What foods do you freeze?

[Juniper]

I admit I am a bit OCD about my fridge and freezer. I clean it out every Tuesday, no lie.

Leftovers are probably one of the biggest reasons I am overweight. Here's the story -- my family loves to "graze" and it's hard sometimes to get them to eat a regular meal. So if they had their way they would eat nothing but convenience foods: Hot Pockets, pot pies, microwave pizza, etc. This is not healthy or cheap, so I try to make big batches of yummy stuff like soup, chili, pasta, casseroles, things that taste great re-heated. I even package them in small 1- or 2-serving containers in the fridge.

But apparently the other three people in my house feel like Tiki. If it isn't freshly prepared, or doesn't come in a disposable tray and plastic wrap, they don't seem to believe it is edible food.

So I end up eating it, because I cannot stand to waste all that food.

I do freeze some of it though, if only so I won't feel compelled to eat chili for nine meals in a row. I use bags and freeze flat, and also sometimes one of those vacuum sealers. You can use them for liquid stuff if you first freeze it in a bowl then pop it out. I do that all the time with chicken/turkey broth.

Note: if the broth is in the freezer too long and you feel funny about using it, dogs really love crunching on broth-sicles on a hot day.

I don't have an extra freezer right now, but I want one. Actually I lied; I do have one but I'm not sure it works. It's ancient and I inherited it from my mom. It's an upright and I want a chest freezer. No, I do not wish to freeze my chest.

I also do the home canning and dehydrating thing because I am paranoid about losing all my stored goodies if the power goes out. I grow a big garden every year and I just LOVE home-canned tomatoes and green beans. I also make zucchini relish, better than any pickle relish I've ever had. I have a sour cherry tree and so I usually can about 12 pints of those each year, and about six pints of peach preserves from the peach tree.

I have two pears and an apple tree too, but they haven't done very well yet. Maybe this year will be better. I am trying to grow blackberries and blueberries too, but I'm not having much luck with them.