When it comes to soup, it's rather difficult to make the exact amount for your family (unless you have a family of 6 to 8). There are always leftovers, and although soup is usually just as delicious the next day, after day four you're really ready to be done with it for a little while. Freezing is the logical long-term storage method, but is there an easier way than putting it in one giant plastic tub? You bet!
Since my husband and I are the only two in our household, when we soup it up, there are always leftovers. We immediately freeze half the recipe and then finish off whatever is still in the fridge. It seems less intimidating that way, and there's a small victory dance when the last bit of bread soaks up the end of the broth.
In the months to come we can revisit the soup we have frozen or take it to work for lunches, but thawing a giant tub or container of soup seems to take forever. What if you just need a single portion or two for a quick meal? There's no time to wait for five portions to thaw at once — you're hungry now! Now, now, now!
So, here's how we freeze our soup for fast and easy lunches:
Ladle your soup into each section of a muffin tin. Here's the catch. Don't worry about getting a perfect mixture of broth and all the other good stuff mixed in; go ahead and make separate sections. Fill some with just broth and fill others with just the chunky stuff (noodles, veggies, meatballs, beans and so forth).
Once frozen, you can pop them out of the tin by placing the tray in a sink filled with an inch of hot water. They should slip right out when coaxed gently with the push of a knife. They can be stored in a plastic bag in the freezer.
Then when you're headed to work, just grab a broth cube and a "good stuff" cube. When the two melt, you'll have the right amount of everything! This also works out well for those who like more stuff than broth and vice versa.
It's a simple trick that works out amazingly well and can allow you to have dinner or lunch in just minutes, and have it be customized to your personal tastes.
Do you have any tips, tricks, or other methods for freezing soup in a convenient way?
Related: Weekend Getaways: Freeze Soup To Bring With You
(Image: Flickr member ilovebutter licensed for use by Creative Commons and Target)
(Originally published January 6, 2011)
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This is how I freeze pesto, too! And batches of caramelized onions. Just spoon a few tablespoons into each muffin cup, freeze, and then pop out into a freezer bag for storage. Mini-muffin tins work great for smaller portions of stuff you want to freeze too, like chipotles in adobo.
What a great idea. I'm always freezing extra soup and don't like the plastic tub method! Thanks!
I use freezer safe, pint-size, glass canning jars. Then I reheat in the microwave using the same container (without the lid, of course) or can easily transfer to a saucepan.
Love this idea. I usually feed the kids the soup until it's gone...needless to say by day 3 they're ready to pull their hair out.
I use freezer bags. You can lay them flat while freezing so they take up so little space when you need to make room for the week's grocery haul. It's also convenient because one 1qt freezer bag holds just enough for the three of us.
Side: This is also the best way to freeze breast milk. >.>
This is how I freeze soup too. Living by myself, I could be eating the same soup for weeks if I didn't put some away for later.
For thicker soups (and sauces), I usually line the cups with plastic wrap, or something. They can be more troublesome to pop out. (If you're like me, you make a monster batch, but only have one muffin tin. The plastic wrap can be re-used for multiple batches.)
this sounds like an awesome idea! i hate having to eat leftover soup all week long. i'm definitely doing this next time, now that i finally bought those giant size freezer bags. jars sound like a great idea also, and would look much nicer in the freezer.
be careful with the freezer bags, though! once we stored some soup in one and it got stuck because it froze in a weird position around a bar in the freezer. we had to get a blow dryer out to melt the bag some and pry it out!
I also use the "flat" freezer bag trick. I love how neatly they stack up in the freezer (and you can even line them up like little soup books)! The soup (or sauce, etc.) thaws much faster this way as well.
I love this idea! When my freezer is full, which it usually is, I have trouble freezing the bags flat, and yes, they can freeze in awkward positions! Now to balance a muffin tray in there so it won't spill...
This is a good idea, but I also think it would work fine to freeze in the plastic container, then sit the frozen plastic container in the hot water to pop the soup out and put in a bag back in the freezer. It would be difficult for me to find the flat "floor space" in my freezer to lay out a muffin pan.
I use the freezer bag method... in order to get them flat I put put them on a cookie sheet (or frozen pizza box), then move them around after they're solid.
Honestly who freezes soup in one batch? I've never done that nor would it ever occur to me to do it that way. I always freeze soups and everything else in single serving size containers. That's a no brainer. Though I do like the idea of freezing in giant muffin tins as well.
Another freezer bag fan here...although I've taken to using regular zip-top sandwich bags and just making sure the air is really well squeezed out. It's much cheaper, and since I tend to eat my soups and chilis for lunch within a couple weeks, they almost never get freezer-burned even in the thinner bags.
I use bags as well..but this is a pretty neat trick.
how big is your freezer? b/c unless there's nothing else in mine, a muffin tin would not work!
You can also use this method for the rice that you may want to put in your soup.
I like @22209's idea of freezing them in the plastic containers then moving them to plastic bags! My freezer never seems to have enough space, and I like my soup servings to be a little larger. :) Thanks!
I use the pyrex 2 cup containers for this; yes, I do have a large collection, but they are well-used and it's fairly easy to tell what is inside them.
This comes at such a great time. I've been contemplating something like this because I always make extra soup! I've been doing the flat-plastic-bag thing for a while, but it's not working at all! It's basically impossible to defrost it quickly. I don't have a pot big enough, plastic melts in a warm pot, and it shouldn't be microwaved for fear of leaching chemicals. I've had so many kitchen messes because of those stupid flat bags. I know I could just let it thaw out all day, but the whole reason I put stuff in the freezer is so I can have it RIGHT NOW! :)
Also, having recently decided not to purchase any more plastic bags, I needed something new anyways. (But I can use one of the bags I already have to hold all the little broth-cubes.)
Great idea.
We have a pair of silicone muffin tins that we use to freeze soups and sauces. We tried with metals ones first but even setting them in hot water didn't make them come out neatly. Then we seal them with our foodsaver and they go in a big bin in the freezer.
Brilliant! I use small ziploc bags, but this is even better.
I use bags. Once they are frozen they can be stacked up into the most efficient use of my freezer space, which is pretty limited. I freeze nearly everything this way, even ground meats.
I'm single and an avid soup eater so I do a TON of soup freezing. I swear by the Ziploc small containers - they stack in my freezer so well and I take them out the night before to thaw a little. I've never had to deal with freezer burn with these suckers.
Ah, if only I didn't share my freezer with two messy and fridge-space demanding housemates.
Ingenious. Sure, I freeze stock and broth in ice cubes for using in other recipes, but I've never thought of freezing soup in a muffin tin for lunches. Thanks!
@if1hadwords: Cut the soup out of the bag with scissors while it's still frozen. Then just pop it in the microwave on defrost until it's mostly slush. Normally I just let it sit on the counter for a few hours since it stays really cold for a long time. But in a pinch that's how it's done!
I have ~10 very old black single serving lunch containers (from frozen foods). I use them for everything - soup, meat sauce, beef stew, etc. I let them freeze, they pop right out, and then bag them up. For soups and thinner sauces they stack up very nicely. Other items don't freeze as flat on top but they still go into the freezer well.
GENIUS.
Please buy a lot of jars, and the plastic lids that you can purchase for them. It's the most cost effective and esthetic way to store frozen soup! After you warm it in the microwave it will warm your hands. This way you don't have any creepy plastic to warm up :) . I've purchased store bought soup this way too.
I freeze flat in bags, too. The beauty is how quickly it defrosts in water.
I freeze mine in the soup bowls that I would eat them in. Then run warm water over the bottom of the bowl to pop the soup out and store in a freezer bag. My mom did this for me after I had my first child. Works great since our soup bowls and bowls with lids my husband uses to take his lunch in are pretty close to the same size. It is bulky in the bag but easy to slide right back in the bowl to heat up.
I usually freeze individual portions in Ikea tupperwares (they happen to be exactly the amount I need for a work lunch) but that's a genius idea!
Like Ketherian, I freeze broth or stock in ice cube trays, which stack up nicely. Five "cubes" give a cup.
LovieDovie - please DON'T microwave plastics with food inside! Chemicals used in the production of the bags can be released into the food by the microwave. I'd use a pot of really warm tap water to soften the soup.
http://www.health.harvard.edu/fhg/updates/update0706a.shtml
I don't understand what's so difficult with freezing it in a plastic (or glass) container. It seems like more work this way, for barely any pay off. Instead of a stackable container in your freezer, you have an awkward mishappen bag...and if something happens to like a power outage, you have a mess to clean up from the leaking plastic bags.
@PrettyBonesArt: I can see now my post was easily misunderstood. I meant cut the bag away and put the soup in a microwave-safe dish to soften it. Sorry!
This is a great idea!
I freeze minced garlic and ginger in ice cube trays for making curries in a smiliar way. I read somewhere that you're not supposed to do this, but it seems to work for me..
(obviously old ice cube trays that aren't going to be used for drinks!)
Fantastic Tip !!
I also freeze flat in plastic bags, it works beautifully. I used to have a lemon tree in my front yard so I'd freeze tons of lemon juice while it was in season this way. I don't often freeze soups because I actually like eating it all week long until it's gone ;)
Oh, and I've never once had an issue with the bags leaking.
I like to make small portions of soup. Say just 1 apple and 1 bulb of fennel with a bit of fennel seed. Or maybe 1 can of pumpkin and a bit of coconut water or milk. I keep thinking of making a soup for 1 recipe list.
I freeze single servings of soup in recycled butter, cream cheese, or other small size containers. I wait until the soup is cooled and then pour into the containers. I don't reheat the soup in the plastic, just let it thaw a bit and pop it out to reheat on the stove.
Pyrex or Anchor hocking's 1-2 cup container is the best choice. 2nd choice will be Ice cube tray... 3rd will be baby food's container
I use the ziplock twistlock containers. The small ones are good for one serving size. They stack well and are pretty sturdy.
I've used muffin pans for freezing before and rather than running them under hot water to remove the pucks (which always seem to slide everywhere when I turn the pan over to get them out), I just stick a bamboo skewer or a piece of butcher's string in each cup before I put them in the freezer. I can pull them out like popsicles. When I freeze things in ice cube trays, I do the same thing with a toothpick. Easy-peasy.
This is a great idea now I have a way to store them and seal them with my Foodsaver.
BRILLIANT!
Another vote for freezing flat in ziplock bags. I found some which have a double zip and are a slightly thicker plastic so I haven't had a problem with leakage.
I place them on a cookie sheet to freeze which sits on top of everything else in the freezer. When frozen I can stack them in whatever space they will fit best.
When its time to reheat I peel off the plastic and reheat in a saucepan.
Seriously, The best way to freeze extra soup or broth for that matter is to use zip lock bags. That way you can lay the soup down and it freezes quicker without damaging ice shredding your molecules.
Another tip is to freeze broth in ice cube trays. When you need some stock for anything, just add a cube or two.
Awesome idea! My younger brothers like soup but usually don't want to eat it more than twice in a row. Excellent!
Excellent, excellent tip!! Thank you!
are you just leaving the muffin tin open or are you covering it with something? i don't get what prevents freezer burn?
Darn, I had some silicon muffin pans that I thrifted. They would have been great for doing this.
Freezer bags flat on a cookie sheet atop my freezer stash. Once frozen, I label & *file* them in a dollar store plastic basket on the freezer shelf. Flippin thru my file is much easer diggin out the whole stack to pick the 'soup of the day' as I usually have several dif soups frozen. Also store frozen veggies this way...buy the large bulk bag & re-package.
Before I inherited an upright freezer, I actually experimented with all of the above suggestions and kept notes (yes, I did....I hate to shop). I found my filing system uses approx the same amount of space as stacking vs jars or tupperware which took up MUCH more space comparatively.
@ whoever it was who asked, "who freezes soup in one batch?" I do. When I make soup, I make large batches...enough for two family dinners plus a few single serving lunches. I freeze one [family size] batch for those nights when, otherwise, dinner just ain't happenin'. Surely, you've had one of those. And yes, I have a family but I also did this on occasion, when I was single & cooking for one....made impromptu get-togethers a breeze.
GENIUS idea. I just spent half an hour rummaging through the mismatched Tupperware box under my sink to find containers to freeze soup into. The muffin pan idea... Why didn't I think of that? Thanks so much for the tip! Next time :-)
Another vote for canning jars here. Jars with straight sides, like wide-mouth pints, are the best. There's no risk of toxins leaching from plastics (just don't microwave the reusable plastic lids); they're infinitely reusable; and you can run them through the dishwasher. I generally move them from the freezer to the fridge the night before, pop them in my lunch bag in the morning, and then heat them up in the office kitchen microwave (sans lid) for lunch.
So many people using plastic bags :( I use glass Pyrex bowls to store just about everything - they stack well and come in every size you could need. Plus, you're reusing instead of throwing something away every time.