Phil and I have said for years that when we finally bought a house we'd have a freezer in the garage. My mom has had the same freezer for almost 30 years. I've seen how it helps her save money by buying in bulk. We wanted to be able to do the same. We've been looking for a skinny upright freezer for ages but never found one we liked. We didn't want to get a chest freezer because we knew something would get buried on the bottom and get totally petrified and we'd have to throw it away, defeating the purpose of cost savings.
When we got our tax refund I threw in the towel on an upright and we bought a small chest freezer from Wal Mart. It took me awhile but I thought of a way that I can keep track of what's inside without having to open it and root around.
Whenever I go shopping, as I unload the groceries I write down exactly what I'm putting into the freezer along with a date and the quantity. When I take something out, I cross it off the list. Now, if I want to thaw something, say chicken breast, I can look at the list hanging on the side of the freezer and see if I have any chicken breasts and how many.
When I went to my mom's for Easter we went to Costco and split several items. I'm going to ask if any of my neighbors want to split a Costco run, an order from Omaha Steaks (their burgers are SO good!) or maybe a session at Dream Dinners (used to go all the time).
