Flattening Your Freezer Cookingby Mary Ann Romans | More from this Blogger 08 Jan 2008 07:05 AM
One issue that kept coming up for me is having an efficient use of freezer space, so I can get the most items in that I can. Using glass canisters is great because they stack easily, but having enough of them can get expensive. Plus, the canisters generally take up a lot of space. Freezer bags are a must, too, but I was getting tired of wrestling with all of those odd-shaped lumps of food. Here is a great solution to solve the issue. It has worked for both loose items, such as that shredded cheese, to liquids such as broth. Save an old cereal box to be used again and again. Place a Ziploc or Glad freezer bag into the cereal box, opened of course. Pour your food into the bag that is sitting in the box and then seal it. Place the entire thing in the freezer until it is frozen. Now all of your food will be the same size and shape, making stacking it so much easier to do. Just think of the packages as bricks; the bricks that are building up your savings. There are two more benefits of this method. One is that you'll easily be able to see everything at once, so you will know what you have. The second benefit is that you'll be able to pack the food in so tightly that your freezer will run more efficiently, saving you money on the energy cost to run it. Mary Ann Romans writes about everything related to saving money in the Frugal Blog, technology in the Computing Blog, and creating a home in the Home Blog. You can read more of her articles by clicking here. Related Articles: Freezer Soup Is Free Learn more about Mary Ann Romans  Mary Ann Romans is a freelance writer, wife and mother of three children. She lives in Pennsylvania with her husband, the kids and a 16-pound cat. Relevantfrugal tags User Comments butterflies77 (145) 08 Jan 2008 07:23 AMThat is really a great idea. I'm currently trying to talk my husband into the freezer cooking thing but he's skeptical, he's worried that stuff will go to waste.  Mary Ann Romans (26876) 08 Jan 2008 08:10 AMOne of the great ways to start freezer cooking is to simply double your normal cooking. Eat one meal and put the second into the freezer. This way, you know the meal is something you will eat anyway. You can also freeze small portions to allow for a variety of meals, lessening the chance of waste. Look for an article this week on foods that don't freeze well. Thanks for reading! lynclarke (1570) 15 Jan 2009 05:09 AMI have always been passionate about freezer storage and cooking. Nothing, and I mean Nothing gets thrown out in our house. If I have one half of a serving of vegetables, rice, potatoes, beans etc from supper, then I throw it in a freezer "soup" container. In the summer when the garden is producing, then I fill little sandwich ziplock bags with one cooked vegetable - like zucchini, tomatoes, black beans, or green beans- I put one sandwich bag of each vegetable into a larger freezer bag. When I am ready to make soup, I pull out the freezer bag and throw all the little bags in to the soup pot. Nearly instant soup!! If there isn't enough, I add the "leftovers soup" container. I freeze in meal or half meal portions. Whenever my husband wants a snack, he knows there are always chicken legs, ribs, meatloaf, or pork slices to snack on. It only takes one to three minutes from freezer to snack plate! His favorite meal or snack, is a medley of leftovers! My husband hunts and fishes therefore we have one freezer full of non-store bought "meat". We eat venison or fish 3 nights a week. We foodsaver everything and never lose any meat to freezer burn. I also mark each bag with product, date, and portion size. I can not imagine keeping house without a freezer, a microwave, and a foodsaver! Mary Ann Romans (26876) 15 Jan 2009 11:43 AMHow do you like the foodsaver, then? Any recommendations? I have been thinking about getting one Community Tags Freezer Cooking, frugal, Food, meal planning, thrifty Discuss this article
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While I am by no means an expert on freezer cooking, I do like to practice it whenever I can. I stock up on ingredients and freeze them, such as shredded cheese, make freezer soup and double or triple my meals so that we have some portions to freeze for next time.
