Storing Freezer Meals - Utilizing Space in a Small Freezer

I wanted to give you all an idea of how you can utilize a small chest freezer and easily fit in freezer meals along with other items.  First, I will show you the freezer space above our fridge - where we store ice cream, berries, ice, ice packs and whatever else.  I also keep my sauces here and you can see that you can get the ones that stack and then I use freezer bags for my pizza sauce:


When packaging up your meals, you will find that most easily go into freezer bags - only casseroles need a larger container usually.  Here is an example of how little space these meals take up, this is 4 meals of sloppy joes flattened and stacked:


For my casserole dishes, I stack those on the side ledge and put a piece of strong cardboard between them so they don't smoosh together.  I didn't have enough room for the 4th one, so I stack it on top of the other items.  Here are some photos I took of my small chest freezer to give you an idea of how little space freezer meals take up:


Until the meals freeze solid - I will keep them on the top baskets.  Then once they are hard, I stack them with the others in the bottom.  I still have a lot of space for the rest of freezer cooking this week, making 4 total months worth of freezer meals.