Time Capsules in Your Freezer

I saw these ridiculously-named freezer bags mentioned at The Kitchn, and they got me to thinking.

Labeling when food goes into a freezer is a good idea, though I think these bags take it a bit too far. Does it matter what time of day you freeze something? The big problem with labeling food, though, is that it doesn't ensure that you'll use it. When my grandfather died, we went through his freezer. Everything was meticulously labeled: even the 25-year-old jar of leftover clam juice.

None of us want 25-year-old clam juice in our freezer. Trust me on this. So how can we ensure that we use things we freeze?

Given a dedicated freezer (I have a chest freezer), why not create dated time capsules? Take about four boxes (at least shoebox size) that will fit into your freezer. Label each of them with an upcoming month. Now go through your freezer and split things up into the boxes. When you put something in the freezer, think about putting it in one (or more) of the boxes.

Now, when the month of one of the boxes comes along, bring that box to the front of your freezer and challenge yourself to use everything in that box in that month.