Digging through the archives, this was a post from 2011 that still so helpful to getting control over your freezer!  

Your freezer can save you a ton of money!  Today I want to share my best tips freezer storage techniques. While it’s great for storing all your ice cream… put your freezer to work storing extra food, freezer meals, pre-cut food and pre-cooked meats and so much more.  Buying items when they are on sale and in-season is key to saving in the grocery store.  Making sure those items are stored properly only helps to increase your savings.

Don’t quite think it’s a big money saver?  Check out my 6 reasons why I think having an extra freezer saves time and money.

Best Freezer Techniques

Freeze the right things

What can you freeze? I would say almost anything!  Aside from normal things, we freeze cheese, eggs, milk, refrigerated rolls, cream cheese, etc. Also, don’t forget about things you can freeze to save time later: cooked rice, chopped onions, broths, and more. (Obviously, the one thing to stay away from is a can of coke!)

Tip: In the South it is also common to freeze flour, bread and other similar products. Remember, if you freeze any baking ingredients that you should always warm them to room temperature before cooking.

Prep things the right way

You can freeze all things in the world but it doesn’t do any good if you don’t prep them properly. Depending on the food you are freezing, the prep will be different.  In general, for vegetables you will need to clean and blanch them just long enough to stop any further ripening.  This helps to preserve color, texture and flavor for 9-12 months depending on the vegetable.  That means you can buy items in season and store them until the start of next year’s season!  Here’s a quick guide for how to freeze fresh vegetables.

To prevent freezer burn on food, it’s good to get things cold in the fridge before putting them in the freezer. If you put warm or hot food in a container or freezer bag and steam collects in the container and then freezes, it can cause the food to be less yummy when you take it out of the freezer. Read More→