Suburban Valkyrie

Having access to a freezer is a glorious thing. It's a First World, somewhat middle-class luxury that so many of us take for granted.

A freezer can save a family a ton of money; buying large amounts of food when it's on sale makes great sense, if you are able to freeze the excess. Why pay $4.99 for chicken breasts, ever? Buy 10 pounds when they're on sale for $1.99 a pound and freeze them.

A freezer also allows even those of us who face harsh northeastern winters to eat amazing, fresh-from-the garden produce all year-round. Homemade zucchini bread in January? Absolutely. Sweet corn chowder in February? Yes, ma'am.

Unless, of course, you treat your freezer the way I have in past years.

You buy extra food, put it in unmarked plastic bags, and shove it in the freezer where it sits for months or years, slowly accumulating layers of ice crystals, until it becomes completely unrecognizable, not mention inedible.

Our freezer has needed to be defrosted for a couple years, but finding the time, the will and, frankly, the cooler space to protect the food that already was in there, was a challenge. A visit from my mom changed that, though.

She came bearing good humor, a will to work - and three full-sized coolers.

The defrosting process was a pain. It took hours, and involved chipping, scraping, and eventually whacking at the slowly melting ice mounds with a rubber mallet.

When it was finally done, though, I had a beautiful, clean, empty freezer. And before I loaded it back up again, I put some thought into how I wanted to organize it so it would best serve our family.

A quick trip to the nearest dollar store yielded colorful bins of various sizes.

I knew I would need some open bins that I could fill to overflowing with staples that we always tend to have on hand.

I also knew I wanted some smaller bins for random items of varying types - mozzarella cheese, guacamole, whatever.

Below is a shelf-by-shelf explanation of what I put where, and why.

• Top shelf: two open bins, one for chicken breast, one for ground beef. We buy these staples when they are on sale and package them up in quantities that make sense for our family of four (two chicken breasts, one pound of ground beef, etc.). The bins are open on top so we can fill to overflowing if needed. The space in between the two bins, I left open. That's where I lay bags of summer veggies and fruits flat to freeze solid before storing them upright in the bins below.

• Second shelf: four smaller stacking bins. They are currently filled with beef (a roast, some cubes for stew), seafood (shrimp, fish fillets, a random lobster tail - yeah, I have no idea where that came from or how long it's been there), and meatballs. Again, space in between the bins is used as a temporary freezing spot before items are packaged for storage.

• Third shelf: six stacking bins of two sizes. The larger ones are currently filled with chicken strips. The smaller ones are for vegetables and fruit.

• Bottom shelf: two large open bins. One for popsicles and ice cream bars and other treats, one for potatoes (hash browns, steak fries, etc.)

Once I decided where I wanted everything to go, I needed one crucial element to make sure the order stayed orderly - labels. People in my household whom I will not name but to whom I am either married or have birthed have a tendency to, well, not put things back where they go. If most things are labeled, it will be awfully hard for them to argue that they didn't know where to put something.

I could have just grabbed a Sharpie and a paper label and slapped it on the bin, but when you have tens of thousands of dollars worth of craft supplies - and a serious obsession with pretty paper - that is just out of the question. Hence, the cute freezer tags.