Aaaaand here’s how my freezer challenge ended.

As a reminder, here’s what I started with last week.

And here’s what I ended with:

So, I’d say this was pretty successful, and I’m pretty darn sure I can come up with uses for my last three items.

Here’s what I did with all of the things that were hiding out in my freezer.

• chicken bones (went into broth for ramen)
  
• tomato paste (still there.)
  
• a bone-in chicken breast (stir-fried!)
• frozen grapes (smoothie)
• two waffles (eaten)
• a package of ground beef (I made burgers)
  
• a jar of tomato sauce (used on pizza)
  
• a jar of squash soup (I ate it for lunch two days)
  
• a package of corn tortillas (still there)
  
• a partial package of corn (still there)
  
• some shrimp (used in the ramen)
  
• half a pork loin (I cut this into chops, which I pan-sauteed and glazed)
  
• two burgers (grilled and eaten!)
  

Now my freezer pretty much just has frozen fruit for smoothies.

Which I totally do not count as freezer clutter because I make a smoothie every morning. It’s not like frozen fruit ever has time to age in my freezer.

(That cinnamon raisin bag is reused and is holding peaches which I froze this summer after buying a box of bruised peaches.)

And the top drawer has ice cubes, whole wheat flour, yeast, and a can of OJ concentrate (which I keep around to add to smoothies or to make orange julius.)

Incidentally, I’m sure some of you will wonder why I have ice cube trays AND an ice maker.   We don’t have a water line by our fridge, so our ice maker has never worked.   Someone told me it’s pretty easy to remove the ice maker, but I’ve never looked into it.

I suppose I should!

So.

My freezer challenge is officially wrapped up, and I’m glad I did it! I saved a bunch of food from going to waste and also saved money on my grocery bill this week.

Now, I do have a chest freezer that could use a little organization.

I mean, a lot of stuff is in there for longer-term storage (local beef, homemade applesauce, frozen local peaches, etc), but I think there are some odds and ends in there that should be used up.

Maybe I could do a one basket/one section at a time sort of challenge, because a whole freezer is way too overwhelming.

If you did a freezer challenge with me, how did it go?

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