A freezer does not stay at the same temperature throughout. The door shelves and top compartment are the first to meet room air and fluctuate the most whenever the door is opened, while the bottom baskets are the most stable. Store foods meant to be kept longer at the bottom and foods to be used soon at the top; always keep raw meat below cooked food.
There is a temperature map inside a freezer, too. Whenever the door is opened, outside air first reaches the upper compartments and door shelves; these areas warm up and cool down again several times a day. The bottom baskets are farther from the door and stay more stable thanks to the frozen mass around them. That is why freezer burn and texture loss are most common on the upper shelves; the same package stays in much better condition for much longer in a bottom basket. In chest freezers, the map is reversed: the most stable area is at the bottom, and the area with the most fluctuation is the upper row near the opening.
The first result of this map is arranging food by storage time. Foods that will be stored for months—whole cuts of meat, cooked and frozen vegetables, stock, and portions of soup—go at the bottom. Foods to be used within a few weeks—slices of bread, pastries, and partly used bags—go in the upper compartments. Keep only things taken out every day and used quickly on the door shelves; storing food there for a long time gives the worst spot to the most valuable package. Ice trays and ice cream are natural residents of this shelf.
The second result concerns where raw food goes. A frozen package may seem leakproof, but partial thawing or a torn bag is always possible. That is why raw meat, poultry, and fish always go below cooked food, bread, and ready-to-eat items; any liquid drips only downward. If they must be carried in the same basket, put the raw food in a separate sealed container and set it to the side. Keeping it in a separate container also makes thawing easier.
The third result concerns where new food goes. Do not squeeze freshly added food to be frozen between packages that are already frozen; it warms its neighbors and also freezes slowly. Place a new package in a single row against a wall or cooling surface, then move it into its place once it is completely frozen. For the same reason, the amount of fresh food added at one time is limited, and the appliance manual specifies the limit; exceeding it affects the entire compartment. If you have many packages to freeze, divide the task over two days and add only the amount allowed by the manual each time.
The fourth and most often overlooked result is the organization itself. When packages are flat and stood upright side by side like books, you can read all their labels at a glance; when stacked on top of one another, only the top one is visible. Assigning a fixed place to the contents of each compartment and putting new items in back and older ones in front also makes searching faster. The less time the door stays open, the more stable the temperature map above remains, and the organization maintains itself. Any setup that shortens the search is also a storage precaution.