Freezer Cooking Tips
So, in an effort to cut down on preservatives and to take full advantage of my coupon deals and "market special" meats, I've decided to venture into Freezer Cooking. You know, that totally intimidating idea of cooking mass quantities of food and freezing them for use at a later day? Well, I started off small and have managed to fill an entire full-sized upright deep freezer with a beautiful array of chicken, beef, turkey, pasta dinners, and stews. Not to mention the breakfast burritos, homemade breads, muffins, waffles, bacon, and vegetables.
First a few tips and tricks I've learned along the way.
Think to some of your favorite recipes. Is there a common thread among them? For instance, down here in Louisiana, most dinners need sauteed onions. So, if you use a lot of chopped onions, buy a bag when they go on sale, bring them home and torture yourself for one hour and chop them all (keep tissues handy *tear*) or be a ninja and just throw them in a food processor with a chopping blade. Separate them into 1 cup servings, put them in little Ziploc sandwich bags, put those bags in a freezer bag and if they were potent onions like mine usually are, go ahead and put THAT bag into another freezer bag. And freeze. Then, when a recipe calls for 1 medium onion or 1 cup chopped onion, you can grab one and throw it in!
If you catch a great deal on chicken (my Kroger had their chicken leg quarters on sale for 49 cents a pound, so I bought three 10-lb bags of chicken that day for 15 dollars) buy in bulk, salt and pepper the chicken and bake. Then cube or shred (or both) the cooked meat and separate into Ziploc bags, and freeze. A lot of recipes can be made even faster if the chicken is already cooked!
If you have a casserole dish you like preparing but you only ever eat half of it at dinner and the rest gets put in the fridge (and then sometimes gets forgotten or passed up for something else) then separate your recipe into two smaller dishes. Bake one, freeze one.
If you decide to freeze one half of your recipes, line the dish with tinfoil, and then saran wrap. Assemble the casserole, let cool, and freeze. Once frozen, you can pop the casserole ice-cube out of the dish, wrap with tinfoil, label and stack in the freezer. Then when your ready to thaw and bake it later, just unwrap the tinfoil and saran wrap, and place the casserole back into the dish you froze it in. That way you don't have all your glass dishes tied up in the freezer. Then thaw and bake as normal when your ready to eat it!
The easiest things to freeze are baked goods. Muffins, pancakes, waffles, bread. If you are making pancakes or waffles for you family one morning, instead of throwing out that extra batter you have leftover, go ahead and make extra of whatever it is and once they are cooled, put them on a baking sheet and put in the freezer. Once frozen, put them in a labeled Ziploc bag. Then anytime you want one, just microwave or throw in the toaster for a quick breakfast. Got some muffins leftover or a loaf of Zucchini bread you want to save for later? After the breads are cooled, wrap tightly in saran wrap and put in labeled bags and freeze (muffins are wrapped individually). When your ready to eat, simply microwave the unwrapped muffin for 30 seconds, or let it thaw on the counter. Allow whole loaves of bread to thaw to room temp, and voila! Bread!
It's also a great idea to buy bacon when it's on sale. Bake it all on baking sheets, drain on paper towels, let cool, and put them on a clean baking sheet and freeze. Once frozen, put in a labeled bag. Then if a recipe calls for bacon, or you just want some for breakfast, you have fully cooked bacon that just gets nuked in the microwave for a few seconds to reheat! I use turkey bacon and it works great!
So, those are a few of my favorite Freezer Cooking tips. I hope it doesn't sound as intimidating now!
First a few tips and tricks I've learned along the way.
Think to some of your favorite recipes. Is there a common thread among them? For instance, down here in Louisiana, most dinners need sauteed onions. So, if you use a lot of chopped onions, buy a bag when they go on sale, bring them home and torture yourself for one hour and chop them all (keep tissues handy *tear*) or be a ninja and just throw them in a food processor with a chopping blade. Separate them into 1 cup servings, put them in little Ziploc sandwich bags, put those bags in a freezer bag and if they were potent onions like mine usually are, go ahead and put THAT bag into another freezer bag. And freeze. Then, when a recipe calls for 1 medium onion or 1 cup chopped onion, you can grab one and throw it in!
If you catch a great deal on chicken (my Kroger had their chicken leg quarters on sale for 49 cents a pound, so I bought three 10-lb bags of chicken that day for 15 dollars) buy in bulk, salt and pepper the chicken and bake. Then cube or shred (or both) the cooked meat and separate into Ziploc bags, and freeze. A lot of recipes can be made even faster if the chicken is already cooked!
If you have a casserole dish you like preparing but you only ever eat half of it at dinner and the rest gets put in the fridge (and then sometimes gets forgotten or passed up for something else) then separate your recipe into two smaller dishes. Bake one, freeze one.
If you decide to freeze one half of your recipes, line the dish with tinfoil, and then saran wrap. Assemble the casserole, let cool, and freeze. Once frozen, you can pop the casserole ice-cube out of the dish, wrap with tinfoil, label and stack in the freezer. Then when your ready to thaw and bake it later, just unwrap the tinfoil and saran wrap, and place the casserole back into the dish you froze it in. That way you don't have all your glass dishes tied up in the freezer. Then thaw and bake as normal when your ready to eat it!
The easiest things to freeze are baked goods. Muffins, pancakes, waffles, bread. If you are making pancakes or waffles for you family one morning, instead of throwing out that extra batter you have leftover, go ahead and make extra of whatever it is and once they are cooled, put them on a baking sheet and put in the freezer. Once frozen, put them in a labeled Ziploc bag. Then anytime you want one, just microwave or throw in the toaster for a quick breakfast. Got some muffins leftover or a loaf of Zucchini bread you want to save for later? After the breads are cooled, wrap tightly in saran wrap and put in labeled bags and freeze (muffins are wrapped individually). When your ready to eat, simply microwave the unwrapped muffin for 30 seconds, or let it thaw on the counter. Allow whole loaves of bread to thaw to room temp, and voila! Bread!
It's also a great idea to buy bacon when it's on sale. Bake it all on baking sheets, drain on paper towels, let cool, and put them on a clean baking sheet and freeze. Once frozen, put in a labeled bag. Then if a recipe calls for bacon, or you just want some for breakfast, you have fully cooked bacon that just gets nuked in the microwave for a few seconds to reheat! I use turkey bacon and it works great!
Comments
Britt
Thanks, chelsea