baskets were a big selling point for the freezer because it helps to keep all the small items from falling down into the depths of the freezer.  I will say though, my freezer is not the best organized at the moment and some extra bins would be nice!  Maybe that will be another blog post some day?  I think it will!

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Currently, I store small items in the two sliding bins.  One contains breakfast meats (bacon from Costco, sausage from CSAs) and smaller cuts from our CSA, while the other contains smaller cuts of meat that I have portioned out on my own (either from CSAs or Costco).  The bottom of the freezer is where things are currently the most disorganized and where I do need to improve!  What is down at the bottom is venison (from my husband hunting), large cuts from our CSA, and bags of seafood from Costco.  Ideally, I would have shallow stacking bins that I could pull out easily and see my entire stock.  But like I said, that organization overhaul will be a post for another time!

main takeaways:

If you struggle to eat healthy because you feel like time is working against you and that making multiple trips to the store in a week is just NOT convenient (it's not, no shame there) then I strongly urge you to consider a deep freezer BECAUSE:

• it will save you money in the long run
• it allows you to keep healthy options on hand at all times
• it gives you less excuses to eat out or rely on fast food
• it lets you buy in bulk which is better for the environment and your wallet
• and because it takes some meal planning stress away

Who doesn't want all those things?  Do you already have and love your deep freezer?  Comment below if you have any organization tips!

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