Freeze Your Food To Save Money, Time, And, Of Course, Food!
You're not getting the most out of your freezer, reports NYT. Have you tried freezing more food? It's a two-pronged process - 1) Take raw ingredients you have too much of: freeze them. 2) Take stuff you've cooked: and freeze it. Remember that a full freezer is more efficient, fight freezer burn by double and triple-wrapping food, and don't forget to label. Check the article for advice on strategies and tips for freezing various kinds of food.
Freeze That Thought [NYT] (Thanks to c-side!) (Photo: Triborough)
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Preventing Freezer burn on cuts of meats:
I will sometimes dip a cut of meat (fish, steak, chicken, anything) into some water, then freeze it to form a small ice coating. After this layer is frozen, dip it again in water and freeze some more. The idea is to build an ice sheet over the meat, then wrap tightly, seal in a bag for longer term storage.
The ice sheet protects the meat from the horrible effects of sublimation!
And don't forget stilltasty.com! I would never have known that the minced garlic I threw out was less than halfway through its shelf life of two years!
Unfortunately, our freezer is tiny. My parents have a separate freezer, as big again as their entire fridge, so of course they can buy things in bulk or on sale and store them. But us in our 1-bed apartment with its 6' wide kitchen? A box of popsicles, a "half gallon" (1.5 qts BAH) of ice cream, a package of ground turkey, and a couple of my fiancé's Marie Callender meals in there and suddenly I can't even wedge a bag of frozen broccoli around it all. :-(
(And everyone's cooking-for-one and weight-loss tips are always, "Cook for a week and then freeze it! FAT. CHANCE.)
Mmmmmm, brussel sprouts.
We use to have a separate big freezer in our basement.
Current house: No usable basement; no extra freezer. But I pack it pretty full, anyway. Mostly for chicken and ground beef on sale. Fish and shrimp, too. Butter when it's on sale. An extra loaf of wholegrain sandwich bread. And those easy microwave veggie bags for rushed evenings.
@jchabotte: Another great way that Alton Brown uses all the time - use a zip-top bag, insert a straw in the top and close it around the straw as best you can - then suck all the air out, remove the straw, and seal it. This might be more difficult if your food has a lot of liquid in the bag...
Hooray! The freezer is our friend.
The frozen burrito idea is particularly useful for anyone frequently out of the house at odd hours (and/or for vegans like us who sometimes can't find food we can eat). We actually still have at least 5 burritos left from our last batches: bean, carrot, and kale for lunch; tofu scramble for breakfast. It doesn't take long to cook and wrap everything, and saves loads of time down the road. It's also soooo much cheaper than the alternatives. Plus, almost anything is good wrapped in a giant tortilla.
Also...
- If you freeze cooked potatoes, they come out a bit spongy once you reheat them. Kind of unpleasant in large quantities.
- Cooked beans freeze well, but tend to get mushier once reheated. If you know you'll be freezing them, undercook them just a bit and they'll stay together better later.
- Mint ice cubes! Instant mojito! Helpful because mint is the reproductive bully of the garden, and you can't use it fast enough.
- Freeze your tofu. Pre or post-pressing, it just comes out spongier once thawed. Some people like it better that way.
From the picture: YUM.
Frozen peas. Full of country goodness and green peaness.
(ha ha, ok, that's from The Critic. Best line in the entire series. Although "Hussy White" comes in at a close second.)
@ElizabethD: i keep my bread in the freezer anyway. so much humidity where i live that it molds in a couple of days otherwise.
freeze your leftover meat/veggie cooking juices and small portions of leftovers in ice cube trays. then when they are frozen take them out and bag them. store in freezer until you want quick soup, heat as many as you are hungry for. sure it's different every time but the last end piece of a roast with some leftover stewed carrots and a little tomato sauce or beef broth - it's a quick lunch and since you would have wasted it anyway, it's pretty much free.
think of it as a food rebate
Aren't you supposed to blanch raw vegetables before freezing them?
@catastrophegirl: does bread really freeze well? i fucking love arnold's double fiber bread (i feel full forever after eating a sandwich with this stuff!), but my ghetto kroger rarely has it, so it would be nice to freeze some when its on sale and they actually have it.
@Applekid:
OOh I live on frozen peas. I like to throw a handful of them in the microwave in some water and nuke them. Also after I do that I can put them in a packet of alfredo noodles and put in a pouch of salmon and I have Salmon Helper. Yum Yum.
@veg-o-matic: ive found that when making burritos to freeze, using whole grain tortillas helps a lot. theyre a lot more flexible and usually a little thicker than their flour counterparts and theyre a hell of a lot better for you. i'm glad that meatitarians like myself and vegans like you can find common ground in the burrito.
I have a small chest freezer and it is one of the best purchases that I have made in a long time. I make a big batch of biscuit dough and freeze the uncooked pucks, I make cookies and bake a pan and freeze the rest of the lumps. Stuffed shells ($8 in ingredients feeds us 4 times). Buy meat in bulk when it is a bargain. I bought a good vacuum sealer at big lots for $25, keeps the meat tasting like it has never been frozen, and can be dropped in a sink full of water for 30 minutes to thaw.
@danger the pirate ★♥ has a fake star and a fake heart, now ...: Bread freezes wonderfully. If you put in a whole loaf and want to defrost it, let it sit out for a few hours, in its original bag. As it thaws the mositure emitted returns to the bread, so it doesn't dry out. I have done this both with store-bought bread and bread that I made myself.
You can also take it out slice by slice and toast it.
Don't forget that food lasts long in a non-self defrosting freezer than one that self defrosts!
@DrGirlfriend: awesome. ill have to buy a couple loaves next time. that stuff is expensive, so itll be nice to get it on sale and freeze. im also going to have to heart you based on your name/picture...
@danger the pirate ★♥ has a fake star and a fake heart, now ...: Freezes fine. I buy when it's on sale and toss the extra loafs in the freezer. I'm not even as fancy as dr. Girlfriend ... I just put the next loaf in the fridge when I'm down to the last couple slices. Thaws fine!
(And yes, I know lots of people are anti-bread-in-fridge, but it works for us. Homebaked I store in a "bread box" ... really a cake plate.)
@HogwartsAlum: Pfft, why even warm them up??? I eat frozen peas and corn straight out of the bag, tastes like candy. :) I went through a two-pound bag of corn like that...sooooo good.
@danger the pirate ★♥ has a fake star and a fake heart, now ...: using whole grain tortillas helps a lot
An excellent point.
Burritos can wrap even the most bitter of enemies up in sweet sweet savory harmony.
Frozen grapes are a treat in the hot miserable summer!
As are frozen bananas! Hooray!
@danger the pirate ★♥ has a fake star and a fake heart, now ...:
You have no idea how many loaves of bread I would have wasted (Costco's double bags) if it weren't for freezing bread. It's the best thing since sliced bread!
Some things freeze well. Chili, soup, soup stock all freeze really well. So when making some for yourself might as well make a lot and freeze the stuff right after it's made.
Also from a professional standpoint (I sell fish) some frozen fish is going to be in better shape than the fresh fish. Simply because it's blast frozen on the ship and isn't just sitting on the ship for 10 days. So it was frozen fresh and will be in good shape when it's unfrozen. Of course make sure that it was frozen on the ship by checking the brand, if it was frozen by the retailer or the wholesaler pass, it's garbage, the stuff frozen on the boat is good though.
@Applekid: A woman I know drops frozen peas into her sodas, lets the peas serve as mini ice cubes, then eats them as a dessert-type snack once the drink is finished.
I like peas, but... eww.
frozen stuff always tastes different :/ I dunno, I got sensitive tastebuds
Ha ha!
I like them hot. With butter.
Do this:
Toast some slivered almonds in a frying pan (don't burn them!) and nuke the peas with some butter and then put the almonds on the buttered peas. Voila! Peas almondine!
It's very good and reheats well. Also impressive without the work. :)
I'm surprised people need to be told this. I thought it was common sense. In our household we cook three times the amount we need - one for dinner, one for leftovers, and one for the freezer.
@Applekid: Mmm. Green peaness.
I don't remember a whole lot from The Critic, but both those lines reside in my brain, too.
@ribex:
For some reason, yes. We stock up in the summer at the farmers market (an actual farmers market where different farmers bring in their veggies and stuff) on beans, peas, peaches and such. The veggies do need to be cooked a little bit before freezing. I'm not sure why though.
I've gone through 2 Regrigerators in my apartment and both them wouldn't freeze anything in the top freezer compartment. The second one I bought from an appliance store. What are some ways that I could get the freezer working?
@ribex: Blanching shuts off the enzyme processes that turn raw fresh veggies to brown straw tasting fiber. Cooked veggies already been there done that. Peppers and chopped onion are the only things I've found that can take freezing for any length of time without blanching. And both of those go into foods being cooked since the consistency is not the same as raw.
@nataku83: if your food has a lot of liquid, flash freeze it first - for example, when i'm freezing chili, i'll pour it into a tupperware first, freeze it for about an hour until it's solid, *then* use the straw (or foodsaver) method to "vacuum" seal it. works like a charm!
@stephennmcdonald: and of course, i don't mean bag the tupperware - take out the now solid chunk of chili, put *that* in a bag, then vacuum!
does it help to defrost your freezer before going on a freezing binge? especially if you haven't done it in a while?
@littletater: Depends on how much buildup yours gets. The colder stuff is when it goes in, the fuller it is, and the less often you open it, the less frost it'll generate.
My standalone freezer hasn't been defrosted in 18 months and isn't anywhere near needing it. I figure I'll do it in the dead of winter if I have to and I can just stick stuff outside on a 0 temp day.
@cmdrsass:
I grew up as the oldest kid in a family of 8. I always cook for 3.
One for you.
One for the kid who half-way through cooking your hamburger asks, "Can you make me one?" Never mind the fact that it will take an extra 10 minutes for you to continue cooking theirs as yours gets cold.
The third for the kid who asks "Can I have some?" before your mouth has completely closed on that first bite."
Having planned for three, I can finish chewing that first bite and say:
"It's on the stove."
i don't think you need to double or triple bag anything.. just get all the air out.
I get all the air out by slowly submerging the bag into a sink full of water while having just a small opening at the top to let the air escape. Then i just close it fully when it's at the end.. the water is much more efficient to push the bag in and around meats and such and push the air out.