Freezing & Storing Food

Once upon a time, I had a hard time using up a loaf of bread before it went bad. Nowadays, with a crew of hungry kids, I’m lucking if a loaf of bread lasts one sitting. Either way, freezing baked goods come to the rescue. If yours is a small household that might not use baked goods quickly, the freezer can help you extend the shelf life of your favorite goodies so that you have time to enjoy them.

We all know that a freezer packed with meals is a serious accomplishment — a gift from your present self to your future self. But how do you actually stock it up? One way to productively fill your freezer is to share the work with friends. I did this recently, and this week I’m showing you the freezer meal party I threw with my mom and sisters. What does a freezer meal party actually involve? How do you coordinate the shopping and planning and cooking?

On our first official date, I cooked a simple meal for the man I would marry: Chicken Parmesan over spaghetti. I used canned sauce, and, like my mother before me, I broke the spaghetti. It was the first test of our relationship. My mom always broke the spaghetti because that’s the way my dad liked it. I didn’t know that. I thought that was how you were supposed to make it. I couldn’t understand why this cute guy’s jaw dropped open as I split the handful of noodles in two.

I think we all know that the freezer can be a glorious secret weapon in the daily tussle to get healthy, delicious, and budget-friendly dinners on the table. This month we’re helping you clean out, organize, and restock the freezer in our 4-step Freezer Cure (it’s not too late to join!). But that’s just the beginning. The ultimate step is filling your freezer with meals — cleverly cooked and organized to help you pull off the last-minute magic of a meal already made.

Who: Charlie Marshall of The Marshal Where: Manhattan, New York See his kitchen: Chef Charlie Marshall’s Tiny, Well-Ordered New York City Kitchen A couple weeks ago, when we peeked into Chef Charlie Marshall’s small New York City kitchen, we couldn’t help but notice what he had stashed in his freezer. In fact, it’s something he believes all cooks should have in their freezers, at all times. Can you guess what it is?

For some people the draw might be the great price on tires. For others, the cheap prescription eyewear. For still others, it’s the excellent pricing on diapers and gift cards. But, me and Costco? I’m just there for the food. Not only does Costco serve up the infamous buck-fifty hot dog and soda combo and dish out free samples galore, but it also offers a variety of bulk buys that can help you eat well while saving a bundle.

As you know by now, I’m a huge fan of the cook and freeze method. I’ve been doing it for almost half my lifetime which probably makes me officially “old.” I’ve frozen everything from lemon juice to lasagne to buttercream frosting. I know which casseroles my family loves and which ones are better left unmade. Also? I’ve learned that there are indeed a few foods better left unfrozen.

I have a little ritual when I bring fresh ginger home from the market: peel and grate, then freeze. Not only is this a great way to keep ginger fresh longer, but it becomes incredibly easy to punch up a sauce, stir fry, or smoothie any time you want some gingery spice. To freeze ginger, first peel and mince, or grate it. Then spread or scoop the ginger onto a parchment-lined tray. I like making teaspoon-sized portions. Freeze until solid and transfer to an airtight container.

During my first year of marriage we spent over $500 a month to feed the two of us, the same amount I spent 15 years later to feed eight of us! Yikes! Clearly, I’ve reformed my ways since then — and my freezer has played a big part in the process. I shake my head in disbelief at 23-year old me who would buy chicken breast for $6 a pound just because she had a craving for chicken that night.

Apples, peaches, pumpkin pie… it may be a song from the 60s. Or it could be a list of just some of the yummy things that you can stash in your freezer. If you see a great deal on fresh produce — or have a flourishing green thumb of your own — you needn’t worry about how to use it up at harvest time. Stash it in the freezer so that you can experience the joy of sun-ripened sweet corn or the deliciousness of a juicy peach pie any time of year.

I’ve heard about freezers being left open and the contents thawing. Friends have lost hundreds of dollars of groceries when that’s happened to them. Accidental thawing was one of our considerations when we bought our chest freezer. In theory, the door/lid can’t really be left open by accident, thus reducing our risk of an accidental thaw. However, it wasn’t until the power failed to reach my freezer that I realized how vulnerable my freezer stash was to thaw and loss.

It’s happened at least once that I’ve reused a plastic ice cream container to freeze something and forgotten to label it. Do you know how disappointing it is to reach for chocolate gelato late at night and realize that it’s actually gravy? Those are what we call teachable moments, folks. Since you don’t want to mistake your freezer meals, it’s important to label the packages for the freezer.

You made a big pot of chili — too much to eat at one sitting. The Super Bowl’s long gone. So, what do you do with the leftovers? You could eat chili for the next four days…. …or you could stash the excess in the freezer. Chill it overnight in the refrigerator and make sure it’s packaged and labeled well. Easy, right? Well, what should you package it in? You can’t just stick a bowl in the freezer.

I chose literature as my major over science, two subjects I had loved in high school. The swaying factor? Math. I haven’t escaped science (or math) altogether, though. Cooking is science! Maybe that’s why I liked science in the first place. And you know where science comes into my life regularly? The freezer. Most home cooks and scientists know that freezing food is a great method of food preservation. It stops the growth and movement of microbes that lead to food’s decay.

You know the folk tale of the three hungry soldiers returning from war? After years of hardship, the villagers in the town they come upon are reticent to share any food with them. The soldiers end up tricking the townspeople into contributing a bounty to their Stone Soup. One man brings a hunk of beef while another brings some carrots. A woman and her child contribute potatoes and onions that they “happen” to find in the cellar. The resulting meal is a feast for all to partake of.

Twice a year, I unplug my deep freeze for a few weeks. It gets a chance to thaw, the ice melting off the sides. I wipe it down, and I save a few kilowatts in energy rather than running an empty freezer. Why do I have an empty freezer? In January and July, I do what I call the Pantry Challenge. I focus on using up what we have rather than buying more. I work with my most perishable items, those in the fridge and freezer, before moving to my canned goods.

Soups are one of my favorite things to make and freeze. I love freezing soups because making a big batch to have both for dinner and to stash in the freezer is easy, and soups are healthy and filling. In fact, inspired by The Kitchn’s focus on soups this month, I made three in the last week! Here’s what you need to know about which soups hold up well in the freezer so you can build up your own stash!

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.

Having the dinner table covered with more food than you can possibly eat in one sitting is the hallmark of Thanksgiving, and it’s hard to imagine scaling back for this once-a-year feast. The next day, though, the mountain of leftovers can seem a bit overwhelming — especially if you don’t think you’ll eat through everything anytime soon. The freezer can come to your rescue and help with preventing food waste!

Deciding where to put leftover pie has always been tricky for me. On one hand, I would love to put everything in the fridge just to be on the safe side, but the leftover turkey and side dishes are usually also battling it out for space. On the other hand, I wonder if I’m ruining the texture of certain pies by refrigerating them when most people would just leave them out on the counter. So what’s the answer?

I’ve always been slightly weirded out by some of the flavor combinations in commercial baby food. Pureed chicken noodle soup or beef stew just isn’t very appealing to me, so I decided to make my daughter’s first solid foods from scratch and stick to just fruits and vegetables. Along the way, I’ve now embraced carrot puree as a baby food that should be enjoyed by adults too!

With just two weeks to go until Thanksgiving, I’m prepping everything — including the pies. I won’t bake them until the day of the meal, but I’m preparing and storing the unbaked pies in the freezer until then. Not only can this trick save you valuable time in the days leading up to the holiday, but your pie crust will be even better after spending time in the freezer. To be fair, this trick doesn’t work equally for all types of pie.

Q: I have a great pumpkin chiffon pie recipe and I would like to put the filling in muffin tins and be able to get them out and serve them over a vanilla sauce on a dessert plate. Is there an easy way to get the filling out of the muffin tins? Also, can I freeze the filling and use for a later time? Maybe if I froze the whole thing it would be easier to take them out frozen and then serve them when they have thawed. Would they maintain their shape and consistency?

See that smooth turkey gravy above? Don’t you want to just drizzle it over sliced turkey and mashed potatoes? While I know gravy isn’t really that hard to make and is usually made from the drippings of your roast turkey at the last minute, let me convince you why it’s actually worth making ahead of time. I was testing a turkey recipe recently, so I turned the bones into turkey stock and then subsequently made gravy, which I then froze.

Q: How do you keep green onions (scallions) fresh? I have tried putting them in a container with water just on the roots, and storing in the fridge. After a day or two, they tend to wilt (the green tops always get limp). What is the solution, or is there a solution? This is a real problem for me, since I like to use a few at a time. Sent by Gloria Editor: We like to use the same method you already use, with the addition of placing a plastic bag over the greens. Give it a try!

Freezing food is a great way to have meals on the go or avoid last-minute trips to the grocery store. It also helps us not to waste food and is, in a sense, an extension of our pantry. But we’ve all been there: We searched through our freezer and pulled out a few things to thaw in the fridge and promptly forgot about them. Can you put it back in the freezer? Here are five things you should avoid giving a refreeze, and why refreezing in general is a big no-no.

Did you know you can actually freeze caramelized onions? Yup, those flavor-packed little strands of sweet cooked onions freeze beautifully, so why not make a bigger batch the next time you’re caramelizing some for a recipe, or find yourself with a big bag of onions to use up. Here’s how we do it!

We tried three popular methods to find out which was best — and there was a clear winner.

Q: I am looking for three or four-section glass storage containers, with lids, that are freezer, microwave, and (ideally) oven safe. The purpose is so I can make myself a bunch of healthy “packaged TV dinner” meals, with a veggie, potato/starch, and main dish all in one dish, then freeze them, and reheat when I get home from work. I have wished for this for eons and I can’t find them online. Do you know if this exists?

Q: I buy those packaged salad bags from Trader Joe’s, and I can never manage to finish an entire bag before it goes bad a few days later. What can I do to preserve their freshness after buying so I don’t have to run to the grocery store every few days? Sent by Heather Editor: Author Dorie Greenspan says that if you blow a puff of air into the bag and reseal it, it will provide enough carbon dioxide to keep the greens fresh. We’ve never tried it, but give it a shot!

It can take time to perfect your freezer game, but a freezer can be a budget shopper’s best friend. Nix the three-year old meat at the back behind the blueberries, wrapped in layers of frost. Outlaw everything haphazard, everything unlabeled. The goal, rather than a very cold version of the very forgotten back corner of your pantry, is to create a perfect array of entrees, sides, and kitchen staples that save you time, effort, and money.

Whenever I make homemade stock I always take the approach of keep half for now and freeze the other half for later. Homemade stock is a truly wonderful staple to keep on hand, but it doesn’t have a very long shelf life. If you’re not using the entire batch immediately, the best way to get the most out of your stock is by freezing it in ice cube trays. Ice cube tray size can vary, but standard trays usually hold one ounce in each well (this is the same as 2 tablespoons).

New York City isn’t exactly the ideal place for planting a vegetable garden. Or, at least the kind of vegetable garden I’d love to have. Herb gardens on the other hand are totally doable for city dwellers, and something I’ve had great success with over the years. This year, in particular, I’ve watched my small basil plant flourish and grow like wildfire.

Almost a year ago, I participated in The Kitchn Cure. I cannot recommend it enough. The Cure forced me to take a look at all the things in the kitchen I wasn’t doing, and all the little things I was doing that were annoying me. Miraculously, The Cure stuck and most of my kitchen is still in pretty good shape.

Q: I have been given a large piece of prosciutto, and as there is only two of us, it is too big for us to eat at one time. I would like to know if it can be frozen or how else to keep it, and for how long? Sent by Lucy Editor: Prosciutto is a cured meat and will actually keep quite well for a few weeks in the fridge. I also think it would freeze fairly well, if needed — wrap it well to protect it from exposure to air and freeze for up to 3 months. Readers, any other thoughts?

Our youngest son has a summer birthday, the kind of birthday that gets ignored, poor guy. His cakes are usually afterthoughts, picked up from the bakery on the way home from work, or served at whatever restaurant he’s chosen for his party. This year, I was touched when he wanted me to make the cake for his eighth birthday myself, and I agreed, just as soon as I remembered my favorite, ridiculously easy cake.

It’s been extra steamy in New York City the past few days, and I’m totally ok with it. Mostly because it’s been the perfect excuse (not that I really need one) to enjoy an extra helping of homemade ice cream everyday. Because really, there are few things better than ice cream on a hot summer day. Just as important as knowing how to make a great batch of homemade ice cream, though, is knowing how to store it properly.

Keeping my snack portions under control is a discipline I still have yet to master, especially when I feel the need to finish things like chips before they go stale. Kitchn reader Joy gave us a great solution for what to do if you have extra tortilla chips — freeze them! Joy says: Did you know that you can freeze tortilla chips? They come out perfect, especially if you eat them occasionally and don’t want them to go stale.

Everyone’s packed a sandwich before, so is there really a best way to do it? Depending on the sandwich, there probably is if you want to keep it from getting soggy or falling apart as it travels. While it’s certainly not rocket science, here are a couple of guiding principles that will avert possible sandwich disasters. Before we even get to packing sandwiches, we’ve got to talk about the sandwich choice itself.

Love natural nut butter, but can’t stand when it separates? You’re not alone! There are a few different methods to blend, and re-blend, separated nut butter, and I have a tried and true, super-easy method that works every time. I don’t know about you, but nearly all of my attempts to stir separated nut butter result with me spilling oil everywhere, including on myself. Thankfully there’s an easier (and less messy!) way to get the job done.

Q: I am having a baby in a couple of weeks and I’m preparing meals to reheat those first couple of weeks after I give birth. I’m wondering about freezing egg-based breakfast foods. For instance, mini frittatas seem like a great idea, but do eggs freeze well? And if so, what is the best way to reheat such dishes? Sent by Nicole Editor: Nicole, these Crustless Zucchini and Basil Mini-Quiches (pictured) freeze well, and the recipe includes instructions for reheating them.

Over the past month I’ve been sharing the planning process behind my big spring project: stocking my freezer with healthy meals before the arrival of my first baby in early June. Checking in every week has been hugely motivating, but the even bigger benefit of letting The Kitchn readers in on the process has been the wealth of helpful advice you’ve given me in the comments. Here are the 7 best reader tips for filling your freezer before the arrival of a new baby.

This month I’ve been taking you through my plan to fill my freezer with healthy meals in preparation for the arrival of my first baby in early June. I’ve got a list of recipes I want to make and all the supplies I need — now it’s time to buckle down and cook. So how exactly am I going to prep at least a month’s worth of meals and snacks for my husband and me? This week I sat down and came up with a plan that works with my busy schedule.

This month I am embarking on a plan to stock my freezer with healthy meals before the arrival of my first baby in early June, and I’ve been sharing the process as I go, from clearing out my messy freezer to bookmarking an array of lighter, healthier freezer-friendly recipes that I’d like to make.

Creating a stockpile of healthy, homemade freezer meals has been on my to-do list since I started grad school, but I never had the time to get organized and make it happen. This year, however, I’ve found some major motivation for spring cleaning and organization: the arrival of my first baby in early June. So join me over the next several weeks as I take my freezer from disorganized disaster zone to fully-stocked, home-cooked dinner central (I hope!).

If you’re cooking for a big family, there is plenty of advice out there for making dinner in bulk and freezing it — but what if you are just cooking for one or two people? Our readers recently tackled this very question and had some smart advice for small-family freezer meals, so you don’t end up eating the same batch of frozen lasagna for three weeks straight. Soups, stews, pasta sauces, curries, beans and cooked grains freeze well and are easy to make in big batches.

Today’s Cooking Cure Challenge comes from me! I have the hardest time remembering to take meat out of the freezer to thaw ahead of time. Can you relate? I’ve seen the same woes in many comments during the Cure. Do you have any good tips for remembering or thawing meat quickly? Here are a few from our archives. In a Hurry: 3 Defrosting Tips for Super Fast Results Freeze Individual Portions For Expedited Defrosting Any other tips or smart ways to remember to take the meat out?

How is Week 2 of your Cooking Cure? How is lunch going? I sense a couple trends: Many of you are Bored With Lunch. Others of you snack your way through the afternoon. And then others, like Bright Lights, dutifully pack a lunch, but work gets in the way, and the nice lunch deteriorates in the fridge. Can you relate? Do you have any suggestions for Bright Lights and lunches that last well for a whole week in the fridge?

What challenges are you coming up against as you look for new inspiration in your lunches? I loved this question from one of the Cure-takers about vegetarian freezer meals. Here’s what cuminafterall said: My lunch is almost always leftovers from the night before. I haven’t gotten bored with it (our dinners are quite varied!), but if we decide to eat out for dinner, it can be challenging to scrape together a lunch for the next day.

Sure, you could buy ice packs or even make your own — but you don’t have to. There are plenty of lunch items that can be frozen and packed, keeping the rest of your lunch cool as they thaw. Even better? At the end of the day there’s nothing extra to schlep home in your lunch bag. Freeze a bottle of water, juice, tea or iced coffee and sip your still-chilled drink alongside your lunch.

Lemons are an ideal way to perk up early spring cuisine; from salads to fish and desserts, they are an easy flavor booster to keep on hand. However, I always end up planning a meal around my last lemon, only to find out it has become hard and yields as much juice as a potato. Then I discovered this simple tip for making sure you get every last drop out of your lemons. Lemons sealed in a plastic bag and stored in the refrigerator tend to keep fresh longer.

Q: Can I make breakfast smoothies, especially green smoothies, the night before I want to drink them? My roommate’s room is right next to the kitchen, and I’m the first one up in the morning, so making a fresh smoothie before I go to work would be out of the question as far as considerate roommating is concerned. Can I make a smoothie in the evening and stick it in the fridge until morning? Or will it become gross and brown overnight? Sent by Claudia Editor: I say give it a try!

My Gramma John was a tremendous baker. A farm wife and mother to eight kids, she spent her fair share of time in the kitchen. But she loved every minute of it, baking until the very day she passed away. I have great memories of spending time with her in the kitchen. Nowadays with my own small army of children, I love to bake as well. They love it even more. I love that I can tailor my baking for food allergies as well as dietary preferences.

My first real job as a teenager was bagging groceries at the local grocery store. It was the first of many food-related jobs for which I’m truly thankful. Not only did I learn the proper way to place cans in a paper sack, I also encountered a number of ingredients and foods I’d never heard of. This was the late 80s in Los Angeles County; you’d think that we were really cosmopolitan back then, but we weren’t.

Folks’ thoughts turn to casseroles when they think of frozen meals. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good casserole, but you do your freezer and yourself a disservice if you limit your options to lasagnas, enchiladas, and noodle bakes, as good as they may be. With six children ranging in age, personality, and culinary maturity, I’ve found that I need to think outside the 9×13-inch baking dish if I’m going to put a meal on the table that we’ll all enjoy.

It’s unfair. Fresh, hot, from-scratch cinnamon buns are a beloved treat, especially for tasty Christmas breakfast. Who doesn’t want to wake up to the smell of cinnamon and caramelizing sugar, or stumble down to the kitchen to find fresh-from-the-oven, slathered-in-icing cinnamon buns, just waiting for you to dive in?

We here at The Kitchn are firm believers that the more you can do ahead of your dinner party, the less stress you’ll have at your dinner party. Dinner rolls fall squarely in that make-ahead category. In fact, dinner rolls are such a flexible and accommodating kind of recipe that there are multiple points in the process when you can stop, put the rolls on pause, and pick them up again when you want to — whether that’s a whole month from now or just a day.

Q: My husband and I love all kinds of hot sauces, so we always have several different kinds in the refrigerator. There is one, however, that always grows mold within a few days: harissa. The first time I stored it in the original can, covered with plastic wrap. Okay, rookie mistake. But the second time I put it in a glass jar and covered it with olive oil… only to discover it covered in mold again. What am I doing wrong?

Watch the video to learn how to freeze cookie dough.

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.

We love a good shortcut.

Sent by SarahEditor: I wonder if experimenting with Tupperware containers might work by leaving the lids cracks and(or) controlling the humidity with damp cloths along the bottom?Readers, what suggestions do you have?

The best way to store basil may not be the prettiest way, but it can keep a bunch fresh and green for up to a week or two. Give this a try! To keep basil fresh, trim the stems and place them in a glass or jar of water, just like cut flowers. Loosely cover it with a plastic bag and leave it on the counter. Although certain herbs, such as parsley and cilantro or coriander, can be stored this way in the fridge, basil does better at room temperature. Refrigeration can turn the leaves black.

If you’ve an avid pie baker, chances are you already have a designated pie carrier. But for those of us who only make pies every once in awhile, it’s hard to give up precious storage space in the kitchen for something we may only use a couple times a year. So, how does one safely transport a pie without a designated pie carrier? Here are five tips:1. Use a bamboo steamer basket. This is an oldie, but a goodie.

It’s June and the summer fruit is starting to roll in, which basically translates to jam time in my kitchen. Like many people, I love jam but sometimes I’m a little taken aback by how much sugar is called for in many classic jam recipes. For this reason, I always keep a box of Pomona’s Universal Pectin in my cupboard. Pomona’s is a low-sugar pectin, meaning you can make jams and jellies using very low or no sugar.

Before you leave on a trip, you probably remember to take out the trash, do the dishes and clean out the refrigerator. But there is one more thing you could be doing to make your return a whole lot happier.Before you hit the road, make sure you have a meal or two stored in the freezer for when you get back home! There’s nothing worse than getting home after a long day of travel and realizing you don’t have anything in the house to eat.

Although spring is upon us and we should be taking full advantage of farmers’ markets and fresh grocery store offerings, sometimes the frozen veggies still come in handy for last-minute dinner convenience. back is what’s for dinner. In an effort to make them taste, less, well, frozen, here are five ways to help get the most flavor from our freezer friends! The first thing to remember is that frozen vegetables actually can be quite good (and good for you).

I always keep a bag of whole wheat pita rounds in the freezer for last minute lunches; they can be stuffed with salad, eaten with hummus and vegetables, or even topped with avocado and egg. But how to transform a rock-hard piece of frozen pita into a soft, warm pocket? Here’s a method that is fast and foolproof. On a gas stove, turn the flame on medium-low and place the frozen pita directly on the burner.

Although making pancake batter isn’t difficult, it doesn’t always make for a speedy morning. But you can make weekday pancakes a reality with this simple freezer tip. Best of all? It doesn’t involve reheating cold pancakes. Instead of baking up a double batch of pancakes this week and stashing them in the freezer, just double the batter and enjoy half for breakfast and freeze the rest of the batter for another day.

How do you store your fresh herbs? Do you ever find them getting slimy in the back of the crisper drawer? Reader Jess just sent us this great tip for keeping herbs fresh for a long time. We’ve seen this before, but she illustrated it really well — take a look!Jess says: Snip off the ends of herbs and “plant” them in an old jam jar or a glass with some water. Cover with a plastic bag and secure with a rubber band.

I went on a bit of a granola bender the other week for reasons best left between me and my obsessive brain. The upshot of this, as you can probably guess, was that I ended up with a lot of granola sitting on my counter. After foisting jars of it onto my friends and snacking on it every afternoon, I still had more granola than I could conceivably eat before it went stale. The solution? Freeze it.

Love holiday baking, but short on time? Turn to your freezer for help! Cookies, cakes, cupcakes and even whole pies can be made ahead of time and baked or thawed when you need them, so you’ll always have a special dessert on hand, no matter how busy your schedule.Pie dough, pie filling and even whole pies freeze well, and can be baked the day before serving. Cakes can be frozen whole or in slices, and cupcake batter freezes well.