Oh, how I WISH we had a deep freeze! It would be sooooo nice! When we first bought our house, someone had given us an old side-by-side. We kept it in the basement. The extra space was wonderful! And this was before I was a couponer/stockpilier! But it died a looooooong time ago. One day, a deep freeze will be in our budget. For the time being, I have to make do with the freezer space over the fridge. I have the world’s smallest freezer and the world’s smallest pantry!
This is what my freezer looked like when Aunt Jemima waffles went on BOGO sale at Winn-Dixie and I had a ton of coupons:
I had 6 boxes of waffles in there! Obviously, I can’t store 6 boxes of waffles for very long (no room for other stuff!)
So what do I do when I have 6 boxes of waffles? We have waffles for breakfast a lot! LOL! This was several weeks ago. We only have two boxes left. So, clearly, I can’t stockpile freezer stuff. As a general rule, whatever I buy, we have to use in a timely manner to make room for next week’s groceries. But that doesn’t stop me from buying up when things are a good deal. I just have to plan meals around what’s in the freezer.
Like today, I went to Winn-Dixie and bought 2 packs of B/S chicken breasts, BOGO and 2 pork tenderloins, BOGO and 3 lbs of hamburger meat at $1.99/lb. I wrapped and froze the hamburger meat right away, as well as one pack of chicken and one tenderloin. I have a new chicken recipe I want to try this week and the tenderloin is a great thing to throw in the oven and sit down on the couch after a looooong day at work. So, there is the beginning of my meal plan for the week based on what I couldn’t fit in the freezer after my trip to the store today! Some of the hamburger meat will come in handy later in the week and the other meat will be good for next week.
Now, I have a little more space for fridge items but fridge items are the things that spoil quickly. Kinda hard to stockpile things with short expiration dates. But there are some exceptions!
POP QUIZ – How many refrigerated items can you name that have long shelf lives? I based this list on the expiration dates of things in my refrigerator. Check out StillTasty.com for a comprehensive list on how long things can be stored.
- Cheese (4-6+ months!)
- Almond Milk (2+ months)
- Cream Cheese (unopened) (4+ months)
- Refrigerated biscuits, bread dough and sweet rolls (2+ months)
When you see these things on sale think about how much of it you can use in a span of a few months! For example, at Winn-Dixie today, I bought 4 packs of individually wrapped sliced cheese (with 03/2011 expiration dates!), 4 bags of shredded cheese and 2 bricks of cream cheese (all with 01/2011 expiration dates). I have NO DOUBT that we can use all that cheese before it expires. We love cheese! Thanks to great sales and coupons, I got about $20 worth of cheese for less than $9!! See how stockpiling can save you money???
The picture shows my “cheese drawer” in the fridge. When I buy more cheese, I just make sure to put the new cheese under/behind what’s already in there.
The refrigerated bread doughs are another thing I will stock up on if they are cheap. We love the crescent rolls. So if I can get them for cheap, I know we can eat a lot of them before they expire in 2 months (my husband would be fine with having them with dinner every night!)
Got a stockpile of something? Show us! Link up your stockpiles!
I wish for a deep freeze too.
Also, I freeze those bags of cheese. If you are going to melt it it usually works out ok and they freeze pretty flat for the small freezer. Just a hint.
Thanks for the tip! I've thought about freezing the cheese. But with an expiration date so far out, I know we will use it looooong before that date!