Packaging Food for Freezing

I had a request from one of my great blogger friends and when I read about her request I know it was a great blog topic! Kebba B. suggested I write a blog about packaging food for freezing and portion sized packs. Thanks for the request and the blog topic suggestion Kebba!

During the summer I love to freeze fresh vegetables from our garden. A few years ago we had an over abundance of zucchini squash so Lia and I chopped it up, skin and all, and froze in ziplock bags. I mark the amount and date on the bag. Some are 1/2 cup and others are 1 cup so it’s perfect for omelets, soups or breads. Same with peppers, we had so many peppers that I cut the ends off, removed the seeds and Lia put them in baggies. We also chop some and freeze that for cooking and omelets. I also do this for cauliflower and I’ve had these last for months. When freezing vegetables I “shake” the bags while freezing so the pieces don’t freeze together. Some times I freeze on a cookie sheet and then bag when frozen.

I do the same with strawberries. After we pick our baskets of fresh, delicious berries, I remove the hull, wash them and freeze them whole on a cookie sheet. When fully frozen, I put in gallon sized freezer bags and they are now ready for baking or smoothies!

Most already know I’m frugal (or cheap) when buying groceries. If I see beef or chicken on sale I grab it up and then separate the pieces into individual packages. It’s so much easier to have single servings in case I want to prepare different meals for hubby and I. It’s also quicker to unthaw if they aren’t piled up or frozen together in larger quantities.

House of Raeford Chicken Farm has specials where you can order 40 pounds of chicken and the meet at a local pick up point in our town. A neighbor and I split the purchase so we each have 20 pounds of chicken breasts! I covered the craft table with plastic and Lia helped trim and bag the chicken. The breasts were huge so two went into each bag and that was more than enough for dinner for all of us.

When I stock up on steaks at Sam’s or Costco I repackage them so it’s easier to pull one or two out of the package when frozen. As they are freezing I flip the bag a few times to keep the pieces from freezing together.

If I have a stack of single servings of meat and Rich is extra hungry I can pull out two steaks for him. This is a great way to save also because if I were to cook up three steaks from a store package, one may go to waste if we don’t eat it when prepared.

One question Kebba had was whether I use the heat sealer bag when freezing. I don’t and one reason is the refills are quite pricey and if you remember I’m cheap! But another reason is I don’t have a lot of extra storage for the machine and bags. If I store it in the cupboard it get’s pushed to the back and then it’s gone forever. Using ziplock bags are easy, inexpensive an don’t take a lot of storage room. PLUS after I have an empty bag I wash it out, dry it good and recycle it to the garage for storing paint brushes, batteries and small tools.

One of my favorite meals to portion freeze is my homemade soup! I make ham bone soup from left over ham bone, add some chopped up ham, potatoes, carrots, beans or peas, onions and cook in my Blue Diamond pressure cooker. After having delicious soup for dinner I will put about 1 1/2 cups of cooled soup in containers and freeze them for a few months. A pot of soup can go for meals two days in a row plus I freeze four to six containers. These also are great for emergencies! My neighbor’s husband was in the hospital and she was running back and forth so I knew she didn’t have time to cook so I took her down a container of soup to last her a few days.

I can’t forget my granddaughter’s mean lasagna! Alexandra makes up two large pans of either beef or chicken lasagna and it’s great to have individual meal portions in the freezer for a quick meal. Sometimes I know ahead if I’ll have it and take it out of the freezer in the morning. Other times I pull it out frozen, heat it up and it’s as delicious as when Alex made it.

Both the lasagna and Lia’s favorite Italian cookie recipe call for ricotta cheese. But what do we do with the left over cheese, we can only make so many cookies! LOL I have a silicone freezer tray for making burger patties. It holds six burgers and has a cover to seal them in. Well I found that each square can hold 3/4 cups of cheese, just the right amount for a batch of Lia’s cookies or take a few to make Alexandra’s lasagna. It’s also cheaper to purchase a larger container and freeze the left over!

Kebba also asked what I consider a portion. That really depends on what I’m storing but usually a portion is the amount you would eat at a meal. Like I mentioned, if you store in smaller portions you can always pull a few out if you are hungry! So stock up of ziplock baggies and plastic storage containers, remember to date the package and you’ll be ready to freeze portion meals so you won’t have to cook as much! Thank you Kebba for this suggestion of packaging food for freezing, hope it helps!