Freezer Cooking Basics

Tuesday, July 12, 2011


A friend and I have been doing freezer cooking for several years now.  It is the BEST decision I have ever made in regards to keeping up with household responsibilities.  I can't tell you how many times it has saved me to have dinner already prepared.  All I have to do is pull it out of the freezer and pop it in the oven.

There are several things you can do to make life easier that involve your freezer.  Here are some ideas:

Breakfast Foods You can freeze all kinds of breakfast foods for a easy, stress-free morning.  I have two Breakfast freezer plans on my blog.  Here is Plan #1, Plan #2, and more ideas.

Pre-chopped veggies like onions and bell peppers. Having everything already chopped really helps to make meal prep faster.  At the end of summer I shred my zuchinni and put it in baggies for future use in baked goods.

Beans The problem with dried beans is that they aren't convenient.  I can make a huge batch of beans and then freeze them for later use.  I tend to pre-cook black beans or pinto beans.  I have never really had success with kidney beans for some reason.  Here is more information on how to do beans in a crockpot.

Bread I bake bread and then freeze it.  Lately the boys have been wanting sub sandwiches.  I use my favorite bread dough recipe and add parmesan and fresh oregano to the dough before shaping them into hoagie rolls.

Berries  We pick our own berries here in Alaska: blueberries, raspberries and cranberries.  I freeze all of these for later use.  We tend to pick enough to last use the entire year.  They can then be used for muffins, breads, cranberry sauce, and desserts.

Freezer Pizzas I am not sure what frozen pizzas cost in the Lower 48, but up here the prices are ridiculous!  Eight dollars for one DiGorno's pizza! Here is a way to have frozen pizzas in your freezer without the cost.

So what do you freeze???



3 comments:

Melissa said...

I so want to get better at this. I do freeze bread and I have been making rolls and freezing the dough and cookie dough has been frozen recently. I make meatloaf and meatballs when my husband gets a moose. Still have a long way to go in this freezer packing journey but I am working on it.
Thank you for sharing what you have frozen and what works.

Analog Girl (Rachelle) said...

I love your idea of freezing prechopped veggies. What a time saver!

Anonymous said...

I work in a group home, and am trying my hand at freezing different types of foods. Can anyone tell me the freezer life of whole cranberries and shredded zuchinni? Please reply to frostycat4497@yahoo.com. Thank you.