Top Food Freezing Tips | Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

Freezing food is definitely an essential way for me to get meals on the table day in, day out whilst I juggle a million other things.

So I am always on the look out for top tips on how to make the best possible use of my freezer and am loving all the fabulous advice that was linked up at the Mommy Archive's weekly link-up party.

1. Freeze Extra At Every Meal
Cooking extra portions to freeze whenever you make a meal is one of the easiest ways to stock up the freezer.

If you do it consistently you can soon get to the point where you only need to cook from scratch 50% of the time.

2. Cook & Freeze Meals For a Month Days
There are definitely times though - if for example you've got a new baby on the way, a big deadline at work or additional family commitments - that it makes sense to have a big cook up session and freeze a month's worth of meals all in one go.

If you're looking for ideas on how to do this check out these posts from The Thriftiness Miss and Learning the Ropes.

Six Sisters Stuff

3. Freeze Crockpot Ingredients Ready to Go
If you've got a crockpot or slow cooker you can cut down the time you need to get food on the table by preparing and bagging up all the ingredients for a whole load of your favourite recipes so they are all ready to go. Six Sisters Stuff and Real Life Notes have both got a whole load of ideas on how to do this.

If you're having a day making crockpot meals you can make variations around a core ingredient e.g. chicken or hamburgers - you'll save time and money without having so much of one thing in the freezer there's no room for anything else.

You can't support every food fad someone in the family goes through but if you've got vegans or family members with allergies bagging up ingredients to go in the crock pot will help.

Turnips 2 Tangerines

4. Flash Freeze Fruit & Vegetables
Flash freezing fruit and vegetables is a brilliant way to reduce waste and save time. You just need
to wash and chop into the required size, spread out on a baking tray so not touching, freeze for a couple of hours and then bag up in separate portions trying to suck as much air out of the bags as possible with a straw.

If you've got vegetables chopped up and ready to go you can have a tasty side dish or a wonderfully warming soup in no time at all.

5. Freeze Seasonal Fruit & Veg
And flash freezing seasonal fruit & veg like strawberries is a great way to enjoy the nicest fruit & veg all the year round whilst saving a whole bundle of money.

6. Cook Sauces in Bulk & Freeze
Most great sauces need time to build up flavour and even simple sauces that don't are somehow stressful when you're in a hurry to get food on the table. If you've got a small freezer and haven't got room to freeze whole meals or all the ingredients you can at least bulk cook and freeze sauces. Definitely a tastier and cheaper option to those in jars.

The Resourceful Gals

7. Freeze Essentials So Never Run Out
Bread, butter, milk and eggs can all be frozen to prevent waste and to ensure you never run out.

8. Freeze Muffins & Breakfast Bakeries
Freshly baked muffins first thing in the morning takes some beating, but as this is night impossible as part of the average morning run, it's lucky that muffins freeze so well and can be defrosted & warm in no time.

And if you die for an English muffin packed with egg, bacon and cheese, a scrummy burrito or breakfast biscuits in the morning you could freeze a whole batch of your own all ready to go.

9. Buy & Freeze Great Value Meat
If you see good quality meat that you know your family will eat on sale at a great price it makes sense to buy in bulk, cut up and freeze.

10. Keep a Freezer Inventory
But if your using your freezer a lot you obviously have to be careful that you're not wasting money by forgetting about stuff lurking for too long at the bottom or the back. There's all sorts of fancy inventory lists out there but a simple small dry erase white board is an incredibly easy and effective way to get started.

11. Use Up Leftovers in Pies, Pasties & Burritos
Cooking on the Front Burner

There are always times after celebrations and parties when there is a load of meat left over that is either going to go to waste or bore people silly for days on end. Quick pies and pasties or burritos are a great way to use up the leftover meat tastily and economically.

12. Freezing Half a Desert
I am often deterred from making puddings because I just don't have time or mental energy to do it all from scratch. Pastry, crumble & cobbler mixture or pancake batter don't really take time but having them ready to go in the freezer just gives me that extra little kick up the rear I need to get pudding on the table.

13. No Cook Puddings
And then of course there are a whole load of completely yummy puddings that you can actually make it IN the freezer! Anyone fancy some ... Limoncello Freeze, Frozen Pineapple Pie Peanut Butter, Banana & Nutella Pie or Black Forest Freezer Pie ...?

Foodie in WV

14. Using Up Every Last Bit
It's very easy to end up wasting flavourings that don't last whether it's fresh herbs or tomato puree but freezing scraps of for example herbs in butter or spoonfuls of tomato puree in ice cube trays will give you the exact portion you need for lots of meals without any waste.

15. Healthy Summer Snacks
When the children are running in and out of the house in the summer holidays freezing up smoothies into lollies is a great way to get fruit fruit into them. Or you could even freeze up the fruit itself as in these fabulous frozen banana pops.

For more meal planning ideas do check out these posts and visit The Mommy Archive ... and if you've got great freezer tips do share them in the link-up below ...