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.

[classicman]

Originally Posted by Juniper

my family loves to "graze" and 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 ...

... don't buy them at all. I started that a few years ago. There was a bunch of whining at first and they still love them as a treat. I buy "it" maybe once every 2 months, or when I am away... special circumstances.

Its amazing what they'll eat when their beloved junk food isn't around. They cook & prepare stuff on their own and occasionally even make me dinner

Originally Posted by Juniper

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.

For the record, that's not actually me at all. As long as I eat part of something when it's fresh, I will then happily proceed to eat the leftovers all week.

As for plastic disposable tray food...

[DanaC]

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.

This is me. As a kid I was quite happy to eat stew that'd been added to since its first cookup days before. Now...every Preston guild I may actually eat something I have made too much of and stuffed in the fridge. But it's rare. If it's spiced I'm more comfortable with it...but even then. Not really happy.

[Sundae]

I like leftovers. Yum yum yum.
But they come from the fridge, and are ripe for picking.

I wouldn't like old food, defrosted.
The freezing process makes them food that wasn't yummy enough to eat the first time round.

[Juniper]

Well, I like to call them "planned-overs."

What does work is to re-purpose them somewhat. Say, make a beef roast one day, then make it into beef veggie soup the next. Roast chicken/chicken casserole. Etc.

[Sundae]

Originally Posted by Juniper

What does work is to re-purpose them somewhat. Say, make a beef roast one day, then make it into beef veggie soup the next. Roast chicken/chicken casserole. Etc.

Oh yes, that would work for me!
Remember, like Dani I am a singleton. Evn living at home, I essentially cook for one. It's a different perspective.

And I'd eat your frozen meals like a shot - I'm sure they are yummy in their own right.
It's just my own I have an attitude of "been there, done that" to.

[limey]

Though half of an old-married couple now, I was single and living alone for a long time. I used to cook a "serves four" batch of something, eat one portion and freeze the other two*. I used to dish it out into one plate and two tupperware boxes straightaway (prevents accidental consumption of even larger portions!) and think of it as storing away no-cook nights for me!
Yum!





* [portion control, what's that?]

[DanaC]

Yep, me too. I will eat left overs from mum's fridge, no problem.

[jinx]

I'm going to freeze strawberries as soon as the stands open, but usually I only freeze stuff that I've bought frozen... edamame, chicken fingers, popcicles...
I don't think freezing improves the flavor of anything, and I'm a minute from the market so why bother?
Leftovers get eaten quickly here.

[Beestie]

I freeze grapes and kumquats in the summer. Good snacks for cooling off.

And at least one bottle of vodka, rum or grain.

[ZenGum]

Originally Posted by Beestie

I freeze grapes and kumquats in the summer. Good snacks for cooling off.

And at least one bottle of vodka, rum or grain.

Cut a round hole in a watermelon and drain as much juice as you can. Replace the juice with vodka. Replace the cut patch for the hole, and freeze the melon.

No, *chomp* I haven't drunk a drop all day.

[Juniper]

Sorry for misinterpreting your post, Tiki.

I totally understand the single gal's perspective. For years I tried to encourage my mom to cook and eat better by doing the "planned-over" thing, but she was really picky and not a very good cook.

As for me, if I were single I'd have no problem making a bunch of something I love and eating it for every meal. I'm weird like that. Chili for dinner, breakfast, lunch, late night snack, repeat. I made this ramen noodle salad stuff that nobody liked but me, and I ate it all myself over two days. Sometimes variety is just too much work.

That's exactly what I used to do when I was single... make a pot of soup or a big casserole, and then eat it for lunch and dinner all week. Didn't phase me at all.

My ex hated eating the same thing more than twice a week, so I started doing a menu plan so that I was cooking something new every night five nights a week, and we would do take-out once a week and go out to dinner once a week. It was a pretty good system.

Now that it's just me and the kids, I'm sort of doing the "big pot of food" thing again, only I try not to mix it up a bit on the days that I have them, and only have one "pot O' leftovers" in the fridge at a time.

I often buy whole salmon or roasts, cut them up, and freeze them. It's a lot cheaper and it's nice during the lean times to have food on hand.

I also do a lot of drying and canning, but it being Spring, all I really have left in the pantry is applesauce.

[DanaC]

*blinks* har. took me a moment :P What I meant was they were little plastic sleeves with the pockets shaped as elephants, and they were pink. Pink elephants for going in the G&T.