With all of the talk in January of reorganization and fresh starts, I have seen quite a number of posts on blogs and message boards regarding pantries and freezer storage. We are really lucky in the way that our house is laid out and used. Our main floor is very open, and we have a kitchen pantry which is quite handy. About six feet away from that is our living room/entry way coat closet. When we moved in, we found it to be more handy as a dumping ground for the vacuum, the random odds and ends we didn't know what to do with, and paper towels. It was when we moved in that I started couponing and stockpiling, and the coat closet got transformed into more of a long term storage pantry - we've kept it that way for the last few years and I have to say that it works out well for us - gives us extra space and the ability to keep more on hand - saving us money in the long run. Along with our pantries, our freezers get a lot of use and are both organizationally (and financially) one of my favorite parts of the house.
I am all about freezer cooking - Ive been doing it for years now. It's a great time saver, and really handy on those busy nights we have. It will be another post for another day! We have a big freezer in our basement and then our kitchen refrigerator/freezer now, but up until last month (when we had our oh so unefficient, 34 year old fridge from my childhood hauled away by our utility company) we had one in our garage too, which really helped with organization. We are going to replace the garage one when we find a good one on Craigslist, but until then we are working with two (one and a half, really!) and I do as much cooking/storing as I can fit. This really works for us because we only grocery shop twice a month, and it keeps our grocery budget to less than $100 dollars a week for our family of four - Brian and I, Connor and Grandma. That's pretty good for people who love to cook and are total foodies!
First off, I keep the following frozen items on hand at all times(mostly for weekend lunches and nights when everything is going wrong and we just need to eat!):
Prepared/Convenience Foods:
-Chicken Nuggets
-Chicken Tender strips
-French Fries
-Tater Tots
-Onion Rings
-Frozen Pizzas
-A few loaves of bread (white and wheat)
-Bagels
For Fresh Use:
-Mozzarella and Cheddar Cheese - shredded and in 2 cup portions per zip lock bag.
-Chicken Breast (2-3 breasts per bag)
-Ground Beef ( 1 Pound per bag)
-Steamer bags of frozen vegetables - the sauce and butter free kind.
-Frozen Roasting Chicken
-Ham Steaks
-Roasts
-Steaks
-Frozen Bread Dough
-Frozen Rolls(Rhodes brand)
-Bacon
These are my basics - I use them weekly in my recipes...and having a good supply keeps me from having to have Brian run to the store for a forgotten ingredient!
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| Not our fridge! But close! Image from www.30dayGourmet.com |
Then, I also have freezer meals that I have prepared ahead - to the point where I can freeze them, pull them out and finish them off...depending on the season or my cooking moods. We don't do a lot of casserole type items, or anything that is fully cooked/just gets reheated (I consider them leftovers...can't do it!LOL) but right now I have the following:
-Marinated London Broil with Blue Cheese/butter sauce to be poured over it when done.
-Beef Stroganoff (not thickened or creamed yet, I thaw, cook, thicken/cream and boil fresh noodles for it)
-Mac and Cheese
-Twice Baked Potatoes
-Soups - French Onion, Chicken (no noodles yet), minnestrone(no pasta in it)
-Spaghetti Sauce with Sausage
-Marinated chicken - packages of Lemon Garlic, BBQ, and Dry Rub Spiced
-Garlic Bread - Prepped, just need to be topped with cheese if we want it and baked.
-Chicken Spaghetti
These items change a lot - I like to cook big on Sundays and then take out half for another meal before I finish off the recipe. I also spend a day or two on our school vacations prepping stuff for busy weeks.
Some other stuff I like to keep around:
-Muffins (I cheat and buy the big packs at BJ's - break them up into packages of two and freeze them)
-Waffles
-Pancakes
-Homemade stock - chicken and vegetable stock.
-Homemade Gravy
-Margarine
-Butter
Some tips I have found over the years that help me:
-Use the good brand of freezer bags. They are thicker, prevent freezer burn and are worth every penny. We love Ziplock!
-Freeze as much flat as you can and label bags on BOTH SIDES!
-My other favorite packaging material comes from the dollar store! They are foil pans with cardboard lids - they come in a variety of shapes and sizes and they can go right into the oven! We use them a lot for heavier items like mac and cheese or potatoes - things that aren't sloshy. They stack nicely and I love that they are no clean up required!
-Compartmentalize - I have a big waxy coated cardboard box on the bottom shelf of the freezer - it holds all of my larger cuts of meat - the chicken, ham, holiday turkeys, etc. They don't roll around and I can slide the box out like a drawer. All of our packaged chicken and beef live in their own baskets on another shelf. We store the frozen cheeses and bread doughs all together. All three of the adults in the house know where everything is and when we grocery shop and purchase/package anything new, it goes in the right spot of the freezer.
-Date everything and be sure to rotate! I think working in a grocery store during college pretty much ingrained this in us, but we date everything(on both sides!) when we label it, and the newest stuff goes in the back/bottom - thus forcing us to use what's older, first.
-Know what's in there! I keep a list in my iPhone, which is always with me, but I also go through the freezer regularly - like, weekly - so I know what has to be used, or refilled.
-Once or twice a year, do a big clean out and defrost that freezer, wipe it down and then restock. We tend to do this to our big freezer towards the end of summer - especially helpful when we don't get paid in August - and then refill after a total cleaning. It uses stuff up and saves our grocery budget! The smaller freezer upstairs gets emptied and cleaned monthly...it's more of a short term storage space and for every day/convenience items....like ice cubes and ice cream! :)
So there you have it - a little look into our freezer space. There is nothing like opening the freezer door and seeing a nice compact version of Wegman's Frozen Foods Department staring back at you. How do you use your freezer space? Or are we the only crazy people who are over achiever organizers when it comes to the cold stuff?
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