What can I freeze????

[Krischaser]

I just got a freezer and want to know what I can freeze. Can I freeze grapes, yogurt, eggs, cucumbers, anything else you can think of it will be winter soon and I know the cost of some of these things will go up. Thanks

 

[aka-mad4themouse]

I just got a freezer and want to know what I can freeze. Can I freeze grapes, yogurt, eggs, cucumbers, anything else you can think of it will be winter soon and I know the cost of some of these things will go up. Thanks

Grapes become mushy when they thaw but can be eaten frozen.

Yogurt may be frozen but the texture can change.

Eggs - not in the shell and no hard-boiled whole eggs or cooked egg whites.

Cucumbers - no

 

[clh2]

One of the things I always freeze is leftover chopped onions. Just dump them into a freezer bag - and then next time you are making a cooked dish that calls for onions - just dump them in. I would not do this for a cold dish - i.e. a pasta salad, because the texture does change when they are frozen. Doesn't matter, though if you are cooking them.

I've heard you can do the same with celery, although I haven't tried this one yet.

If you are looking for quick easy meal ideas - i.e. where you prep it, freeze it, and then thaw/cook it, there are a lot of recipes - find some just by googling "chicken dump recipes".

And - if you like this concept of meal prep, there are several cookbooks related to this topic, my favorite is "Fix, Freeze, Feast." One of the things I love about this cook book is that it truly limits things I do not like to cook with, i.e. condensed soup mixes. The food is on the healthier side of the spectrum. Does that make sense?

 

[wtrmlnlabs]

I freeze so much, buy in bulk and freeze... my freezer is mostly full of meat, which if you are looking to make dinners easier, cook the meat all at once and freeze cooked... like I brown up a lot of burger and freeze in meal sized to add to spaghetti sauce, I cook chicken breasts and shred/chop or freeze whole cooked, then all you have to do it thaw and throw in the meal! My other biggies are cheese, left over pasta noodles, blueberries, grapes, pies, cookie dough, green beans, snap peas, broccoli, (all that stuff you'd see in the freezers at the store) butter, chocolate... this also helps keep me from eating it all at once :>. I also get the weight watchers cakes and freeze them, I'm going to try to freeze my own homemade cakes, brownies, etc, it should work but haven't tried it yet.

 

[pal-mickey]

Can you freeze cream cheese?

 

[mrodgers]

Best thing about a freezer, plant a garden!

If you can't plant a garden because you live more urban than me (I'm nothing but farmland all around) then just plant a couple of tomato plants. We just cut the tomatos up in quart size bags and freeze.

There is absolutely nothing better when it's 10 F outside in the dead of winter than thawing out a bag of garden tomatoes from the freezer and making a big pot of chili.

Chili and spagetti sauce, that's all we use the tomatoes for and it's definitely worth having them, lots of them, in the freezer. We also grow corn and cook about 2 dozen for dinner. Any left overs get cut from the cob, bagged up, and put in the freezer. I can't eat even frozen corn from the grocery freezer because of having the fantastic sweet taste of fresh corn or just frozen right from the garden.

 

[kellia]

Cream cheese- yes, if it is going to be used in cooking. Regular shredded chesse, too, but tastes best if used in cooking. I freeze stick butter so I know I have a back up because people always use the last of it and don't tell me!

My kids love Go-gurts frozen, they eat them frozen, not thawed, though. Frozen grapes are very good, but gross when thawed.

Onions and green peppers are two veggies that can be frozen without doing anything to. I always buy lots of gr. peppers when they are cheap at the farmer's market in the summer and then chop and freeze for chili. Spread out on a piece of wax paper on cookie sheet to freeze, then dump in a freezer bag so they won't turn in to a big frozen chunk. Same thing with celery, I only use it for cooking and never use a whole one! Most other veggies need to be par-boiled before you put them in or they turn brown and icky when frozen.

Freezers are really good when you are making a meal (soup, meatloaf, etc) throw another one or two into a bag for later. It isn't much more work that way.

 

[hrh_disney_queen]

Basically any veggie or fruit with a lot of water in it is going to thaw out mushy. If you are going to cook with it, or put the fruit frozen into a blender, then it's OK. But you will not get any fruit or veggie to thaw out into it's original state.

One thing that is really great to freeze is cooked bacon. You only mess up your kitchen one time, and any time you need a couple of slices you just take them out, pop them into the micro for a minute, and you have nice crisp bacon with no mess.

 

[tasha99]

Yes, freeze grapes! A bowl of frozen red seedless grapes is one of my favorite warm weather snacks. They don't freeze hard due to the sugar, so you can still chew them. They're like slushy popsicles, only healthy.

 

[jmminarik]

I'm currently on a quest to use everything stocked in our freezer... buying in Bulk and splitting a pig and a lamb with a friend while only cooking for 2 means we have lost of frozen meats, never the time to cook them. So, right now I'm on a soup making binge...taco soup and chicken noodle cooking in the crocks now, will be frozen in large stackable butter containers i get from a friend who owns a store. Currently, zuppa toscana and potato soup are already frozen.

Being urban types who typically work 60 hour weeks, gardening is not in the daily schedule, so we do buy veggies in bulk...and she who must be fed even when I'm working late has her frozen microwavable meals split between the chest and fridge freezer since we buy them in bulk too. But now she has a choice for something other than hot pockets and jamaican patties.

Oh, I also buy ground meat in bulk, and make Joe burgers up, then freeze them. Joe burgers are like premade burgers, but made with love, garlic and have flavor.

Uncooked bacon also freezes well. I'll have to try the cooked bacon trick. Frying it in a dutch oven rather than a pan helps with the splatters (and helps the iron season more), but one mess to clean is always better than more.

Oh, she who must be fed also likes the frozen grapes, all year long. That works well my with natural frugalness, so stockign up when they're on sale makes it better. I prefer my grapes pressed and fermented though. That kind doesn't freeze well.

 

[luvsJack]

Just a note on freezing bell peppers. My mom used to grow bell peppers but when she cut them up and froze them, the whole freezer began to smell like peppers (and some things tasted that way!). I didn't want to do that and I didn't want to waste my peppers; so when I picked a few, I washed them and put them whole in a gallon freezer bag. Worked great. I just take one out and either run it under some water thaw a bit or cut it frozen and cook. And there is not smell in my freezer.

Jalapeno peppers work well this way too.

 

[Mathfailure]

I use our freezer all the time.

But until recently I did not realize you could freeze left over mashed potatoes. Just put what ever amount in a freezer container, and after thawing heat in a pan with a little butter. I do not use the mirowave for this, as the stove top taste better.

Now I plan to make too much, as I try to get two meals out of every cooking session. So I freeze half of what I make, and use it later when life gets hectic.

One great thing to freeze, and make in LARGE quantities, is spag. sauce. It is my families fast food, thaw in microwave, make fresh pasta and dinner is ready.

Milk is another item to freeze, use about a cup from the plastic jug and freeze. This gives 'headroom' for the frozen milk to expand. When going away I always freeze what ever bit of milk is left, then upon arrival home take it out and in the morning milk without making a store stop.

Most bake goods freeze well, and unbaked cookie dough is terrifiic. Just use as much as you want, fresh cookies every time!

 

[mrodgers]

The bacon in the freezer doesn't work at all. I can make 10 pounds of bacon and my 2 girls would eat it all. There's never any left to put in the freezer...

 

[TinkerBrie]

I always bake and freeze! If I am having a party, I bake the week before, cakes, cookies and brownies, and as soon as they cool I wrap them in waxed paper, tin foil, then freezer bags, pop them in the freezer. I take them out the day before the party, ice the thawed cake and make a tray of homemade cookies and brownies!!

 

[NHWX]

You can scoop cookie dough onto parchment or waxed paper, freeze and then pull of the frozen chunks and toss into a freezer bag. Then you can just make the amount that you want.

If you ever have weekend day when you're not pulled in all directions, you can make apple pies in foil pans, double wrap them in freezer (heavy duty) foil and freeze those too. Apples are just finishing here and if I have any free time, I'd do this.

Cranberries now that they're in season. Fresh berries in the summer. If your farmer's market is still going, baked/steamed or otherwise cooked winter squash in freezer bags. Freeze flat bags like a large envelope, that way they'll defrost sooner.

Flour bought on sale. Half gallons of OJ when they're on sale and not limited in number.

Stonyfield Farm Yokids yogurt tubes freeze very well. I believe I was told that they were formulated to freeze well.

Instead of freezing cut tomatoes, I just made batches and batches of sauce in my slow cooker and froze those. Next year, I'll try the cut tomatoes.

Blanched kale, mustard greens, collard greens, etc. The kids didn't really get excited by that one though.

Pesto without... the nuts, I believe. I know you can freeze the basil, olive oil and cheese mixture but not for a very long time. This year our basil did so poorly, we barely had a cup of pesto at the end of the summer.

Some people freeze fresh herbs in water, in ice cube trays and then pop them into freezer bags. Personally, we nearly always use up our herbs during the growing season and then forget the remainder. You'd have to use the frozen herbs in cooking, like soups.

Nuts! If you find a sale, or shop at Costco like I do, nuts stay fresher if frozen.

Shredded carrots freeze well if you're planning on making carrot cake or muffins with them. They'd probably be fine in a pureed soup also. Ditto for zucchini.

Menus4Moms.com has a quiche in a baggie recipe that works pretty well. You can always make double lasagna, quiche, chili and meatloaf and freeze those too.

Hope this helps,

NHWX

 

[kaytieeldr]

If you are looking for quick easy meal ideas - i.e. where you prep it, freeze it, and then thaw/cook it, there are a lot of recipes - find some just by googling "chicken dump recipes".

No need to Google this. They're all on the Cooking Forum here on the DIS - under "Just for Fun" and then "Creative Community". A DISer was kind enough to find and post all the chicken dump recipes

 

[happymommy]

One of my favorite kitchen tools is my foodsaver! I even made a chicken enchilada casserole a while back and froze it, then when it was frozen I took the reynolds wrap off and shrink wrapped the whole casserole dish.

You can freeze chili in a container, then when it's frozen hard, pop it out and use the foodsaver instead. It totally seals so no freezer burn.

 

[Mathfailure]

I have gone round and round with myself over buying a sealsaver.

How much do you spend to keep it running. Not the original expense but the refills. Do you ever find bargins?

I don't want to spend a lot, but the idea of no freezer burn keeps me interested.

Thanks

 

[aka-mad4themouse]

I have gone round and round with myself over buying a sealsaver.

How much do you spend to keep it running. Not the original expense but the refills. Do you ever find bargins?

I don't want to spend a lot, but the idea of no freezer burn keeps me interested.

Thanks

I love my Foodsaver vacuum sealer. I've had it for about 5 years and it still works great. The Foodsaver brand of bags can be expensive but I've gotten them from Amazon for a decent price. They also have other brands that fit the Foodsaver sealer but I haven't tried them.

I usually wait until there is a special for Home & Garden on Amazon and then I stock up. I also prefer the continuous roll vs. the individual bags. It involves an extra step to create a custom bag from the roll and you have to eyeball the size a little. It's just that sometimes I want to freeze only a couple chicken breasts or two hamburger patties and the continuous roll works better for that.

 

[ilovejack02]

I got my foodsaver for xmas last yr from my MIL. I groaned quietly when I opened it. I hate gadgets and kitchen stuff.. no where to store, is in the way on the counter and plus, I dont freeze anything lol. Hubby takes care of all his deer meat and fish, I dont mess with it.

Well I have to say.. boy am I glad I got it now ! LOVE IT! I freeze everything now and I use it to seal chip and cereal bags to keep it all fresh too.

I really dont have a clue how much the bags cost though.. hubby always seems to by them.
I am going to have to check into it though.. will look at the amazon route for sure!