Talk to me about freezing meat, leftovers, etc...

[maddiepaddy]

I am trying to get our grocery budget under control and have been trying to reduce waste and freeze more. This includes stocking up on meat when it's on sale, trying to preserve leftovers and ingredients, etc....

I'm wondering what types of things you guys freeze, how you package it, how you defrost... Basically, tricks of the 'trade'. 

Also, does anyone use one of those food vacuum sealer thingies? Is it worth it?

[chessie]

For large portions of meat, we use vacuum sealed bags. They are fantastic, saves us lots of money otherwise. We pretty much freeze it all--left overs, lamb, beef, chicken, turkey, pork, whatever other meat DH hunts..Many times I will make large batches of soups, meatballs, gravy, whatever and we will just freeze them as well.

[runblondie26]

I'll freeze pretty much anything except soft cheeses, greek yogurt/sour cream, lettuce, cucumbers, and tomatoes. I've even frozen milk before, and it tastes fine once thawed. Just use a sharpie to write the date on the cap when you put it in the freezer. Once thawed, you have the number of days between when it went into the fridge and the "use by date" as a guideline for when to toss it.

[mbcdefg]

This is for me and MH, we don't have kids:

Bone-in skin-on chicken thighs are around $4/package at my store, typically 12 thighs in a pack. I use Ziplocks quart bags and put 4 thighs in each bag, which is enough for one meal.

I buy the thick cuts of boneless skinless chicken breasts and filet them myself at home. Usually around $6-9 per package and I put one meal's worth in each Ziplock. I can usually get three meals per pack. Sometimes there are small scraps of meat left from when I trim around the fat, so I cook those and put them in the fridge, and I'll include them in a green salad for a work lunch.

After I roast a whole chicken and we eat our fill, I pull the rest of the meat off the bones and refrigerate in a Tupperware. Then I put the bones in a gallon Ziplock and freeze until I'm ready to make stock. I also use a gallon Ziplock to save scraps from when I cut up carrots, onions, and celery for other meals. When I'm ready to make stock, I put the carcass and vegetables in my crockpot, add salt and whole peppercorns, a bay leaf, garlic, any other herbs I have, and fill with water. I cook it, strain it and let it cool, then I portion out 1 or 2 cups each into Ziplocks and freeze those until I need broth for a recipe.

If I buy roast beef, I typically cut it in half and freeze one/both because one roast gives us a ton of leftovers that we can't finish.

If I make chili or chicken soup and we can't finish it all within a few days, I freeze the rest.

I'll freeze leftover wine to use in recipes, either in a small Ziplock or in an old ice cube tray.

I freeze bananas that are starting to get mushy, to make banana bread later.

To defrost, I'll typically transfer any of this to the fridge before I go to bed, so that it's thawed by dinnertime the next day. If I'm in a hurry, I'll put it in a mixing bowl, fill with cold water, and frequently change the water. Leftover soup/chili gets microwaved or heated in a pot on the stove. Frozen stock and wine typically just gets put right into the pot/pan as I'm cooking.

[ddi741]

We go to Costco about once a month and buy most of our meat there.  They have chicken breasts in groups of 10 but they are in removable packs of 2.  They also sell their legs and thighs the same way.

I also buy their giant package of pork chops (I think it's 10 to a pack) and when I get home I split it up into 5 packs of 2. 
I also buy their 2 pack of flank steaks and freeze them seperately. 
They also sell ravioli that is a 2 pack so we freeze that also.

Other stuff I have recently bought on sale and frozen: Pork Shoulder, Boston Butt, Ribs, chicken drummettes.

I don't need to do anything to the chicken or ravioli I buy from Costco.  The other stuff I open, seperate, wrap in plastic wrap, then in aluminum foil and then into a zip lock bag.  I write what it is, how many and the date.

Then if we decide we're having pork chops one night, I just leave a note reminding myself to take them out of the freezer the night before.

[maddiepaddy]

This is all very helpful, thanks all!

Chessie, what type of vacuum bags do you use?

Ddi, I have been just using plastic wrap and ziplocks to freeze meat, does the layer of foil help?

[smiley]

I have a Food Saver. I was buying the Food Saver bags and rolls of their resealable product but switched to the Rival brand you can find at WalMart. They do the same exact thing at a fraction of the cost.

The bags have a place to write the item and date on it which is helpful. I try to rotate the stuff in the freezer to make sure I use it in a timely manner.

[ddi741]

Jan 24, 2013 13:57:19 GMT -5 maddiepaddy said:

This is all very helpful, thanks all!

Chessie, what type of vacuum bags do you use?

Ddi, I have been just using plastic wrap and ziplocks to freeze meat, does the layer of foil help?

I think it does. Honestly my mom always did it that way so that's the way I do it but  I don't have issues with freezer burn so it must work

[Deleted]

We buy a 1/2 cow (split with another family) annually so our beef all comes vacuum sealed. I buy frozen chicken breasts and thighs at Costco as well as shrimp, salmon, and scallops. Any other meat we are going to eat (pork, lamb, other fish) we eat only occasionally so I just buy fresh when I am making such a meal.

We also buy shredded cheeses (cheddar, mozzarella, mexican blend) at Costco and freeze in 1- and 2-cup portions.

I will freeze leftovers in ziplock baggies and squeeze all the air out before putting them in the freezer.

In a couple of months I am going to start doubling freezable recipes and preparing separate meals just for the freezer to stock up before DD2 arrives. I intend to place ready-to-cook ingredients in a ziplock baggie to thaw and cook in the crock pot, and to make and bake entire one-pan dishes in disposable aluminum bakeware and stick them in the freezer to be reheated later. I don't want to start this process any earlier than March or April so the food will still be pretty fresh when we eat it over the summer.

[maddiepaddy]

Thanks, smiley, I'll check out the Food Saver. I don't shop at Wal-Mart, but maybe I can find the off-brand bags somewhere else.

[phunluvin82]

Jan 24, 2013 14:22:40 GMT -5 ddi741 said:

Jan 24, 2013 13:57:19 GMT -5 maddiepaddy said:

This is all very helpful, thanks all!

Chessie, what type of vacuum bags do you use?

Ddi, I have been just using plastic wrap and ziplocks to freeze meat, does the layer of foil help?

I think it does. Honestly my mom always did it that way so that's the way I do it but  I don't have issues with freezer burn so it must work

I realized a little while ago that I was out of freezer bags, so I just improvised with plastic wrap and then foil, and I agree that it works.  I haven't had any freezer burn issues with any of the stuff I took out...and usually with plastic wrap/bags, I always do.

[Deleted]

Try out a little at a time. Don't go crazy buying all kinds of bags and containers for freezer. You might hate freezing stuff. I do. I end up tossing most of what I freeze because I never want to eat frozen stuff, and they'd just sit in the freezer for ages, and I'd forget they're even there. I just buy less grocery. I try to be realistic about how much grocery we actually eat, so that we don't have much leftovers. But I do sometimes freeze home-made stock and home-made beans in Ziplock bags or Gladware containers.

[cricketwife]

This isn't exactly your question, but you've already gotten lots of good advice so...

I cook chicken (usually breasts, but you can do whatever) and then shred/cube it and freeze it. It makes meal planning and making meals so much quicker/easier to have pre-cooked chicken in the freezer, ready to go.

I also do this with ground beef which I can just dump in the crockpot for chili.

[drloretta]

We buy a lot of steaks, ground beef, and chicken. If DH takes charge, he literally throws stuff in the freezer *sigh*. If I'm in charge, I at least put already packaged meats into a freezer bag (a lot of Costco stuff is already packaged in 1 lb increments, or 2-4 breasts at once). Soups I put into quart freezer bags and toss in the freezer. All of this is defrosted by putting in the fridge until it's thawed.

A friend suggested putting meats into a freezer bag with marinade, so by the time it's thawed you have already marinated your meat. We've tried that a few times.

We also make pancakes and waffles in bulk, then freeze the leftovers. They get popped in the toaster when we want to eat them. We buy 2-packs of bread and just toss one in the freezer. We go through loaves pretty quickly, so we just take it out of the freezer and put it on the counter for a bit until it's thawed. We did a similar routine with Christmas cookies.

I also saw a way to prepare smoothie components. Throw half a banana and a handful of fruit into a freezer bag, then you can just toss into a blender with some milk/yogurt and juice and you're good to go.

We've never used a vacuum sealer and it would probably sit with all our other useless gadgets. I should either get butcher paper or be more vigilant about plastic wrap and foil, but I'm lazy

[flatlan]

The money saving mom website has a lot of good resources for freezer cooking and storage. Money Saving Mom

[shakeitout]

We don't have a lot of freezer space but I do stock up on meats when they are cheap. I use glad press and seal plastic to wrap the meat in groups of 2 servings. Then I put those in a dated ziploc bag, separated by type of meat.

[gt7301b]

Jan 25, 2013 0:06:42 GMT -5 @fivedogs said:

I double drop cookie recipes (like chocolate chip cookies, etc.), drop them on baking sheets/in pyrex pans, and bake about 10% of them and freeze the rest (so freezing little balls of cookie dough and then bake without thawing). I also made cookies and cupcakes ahead of time for DD's birthday and froze them.

I freeze leftover bread/rolls/etc. and then make bread crumbs in the food processor (it's easier when they are frozen). Then I refreeze the bread crumbs.

I store large bags of nuts in the freezer so they don't get rancid. Also butter, etc.

I double batches of pancakes and waffles and freeze the leftovers. DD eats peanut butter on waffle "sandwiches" for breakfast.

I also freeze cooked chicken (I should cube it before freezing too - that's a good idea).

We buy almost all meat at Costco/BJs, so I subdivide and freeze that too.

You lost me at baking only 10% of the cookies  I would eat all the cookie dough.