Freezer Labels

Well it is back to reality time. Time to get lunches organized. Time to stock up on all sorts of things. Time to get the oven working after the heat of summer. And time to stock up the freezer.

We use plastic containers to freeze lunches in individual portions. So when I make a large meal, the leftovers get divided up and frozen. This has many advantages:

1. It means that we are not stuck with eating the same leftovers for several nauseating days!
   
2. It make it easy to just grab something when heading out of the door in the morning.
   
3. The meals act as if they have their own built in ice-pack, and are ready for a quick microwave blast by lunch time.

However, after building up a good variety of meals in the freezer, we found that things were getting confusing. Too much time was spent holding a plastic container up and trying to figure out what was inside. A few weeks ago Mary had a bit of a surprise when the "rice" she brought to work, turned out to be shredded cheese for nachos!

THE SOLUTION!

After trying all sorts of things, I found that the best solution was " low-tack" masking tape. This is the green or blue colored masking tape the painters use. It has just enough adhesive to make a tight seal, but does not leave any glue residue when pulled off. ( There were quite a few unpleasant mutterings when we tried other types of labels and had to deal with the goo)

Now everything is clear and easy. I keep a roll of the tape in a drawer by the fridge with a fine point felt marker. When the plastic containers are divided up, I write out a description on the roll, and rip it off.

I have now extended this labeling technique to the refrigerator as well. It has shortened the amount of time spent having to rummage around. And it has eliminated those nasty "science experiment" surprises, when a container gets shoved around for a few weeks!

Try this technique out, and you will be amazed at just how easy simple .......and cheap it is!

'till next time,

Colin