It's fast, it's organized, it's super simple. Why having a 'freezer library' might be the answer to your dinnertime dilemmas.

Your canned goods are all meticulously lined up, your spice rack is alphabetized and your home office bookshelf is even sorted by color. But if you are like many Americans, you might find yourself digging — and digging and digging — to the bottom of the pile of food in the freezer. We won't begrudge you the three pints of ice cream, but do you really need four identical bags of frozen edamame? Can you even ID the block of meat (or is it sauce?) you stashed away and never defrosted? And do you feel like you've got tons of food — but nothing to eat?

A freezer library might help. While the concept isn't new — British chef Jamie Oliver is among those who have touted its convenience — the freezer library came up recently on an episode of Bon Appétit’s Dinner SOS podcast. Mara, a pregnant professor, called into the show with a request: With a baby coming, she needed to stock up on meals she could easily freeze and enjoy later on with little fuss. How could she build up a freezer stash without becoming overwhelmed, and what was the best way to guarantee those meals wouldn't go to waste?

According to Dinner SOS host Chris Morocco and his colleague Hana Asbrink, the secret to success is — yep — a freezer library filled with slim volumes of nourishing meals neatly stacked and ready to be "checked out" (aka moved to the fridge to defrost, or thrown straight in the pot with a little water) when hunger strikes.

Here's how it works, and why food experts say it can be a game changer when it comes to actually eating healthy leftovers.

What is a freezer library?

Picture a stack of books in a library. Now imagine they're not books but rather resealable Ziplocs or other freezer bags filled with one or two portions (which will vary depending on your household and appetite) of a dish. The smaller portions have two purposes: They keep each bag narrow and, therefore, easy to stack, and they eliminate the guesswork when it's time to cook; you have just enough for one meal and don't have to go through the hassle of defrosting a larger dish that you might not get through. As Oliver explained in an appearance on The Drew Barrymore Show, he arranges his freezer bags flat and stacks them on the top shelf of his freezer "like a little library."

What goes into a freezer bag is up to you: chili, a hearty stew, tomato basil soup, congee, vegetable fried rice, whatever your heart desires. Our experts recommend dishes that offer a nutritious alternative to, say, the Hot Pockets already lurking in your freezer.

“Having a well-stocked freezer library is a fantastic way to ensure you always have nutrient-dense, ready-to-eat meals on hand, without relying on ultra-processed freezer meals that are often high in sodium, preservatives and refined ingredients,” Karen Todd, a dietitian and founder of the Supplement Dietitian, tells Yahoo Life. “In addition to soups, I often prepare large batches of red sauce," Todd adds.

Tricks of the trade

Inspired to create your own freezer library? The first step is clearing out some space (ideally a designated shelf) in your freezer, which will make it easier to access the variety of leftovers you store.

Next, grab your apron and settle in for some batch cooking. While you can, of course, toss leftovers from any meal — say, the scraps from last night's spaghetti — into a freezer bag, the fastest way to build up your library is by making a few supersize portions of your favorite dishes (in mom-to-be Mara's case, this is avgolemono, a Greek lemon chicken soup).

The rest is all about safe food storage. Here's what experts suggest doing to help your leftovers last — and make them easy to organize:

• Cool them down. Hot food needs to cool down before it goes in the freezer, but anything that's been left on the counter for two hours or more can be a breeding ground for bacteria. Follow the USDA's guidelines for cooling leftovers, including bringing their temperature down to 40 degrees Fahrenheit or below and using shallow containers and the fridge to speed up the cooling process.

• Consider what portions work best for you. You have a big pot of minestrone ready to freeze. As you fill each freezer bag, think about how you'll be enjoying it later and how many servings you want to be reheating. Is it a quick lunch for one, or dinner for two (who might want seconds)? The only thing you really want to avoid is overfilling a bag, and you can always defrost two individual portions at the same time.

• Make sure that the bag is sealed tight. Squeeze out any excess air before zipping it shut; the bag should lay flat like a block. And check that seal, as spilled soup all over your freezer is a big headache.

• Label your bag with the date and what's inside. During the Dinner SOS episode, host Morocco shared his tip for keeping tabs on what's in a freezer bag and how long it's been there: masking tape and permanent marker. Using marker straight on the bag, he explained, is likely to fade or smear, whereas writing on tape ensures that your notes stay put.

• Defrost and enjoy. When you're ready for round two, transfer your chosen freezer bag to the fridge or, in a pinch, try Morocco's tip of just adding a frozen block of food to a pot with a little water and heating it a low temperature. You can also add fresh herbs or sauces to enhance the dish's flavor before eating.

• Toss out anything past its prime. Check your labels to see if anything has been lingering in the freezer library for too long. According to dietitian Amie Alexander of Nutri Peak, that's typically "within three months for the best quality." The official USDA recommendation is to only freeze leftovers for three to four months, since beyond that it tends to lose flavor and moisture.

• Get creative. Joan Salge Blake, a nutrition professor and dietitian nutritionist at Boston University, says there's plenty to like about sticking with home-cooked leftovers; it's generally more nutritious than store-bought freezer meals, cost-efficient, sustainable and provides "dinner in a flash." But if you find yourself getting bored, the author of Nutrition & You and host of the health podcast Spot On! suggests turning your old meals into a fun tradition. "Declare one Friday a month as ‘Freezer Friday’ and properly defrost and reheat all these leftovers for a tapas-style meal," she tells Yahoo Life. "Small portions of a lot of leftovers can make a hearty meal."