Stop Letting Frozen Food Disappear In Your Freezer With This Simple Fix — It Could Already Be Hiding In Your Office

Keeping your kitchen organized and functional may be more challenging than any other area of the home. Condiments in your fridge door are easily lost as you rifle through them looking for a specific type of mustard, and the freezer — well, the freezer may be the biggest organizational challenge of all. Between dozens of little incursions to get ice, frozen desserts, or proteins to thaw for dinner, even the best freezer food prep hacks can fall short the moment something gets shuffled backward into the cold, shadowy depths.

The number one freezer organization tip to free up space and keep all your food visible is to categorize things vertically — and there's a simple tool to prevent a food avalanche the moment you move something. The solution is a few simple magazine organizers turned on their side and stacked on top of each other to create DIY vertical shelving. This allows you to use all the available space inside your freezer from top to bottom, not only keeping things within easy reach, but also maximizing its storage capabilities to make your meal prep budget go even further.

While bulk items may not fit into these relatively narrow slots, you can easily store away boxed frozen meals, desserts, and side dishes along with small bags of frozen vegetables. You can also freeze ground meat, fruit and veggie purees, soups, and even chili nice and flat in freezer bags so they slide easily into the magazine holders for more efficient long-term food storage.

The first thing to think about when gathering thrifted magazine holders to organize your kitchen is what those holders are made of. Sturdy, rigid plastic is a better choice than faux leather or cardboard, as plastic is non-porous, easy to wipe clean, and less likely to absorb liquids, odors, and develop mold. Even in a freezer, condensation from the outside of an ice cream tub or not-quite-solid frozen bag of soup can dribble onto other items and ruin holders made from absorbent materials.

Metal wire is also a fairly good choice, though liquids may eventually cause these holders to rust. It's sturdier than cardboard, however, so if that's what you have on hand, just be sure to clean them regularly. In fact, it's a good idea to clean these simple shelves as often as you do your freezer, using disinfectant wipes and paper towels to remove sticky residue and ensure they're nice and dry before reinstalling them.

One more thing to think about is keeping your DIY freezer shelves stacked and stable. Twist ties are a good option for holders with open sides, while good old-fashioned glue is a good choice for holders with solid sides. You may also want to place anti-skid mats in your freezer to reduce the chances of them shifting or falling when you grab something in a hurry. Simply cut the mats to size with scissors and place them under the stacked file holders before organizing your freezer.