The Cold Never Bothered Me Anyway

September Writing Challenge - Prompt #9:

Frozen

Yesterday I wrote about doing "food inventory" around my house so I could make a meal plan. We keep a pretty decent food storage on-hand, and it has served us well during times of financial struggle and impromptu potlucks (it is my goal to always be "potluck ready"). I don't believe in hoarding food, but I think it's wise to have a good amount of food available for emergencies and plain old convenience. 

In addition to our regular refrigerator and pantry, we have a storage room and two freezers (they are on the small side). The freezers fluctuate in their fullness. Sometimes there's no space to spare and other times they're near empty. Right now they're in between. 

Exclusive look inside one of our freezers

Here are ten things I like to freeze:

1. Fruit 

I have tons of frozen fruit in my freezers. During August, I picked a bunch of peaches and froze them in smoothie portions. I usually treat peaches with Fruit Fresh so they don't turn brown. I also froze a bunch of raspberries. Whenever I have bananas starting to turn brown, I peel them, break them in half, and throw them in freezer bags (I once tried slicing them and putting them on a cookie sheet to freeze before putting them in a bag, and everything in my freezer ended up taking on a banana flavor. I've never tried that again as I wasn't a fan of Totinos Party Pizza with a hint of banana). 

Any time we have fruit that we might not eat before it goes bad, I freeze it. Strawberries, cantaloupe, pineapple, mango, whatever. I've even frozen watermelon (it goes okay in smoothies, but it's not our favorite). 

2. Veggies

I buy some frozen veggies from the store, like corn and peas, but I also chop and freeze some of my own. Mostly peppers. I don't ever want peppers to go to waste, so I freeze them in small portions to use in soups or omelets. 

I also throw spinach in the freezer if it's about to wilt. It's great to add to smoothies, and I've used it in quiche, soup, and spinach dip.  

I've put things like diced carrots and celery in the freezer before and used them in soups of other cooked dishes. They're not the greatest texture, but it works.

3. Onions

I know onions should fall under veggies, but I wanted to give them their own spot because I love having frozen onions at the ready. I hate chopping onions, so any time I have to chop one, I throw some of it in a small container to freeze (if I use freezer bags, I double-bag them to prevent flavor contamination). It's so nice to just pull out a little cup of chopped onions for any recipes that call for onions. I wouldn't use them for anything requiring fresh or raw onions, but they are nice for when the onions are going to be cooked. 

4. Meat

I could give meat its own blog post because I have so much to say about it, but I'll try to keep it condensed. 

Two staples I like to have are ground beef (and/or turkey) already browned and chicken that's already cooked. I hate having to cook meat to then add to a dish that needs more cooking. For example, I don't want to cook chicken and then make a chicken pot pie with it. That's like cooking twice. Ew. No. So I always have cooked meat ready to go. I often buy rotisserie chicken to cut up and freeze. 

But I also like to have raw meat available. 

About once every three months, I buy a large batch of chicken. I freeze it in several ways. I cut some into bite-sized chunks (for skillet or sheet pan meals), I cut some into thin slices (for fajitas or massaman), I cut some for grilling, and I freeze a few full breasts. 

I also like to freeze meat in marinade so it's ready to go on the grill when it's thawed. Some marinades don't freeze solid, but I looked that up online and found that it's okay because it still reaches a safe temperature for long-term storage. 

We usually have a few roasts, some fish, and some ribs or brisket in the freezer as well since we buy it when it's on sale. 

5. Baked Desserts

I'm an advocate for "bake once, eat thrice." I rarely bake without doubling or tripling the recipe. Right now I have cornbread muffins, banana muffins, chocolate zucchini bread, and pumpkin cupcakes (unfrosted) in the freezer. I also have two batches of cream cheese frosting (works wonderfully). We just finished off the last of our frozen cookies, but I'll replenish them soon enough. 

6. Bread

I always have an assortment of bread and buns in the freezer. As with desserts, if I make rolls or bread, I always double or triple the recipe so I can freeze some. I also always have flour and corn tortillas in the freezer. 

7. Cheese

Grated cheese freezes rather nicely (block or sliced cheese goes crumbly, but it works in a pinch). I freeze both pre-grated cheese and cheese I grate myself. For example, if we are leaving on a week-long vacation, and I'm worried our cheese will go moldy while we're gone, I'll grate it and throw it in a freezer bag. 

8. Freezer meals

I don't make a lot of freezer meals - I'm more apt to freeze meal components rather than full entrees - but every now and then, I prep extra dinner and freeze some of it. Enchiladas, lasagna, soup, pulled pork, etc. 

9. Actual frozen food

Of course I have the standard dinosaur chicken nuggets and whatever other frozen food I've picked up from the grocery store for our desperate moments. We don't eat a lot of frozen convenience food, but we keep a bit around for "those days." We eat a lot more of it in the summer when I'm overwhelmed with all the people in my house all day. 

10. Odds and Ends

I have a few odds and ends in the freezer. Every few months I make a quadruple batch of refried beans in two InstantPots and freeze them in small containers. I use them for 7-layer dip, burritos, and for a snack for my kids. Sometimes they'll come home from school and eat a big scoop of refried beans with chips. 

Recently I tried freezing buttermilk, and that worked really well. I poured it in muffin cups (which make 1/2 cup portions) and then transferred it to bags after it had frozen solid. I liked doing this because it's so much cheaper to buy buttermilk in a large batch, but I never use it all. It's also not something I use enough to routinely keep in the fridge, so having frozen portions has been great.

I'm always up for trying to freeze something exciting and new. This year I wanted to try freezing tomatoes since canning supplies are hard to come by, but I have so many tomato products in my storage room that I decided to not worry about it. It's not too late, though. I might still give it a go!