One frequently asked question about freezer cooking is, “how do I store the food in my freezer?” This answer comes with many solutions and comes down to what works best for you.
Freezer Bags-You can get quite a bit into a quart sized freezer bag. Depending on the size of your family, you may need to use a gallon sized. Last fall when I picked up brats on sale I put two per baggie then put the baggies into one large freezer bag. The ziploc bags labeled freezer bags are important to buy rather than storage bags as they will keep the food fresher and avoid freezer burn. Freezer bags are my method of choice. I buy them when they are on sale or at the Dollar Tree. For things like cookies with dry crumbs I am likely to reuse the bag. Bags that held raw meat get tossed immediately. When putting the food in the bags I get everything as flat as possible so it lies nicely on the shelf and other items can be stacked on top.
Plastic Containers-These work well too, however they take up more space. Be sure to leave a little room at the top for soups, but not too much as air can cause freezer burn. Using stackable containers is my best advice if you choose to use containers.
Casseroles/Glass Dishes-These are great because you can take it out, let it thaw in the fridge, then pop it in the oven(or sometimes go from freezer to oven). However, I don’t know about you, but I know I don’t have enough glass dishes to have one or two tied up in the freezer for any length of time. A great solution to this is lining your dish with parchment paper, assembling the meal, then sticking it in the freezer. Let it freeze until solid then you’ll be able to lift the parchment paper out and transfer it into a freezer bag. This gives you double coverage against freezer burn because you now have a lining of parchment paper and a freezer bag protecting it. And best of all-your dish is no longer tied up. When it comes time to cooking it put it back into the same dish and bake. The parchment paper will be safe in the oven.
What other methods do you use for storing food in the freezer? Which method works best for you?
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We invested in a vacuum sealer. We separate the food into double or quadruple servings for 1 or 2 days.
It’s wonderful.
I also line my dish with foil & then plastic wrap. After freezing, I remove the meal, finish wrapping (if it doesn’t fit in a Ziploc bag) and return to freezer. When the day comes to make that meal, simply remove the foil and plastic, thaw in original dish, then bake as directed. This avoids gooey parchment paper under my lasagnas!
I also freeze my chicken pot pies in foil pie plates. The whole pie will slip into a Ziploc brand gallon sized bag. (For some reason, they do not fit in generic branded gallon sized bags.)
Everything else goes into Ziplocs straight away. When I divide up large portions of hamburger, I use quart sized bags. Once filled and sealed, I flatten them as much as possible. All my meat is done this way. In my freezer, it stores on end in a plastic tub. It sort of looks like files… I can look thru easily for the right meat and the right size. A bonus: meat frozen this way defrosts VERY quickly in a sink of water!
I also use bags for the freezer. I like to freeze homemade Spaghetti sauce in baggies as well. Freezing them flat, sometimes I stick a cutting board or cookie sheet in the freezer on top of things to get them to lay flat. We like to eat muffins and cupcakes in our family. I buy or make these and freeze them. It takes only 30 seconds for a large muffin in the microwave to thaw them out. Bagels I buy from Costco, slice them and freeze. My toaster has a defrost cycle that works well but have used the regular cycle for a bagel. No more waste of not eating them before they start to grow fuzzy spots.