swasat
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Post by swasat on Nov 26, 2012 11:08:12 GMT -5
Great ideas here!
Some things that I freeze and haven't seen mentioned here:
- Muffins. I make batches of blueberry/zucchini-carrot/cherry/oatbran or whatever muffins and pop them in the freezer. Its so simple to pull out one and microwave them for 30 sec for a quick breakfast. - Entrees. Whenever I make Indian curries or any Chinese chicken recipe I make double or triple batches and freeze them. - Home made garlic butter - Variety of quiches - Burritos. They freeze REALLY well. Just add whatever filling and wrap them individually in a aluminum foil. Then put a bunch of these wrapped burritos in a ziploc bag and freeze. - Cooked beans. All kinds (kidney, northern, garbanzo, black beans etc) freeze very well. I soak raw beans, cook them and them put them in quart size ziploc bags. Perfect for addition to any meal.
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giramomma
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Post by giramomma on Nov 26, 2012 11:12:11 GMT -5
I also freeze cookies and fudge. I made a couple of batches of Christmas goodies yesterday. If I don't get the goodies in the deep freeze, they are eat up almost immediately. I can also bake cut out cookies way ahead of time (when I have more time to bake) and freeze them until it gets closer to a holiday. My banana bread also freezes well.
Another suggestion to look up is once a month cooking. Basically you spend one weekend prepping all the food you are going to eat for a month..
We use plastic containers for main dishes, fruits and jams. I use ziplock bags for veggies, and I usually wrap baked goods up in saran wrap and foil, and then I put them in a ziplock bag.
Even if you don't grow a garden, look into places that you can pick your own food. I haven't done it in a few years, but I've gone strawberry picking and froze a bunch of berries and made jam, etc.
If you decide to freeze fresh veggies, go ahead and get the fancy pot that you need for blanching food. I tried to "make do" without one and it was a huge PITA.
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Tiny
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Post by Tiny on Nov 26, 2012 11:49:00 GMT -5
I haven't had much luck freezing potatos - mashed or any other way - even potato leek soup I find that I don't like the texture of the potatos - they seem grainy and they seem to go an unappetizing gray color (to me). Oddly, I'm ok with freezing pasta - it's different when it's out of the freezer but still edible. FWIW: on a frugal note I'm finding alot of uses for those 'airtight' liner bags from cr acke rs and cereals. I've found 2 servings of 'meat' fit into the bags from Faux Triskets (Aldi brand whatever it is). I press out the air, fold the top, seal with a bit of masking tape (write the date/what it is) and then slip that bag into a bigger zippy bag (with other packets of meat). For bigger pieces of meat I use a bigger bag or cut one open and use it like wax paper. For burgers I cut open a cereal bag so I have a flat peice and then put down 2 burgers, fold over the bag, 2 more burgers, and keep repeating... This then goes into a Zippy bag. I can pull out what I need. I use to have alot of ice crystals form when I used Seran wrap or waxed paper and a zippy or just a zippy. With the liner bags (and as much air pressed out) I'm getting better freezer storage. I've also been using the liner bags to store fresh dried herbs -- I roll down the top and secure with a binder clip.
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Tiny
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Post by Tiny on Nov 26, 2012 11:57:00 GMT -5
Maybe not too frugal - but I found that the local "Party Stores" and some types of 'dollar store' places have take out alumminum pans with lids (the waxed cardboard with foil on one side) that aren't too expensive. When I'm making a pasta entre for the freezer I'll use these store bought one time use containers. They hold about 4 servings (I'm single) and they stack nicely in my freezer. I don't have alot of corningware or pyrex or metal pans. I'm single though so the $10 or so I spend a YEAR on 'disposable' containers for the freezer balances out with me avoiding take out food.
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Phoenix84
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Post by Phoenix84 on Nov 26, 2012 11:58:16 GMT -5
Frozen TV dinners are pretty much what I grew up on.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Nov 26, 2012 12:10:59 GMT -5
My freezer holds meat. I am not great with meals, stocking up on veggies (although I do have some fruit ...). May have to try some of these.
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thyme4change
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Post by thyme4change on Nov 26, 2012 12:20:43 GMT -5
I do something similiar - but I make the lasagnes in either a bread pan (when it was just the two of us) and went up to a small square pan when it was the 4 of us. I found the giant pans, we had lasagne leftover for a week, and I always threw it out. So, when I would make it in a bread pan, I would do 3 or so batches, and freeze two. And then I could have lasagne one night, every other week (or whatever.) It was great.
Personally, I don't like many things that have been cooked, and then frozen and then cooked again - so I keep my meat raw, and then freeze and cook daily.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Nov 26, 2012 12:40:26 GMT -5
The dollar stores here have foil tins with lids like the take out places use. I love them for lasagnas or casseroles I am going to freeze. I also like the suggestion I just read to freeze it in the container I'm going to cook it in. That works too.
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singlemomky
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Post by singlemomky on Nov 26, 2012 14:07:40 GMT -5
Burritos. They freeze REALLY well. Just add whatever filling and wrap them individually in a aluminum foil. Then put a bunch of these wrapped burritos in a ziploc bag and freeze. I freeze enchiladas and lasagna a lot but I find that if I have a much easier time when I wrap the individual pieces in waxed paper and then wrap in foil. In the past - I had trouble getting the foil to come off the portion if it was still slightly frozen and the wax paper can be microwaved. Lately, I will pull it out of the freezer, unwrap the foil & go straight to the microwave; helps keep it from drying out too.
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chiver78
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Post by chiver78 on Nov 26, 2012 14:10:43 GMT -5
I made up a tray of strawberry ice cubes this morning as I packed up some fruit for work. the melon was still okay, but the strawberries were a little past where I like them.
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tloonya
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Post by tloonya on Nov 26, 2012 14:36:54 GMT -5
Personally i find have 2 refrigerators much more useful than a big freezer. With another fridge, you get additional freezer space plus i could stock up cold items like butter, etc. Anyway, some things freeze better than others. So are you suggesting Mid returns freezer and buys refrigerstor because its shooby better, shooby...Shooby way? And 'some things freeze better than others' is exactly what Mid KNOWS! She just inquiring about WHAT freezes better and what not...
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tloonya
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Post by tloonya on Nov 26, 2012 14:39:19 GMT -5
Frozen TV dinners are pretty much what I grew up on. So how many TVs do you have?
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chiver78
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Post by chiver78 on Nov 26, 2012 15:03:54 GMT -5
tloonya - your commentary on other posters is completely unnecessary. knock it off.
-chiver mod
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midjd
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Post by midjd on Nov 26, 2012 15:15:46 GMT -5
I didn't see anything wrong with what Loony said... maybe it was edited before I got here.
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chiver78
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Post by chiver78 on Nov 26, 2012 15:19:49 GMT -5
nothing in particular is wrong, but this is one of a few threads today where I've seen loony picking apart other poster's comments. I'm not in the mood today to let it go on for hours, so I'm putting the word out now. while I have you here, mid - how'd your turkey come out? did you end up using that brine recipe?
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midjd
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Post by midjd on Nov 26, 2012 15:43:28 GMT -5
Yes I did and it turned out great! Well, at least everyone said it was great (I'm not a huge turkey fan, I just had a couple of small slices). Thank you so much for posting the recipe. Now that I've proven I can not destroy a turkey, maybe next year I won't get 1000 phone calls from my mom/sister asking me things like, "You remembered to take the plastic bag of guts out before you put it in the oven, right?" (I didn't have a pan large enough, so I ended up brining it inside an oven bag, which went inside our bedroom trash can, which went inside the fridge after I removed most of the shelves. So perhaps their concern was valid. )
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chiver78
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Post by chiver78 on Nov 26, 2012 15:53:41 GMT -5
lol....nice. that's right up there with the panic phone call my sis and I made the first year we did all the cooking - we weren't quite sure what the neck was, and I will totally admit that in our wine haze, the neck wasn't the first thing we thought it was. as far as what container to use, we cook turkey often enough (my BIL deep fries at least 2 or 3 per year) that we just bought a 5-gallon cooler for it. for T-day, I just put the whole thing out in the garage, it stays plenty cool enough overnight. and yay that you guys liked it.
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weltschmerz
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Post by weltschmerz on Nov 26, 2012 17:02:40 GMT -5
Even if you don't grow a garden, look into places that you can pick your own food. I haven't done it in a few years, but I've gone strawberry picking and froze a bunch of berries and made jam, etc. ---------------- It's not always cheaper. Fresher, yes, but it sometimes costs a lot more. This last apple-picking season - $25 for a bag of apples you picked yourself.
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weltschmerz
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Post by weltschmerz on Nov 26, 2012 17:05:41 GMT -5
Thank you so much for posting the recipe. Now that I've proven I can not destroy a turkey, maybe next year I won't get 1000 phone calls from my mom/sister asking me things like, "You remembered to take the plastic bag of guts out before you put it in the oven, right?" ----------------- I bought a turkey really cheap. It's currently residing on my balcony in a frozen state, as there's no room in my small freezer. It may get destroyed by feral cats or raccoons.
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mandyms
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Post by mandyms on Nov 27, 2012 20:34:53 GMT -5
Onceamonthmom.com is an interesting website for batch freezer recipes. They have traditional, vegan, organic, paleo, and a couple other categories. You can also try recipes as is before and they give you the "fresh" and "freezer" way of prepping them. If you want to actually use a month of a certain category, you can download a spreadsheet in Google docs, enter the number of people in your household and it will convert the amount of ingredients.
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