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And then get completely infuriated as you energetically shake, shake, shake just to get a few bits out. Use bottles with larger openings.

I think Gatorade-type bottles would work best, for filling them up too.

How does one remove the frozen contents through that little opening? Good idea; poor execution. How about using those tall narrow plastic containers?

How about reusing plastic jars from things like jam or peanut butter and Mayo?
Wider openings, plus they are usually a better size anyways.

I dunno--a couple shakes and small veggies like the corn pictures will break up into individual pieces. I don't think they'd be that hard to pour out of the bottle.

However, I second the gatorade container idea!

I'll file this under "problems of which I am unaware". Are the bags the veggies come in that much of a problem for people? Really? I never have any issues with them. I just use a twisty-tie to close them & all is well. Putting them in a bottle sounds like an unnecessary anoyance to me. Especially when you think about the way that corn and peas like to freeze together in clumps. With the bag, I can easily break up those clumps. I don't think that's be too easy to do with the bottle method.

Lordy, there are a lot of typos in that comment! Forgive me?

As I mentioned in the full blog post, empty Snapple bottles are also good for this as they have wide mouths. They're also glass, for those concerned about plastic touching food. I didn't have any on hand when I took this photo, though.

Is the plastic used to produce water, gatorade...etc. bottles safe for freezing?

I don't think I would transfer already-frozen-when-purchased veggies to bottles, but any time I have leftover veggies that I won't be able to eat soon, I chop them up and freeze them for adding to recipes or for making soup. This would be a great way to reuse those containers that I would normally throw away.

This also leaves no way to get air out of the container, so aren't you much more likely to get some intense freezer burn going? And although this uses vertical space, the containers aren't flexible like plastic bags - I much prefer a bag that I can squeeze the air out of, and which only takes up as much space as its contents, in whatever shape I want.

when I freeze veggies I usually put them out flat on a cookie sheet and then put them into jars after they've frozen--helps to prevent the clumping some people are concerned about. I've never really had to mess around with repackaging store-bought frozen veggies, since I usually use the whole package. But you do have to worry about how much air is in the container. I suppose if you were using a water bottle with one of those sport tops you could squeeze a lot of the air out and then seal it, but I think that would alter the shape enough that you would have defeated your easier-to-store purpose.

My apologies for being cranky.

I think I might have been airing my frustration based on someone putting a whole bunch of microfuge tubes into a bottle with a small lid and then having to try to get them out in a way that didn't involve them going flying everywhere and getting contaminated. Yeah, funtimes in lab.

Bigger mouthed bottles are the answer to all of life's problems... I ended up using beakers for the next round.

actually i envision this being helpful for small smoothie-making frozen fruit, especially if you freeze your own fresh fruit bits. hauling out baggies and re-twisty-tying them every morning is sort of a pain. but i would probably look to wider-mouth bottles, too - i'm thinking about those vitamin water bottles (unfortunately i think v. water awful so i don't have any!)

I prefer ziploc bags for my leftover chopped veggies (chopped onion, scallions, peas, etc).

freeze them flat, then when you want to use some, just open and grab a handful. Takes up much less space than a bottle, because you can stack them up, or squeeze them into empty corners.

This is a great idea! I have actually been doing this with peppers and corn that we have leftover from the garden at the end of the season. They chop up nicely and are perfect for soups, sauces and other dishes in the winter. I use ziploc baggies or else the little containers that I get from the grocery store. They stack well and I would normally just throw them away so now they are getting another use. I also found some good space saving tips for the freezer on scott common sense - http://www.scottcommonsense.com/EasyOrganizing/Default.aspx
My freezer is always filled so I need all the help I can get!

If you have a problem getting them out, run the bottle under warm water... instant defrost!

1 Litre plastic milk bottles might be good too.

i dont think these type of plastic water bottles should be frozen.
glass bottles should be find though.

Though I REALLY value the greenness of reusing plastic bottles in creative ways, the concerns regarding chemical leaching from plastics would have me very hesitant to using them for long term storage, especially in either hot or cold situations.

It's a good idea but I think that it would be more efficient if the used bottles would have larger openings. It looks like hard to get out from the bottle used in the image.

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