A chest freezer can be the greatest blessing or the greatest curse. This is a great space saver (especially if the freezer attached to the fridge freezer is small) and freezing food is a great way to extend its shelf life.

However, if the cooler is not organized, finding something in that deep pile of ice bags and containers is nearly impossible.

This guide will give you some great tips for organizing coolers.

1. Throw away everything that has gone bad

The first step when organizing your fridge is to go through all the food you have and throw away anything that has gone bad.

Check the expiration date on all frozen foods before you organize them so you can get rid of anything that has expired.

You might be surprised how much food actually goes bad and needs to be thrown away.

Throw away or recycle any boxes, bags or containers your items came in if you no longer need them.

If any food has burned in the freezer or has been sitting there for an undetermined amount of time, you should probably get rid of it.

Although frozen foods will last for a while, they won’t last forever. Make sure you keep track of how long you’ve been eating the product to make sure you’re not eating anything past its expiration date.

2. Classify food products by categories

Now that you’ve thrown away all the spoiled food, it’s time to categorize your food.

Start sorting frozen foods into several different groups and categories.

Some of your groups or categories will be small, while others will be large. Make a mental note of the most common type of food, as this will be important when organizing later.

It is also useful to take a large amount of food and divide it into smaller, more healthy portions so that the food does not go to waste.

3. Buy strong freezer containers

Freezer baskets are great for organizing freezers as they can be kept on shelves in the freezer without taking up too much space like refrigerators do.

You can also easily remove them to see what’s under each basket (which is especially useful when it comes to finding certain types of food). If you want organized coolers, you’ll need multiple containers.

You can easily repurpose old things to use as storage containers. For example, you can use old cans, oatmeal containers, or even baby formula boxes.

You can use a wire basket as an easy way to organize food in the freezer. Wire baskets are useful because they are easy to organize and you can stack them on top of each other.

Using cardboard boxes for freezer storage is great because you can use the exact sizes you need and organize your drawer however you see fit.

Using bags is another way to separate food categories in the refrigerator. Any kind of bag can be used for this, such as canvas bags or even old grocery store bags.

4. Organize your meals according to what you eat most often

If you organize your fridge by category, you’ll know exactly where everything is when it’s time to cook and eat.

So, when you’re building your refrigerated storage system, decide which items should be easily accessible.

If you often use minced meat, then you need to have it in an easily accessible place.

So you have to stack things to save space. Then it’s always a good idea to make sure the top layer contains the items you use the most.

It’s also a great idea to make sure the top layer contains light items so you can easily lift those containers when you go to get something from the bottom layer.

In addition, you can organize your refrigerator according to your temperature preferences. For example, keep items that require a cooler climate directly below, while other items can be stored in convenient baskets.

5. Label all products

Now that everything is categorized and organized, it’s time to label. Labeling may sound boring, but it’s an important part of organizing a cooler.

Labeling things is important because it will help you organize your fridge in the future.

Try to be as accurate as possible when labeling food products. Don’t just write “meat” on everything in the meat section. Write what kind of meat it is, whether it was marinated or not, when you bought it.

Also, don’t just write frozen fruit or frozen vegetables on the packages. If they’re in store-bought bags, they’ll have a name and usually a photo on them, but if you put the fruit in individual freezer bags, you’ll want to label them.

A good rule of thumb is to label everything, even if it’s obvious what’s inside the container. By getting into the habit of labeling, you’ll be able to keep your fridge organized in the future.