Freezing & Storing Food

Preserve green beans at their peak of freshness for up to three months!

Don't let summer peaches go to waste.

Say goodbye to squishy raspberries!

Have you seen this before?!

Thank you, TikTok!

You’ll flip over this method.

Sad, wilty produce? I don’t know her.

Step one: Remove it from the plastic container.

So you can enjoy it anytime of year.

We talked to a food safety expert to find out.

The winner tastes like it's fresh from the store.

They were “pristine” for over two weeks!

The cloves stayed perfect for over a month.

Here's everything you need to know.

There are any number of reasons why you might want to stash some cookie dough in the freezer. Maybe you like having treats on hand in case company stops by. Maybe the first day of fall kickstarted your holiday baking gene. But we’re friends here, so let’s be honest: Frozen cookie dough in our freezer means warm, gooey, fresh-baked cookies any time we want one. Here are the best ways to freeze your favorite cookies for later.

Even the most well-seasoned cooks have experienced the dread of the turkey still being frozen or half frozen on Thanksgiving morning. Maybe you decided to host last minute, or your fridge was so packed with holiday meal prep, that big bird in your fridge just did not thaw. Don’t panic — whether you’re 24 hours out from roasting the turkey or your family is arrive later in the afternoon, you’ve got options.

Let me tell you the secret to holiday baking success: You can fully bake pumpkin pies right now and freeze them to enjoy later. Because of their fat content, fully baked pie crusts freeze beautifully, and the rich custard fillings of pumpkin pie and sweet potato seem as if they were designed to be frozen, too. Follow these tips to learn how to freeze a pumpkin pie—and defrost it perfectly when you’re ready to serve. Cool the pie completely.

Got a frozen bird? We got you.

Freeze it now to enjoy later.

In life, we are occasionally presented with some tough choices. Choices that have a clear right and a clear wrong — but those options can start to get a little fuzzy if you look at them for too long. Yes, under certain circumstances, with a certain amount of stress and a certain amount of not-very-logical thinking, that wrong choice can start to look very (very) right. For instance, your turkey is frozen solid.

Three words: Thaw. The. Turkey.

Just because the food inside is frozen, that does not mean the freezer is set correctly.

Whether you're making your pies ahead for Thanksgiving or you want to preserve the leftovers, we have answer for you.

Making your Thanksgiving pies ahead of time can be a lifesaver, but there's a right and wrong way to do it.

Good gravy, especially one made with drippings from a Thanksgiving turkey, is magical. If you’re like me and love gravy but don’t make it that often, leftover gravy is a bit like liquid gold — I don’t want to waste a single drop. But, you may be wondering, can you freeze gravy? And how long can you store it in the fridge? Here are the best ways to store the gravy depending on when you plan to enjoy it, plus some suggestions for using it up!

Yes, you can freeze mashed potatoes. Here's how.

When you slide your fork into a silky homemade cheesecake and savor its rich creaminess, you know it was worth all the time and effort. But, after also cooking the dinner that came before it and tidying the house afterwards, what do you do with all of the leftover cheesecake that follows? Freeze it!Yes, cheesecake can also be frozen, which means you can impress your guests but in a low-stress way.

Because there's nothing worse than buying fresh strawberries only for them to go to waste.

Enjoy them all year long with our step-by-step guide.

Ours were still fresh after three weeks!

This is the best way to keep them fresh and prevent them from sticking together.

It's way better than lemon water!

When you finally get tired of eating fresh summer corn, freeze it.

The methods are super simple!

So, you’ve whipped up a batch of homemade pizza dough, and you’ve made a couple of spectacularly good homemade pizzas. But your household is small, and you don’t want to eat pizza for days. What can you do with all that leftover dough? Freeze it, of course! It’s simple as 1-2-3, and then you can have pizza on the spur of the moment next week. Here’s how to freeze pizza dough.

The more hectic life gets with work, friends, and family, the more grateful I am that freezers were invented. A well-stocked freezer full of fruits, vegetables, and homemade meals has enabled me to eat better and not spend money on takeout. The downside of a lot of frozen foods, however, is that they usually need to be thawed in order to cook or reheat well. But did you know there are still plenty of foods out there that you can cook straight from the freezer, no thawing necessary?

One of the very first cooking tricks I ever learned was just how much a slice or two of bacon can boost the flavor of an otherwise simple soup or braise. I was hooked from that first subtly smoky, bacon-enhanced bite. You can bet I had bacon stocked in my freezer ever after. Freezing the slices individually between layers of wax paper takes a few minutes of work at the outset, but allows you to use just a slice or two when you need them. Here’s how to freeze bacon.

Don't serve your guests brown guacamole! This is all the info you need to make sure of it.

Our favorite tool for the job might surprise you!

Lemons are one of our most versatile citrus fruits, but can you freeze them for long-term storage?

We should've thought of this sooner!

Don't let any extra cabbage go to waste! Here's how to properly store it in the freezer.

There’s nothing worse than pulling a bunch of scallions from the refrigerator and discovering that they’ve gone limp and slimy! With our CSA giving us heaps of spring onions these days, we realized we needed to find a better storage method. And we found it. The best way to store green onions (or scallions) is in a jar filled with water, in the refrigerator. Remove the rubber band around the green onions. Fill a glass jar up to an inch or two with water.

Yes, frozen salmon can taste nearly as good as fresh — you just have to defrost it the right way.

The best method yielded beautiful, fluffy results!

Flexibility in use landed this method in the top spot.

No more smushed cake and smeared frosting!

It's possible to freeze carbs and enjoy them later in a not-rock-hard state.

I recently had the chance to sit down and talk with Baker and Doughpuncher David Norman. David is a true artisan when it comes to baking breads, working each batch of dough carefully to achieve the consistency and quality he desires. I asked him about common misconceptions the public may have when it comes to baking and storing bread, and it turns out we may have been doing a few things wrong.

I just received two plump eggplants in my CSA box, and as I was sticking them in the refrigerator, I suddenly questioned whether this was the right move. Remember that tip for how to store cucumbers? Turns out eggplant is similar. Until now, my go-to storage spot for eggplant has always been in the refrigerator — either the crisper drawer or bottom shelf, depending on the size.

There are a couple of options depending on how many hours you've got until dinner.

Faith shared her list of essential grocery items to get your year started on the right foot, and ginger root is at the top of my list. It’s bright and fresh with just the right amount of zing. I’ve been using it in everything from tea and smoothies to warm curries and stir-fries. Just as important as having some great recipes to get your fill of fresh ginger is knowing how to store it properly.

​Keep a few containers of homemade soup in the freezer and suddenly the long winter ahead doesn't seem so bad after all. Here's how to make sure you get the best results.

Here's what you need to know as we head into cookie season.

Whether it’s the ongoing debate that a dislike of cilantro is determined by genetics or the recent stir caused by cilantro imported from Mexico, cilantro certainly seems to be a hot topic right now. While some crave its fresh, spicy flavor, others find it utterly unappealing. For me, I can’t get enough of it. Not only can it be tricky to grow, but it also proves challenging to preserve.

A full freezer is only useful if it’s stocked with foods that can help you put dinner on the table quickly on a busy weeknight — unfortunately, ice cream doesn’t fit the bill. Over the years, I’ve learned through trial and error what to always keep in my freezer so that I can, with the help of a few pantry and fridge staples, throw a variety of dishes together quickly with little effort. Here’s a list of my top 10!

Q: I want to make a birthday cake for a friend. Problem is, her birthday is not for two weeks, but I’m seeing her tomorrow.Is there a way to freeze a fully-decorated birthday cake so that it will thaw into something beautiful? Are there certain cake or icing recipes that work best (my friend loves carrot cake).Sent by CarolynEditor: Carolyn, the short answer is yes! Many cakes freeze very well even after being decorated.

My freezer is the repository for all un-eaten things great and small. That last pork chop no one wanted? In the freezer! A batch of pierogi for fall meals? In the freezer! Some strawberries about to go bad? Yup, in the freezer! With so much going in there, it might be weeks or (more likely) months before I get around to using many of these things. Which raises some good questions: How long do freezer foods keep? Do they have an expiration date? There’s a short and a long answer here.

There are a lot of reasons to always have carrots on hand — they’re one of the ingredients for mirepoix or homemade stock, make great snacks or crudité, and are inexpensive to buy (even if you choose organic). It’s more economical to buy them in packs or bunches, but how can you keep carrots fresh and crisp if you don’t plan on using them up in a few days? Here’s our easy way. First of all, trim any green tops off the carrots.

Here's how to make it last as long as possible before and after you open it.