Recently I did an article called “Anatomy of a frugal meal,” in which I detailed the various hacks that went into producing a last-minute meal that was both cheap and delicious. The reaction was so positive that I decided follow-up pieces might be in order.
The first idea came when I opened the freezer and realized how many things were engineered into that relatively small space. To be clear: This is the freezer atop our fridge, not the chest freezer. (But that one’s pretty full as well.)
As you’ll soon see, the fridge freezer has both good deals and odd stuff. Yet each item represents the best use of our food dollars, whether that’s growing it, buying it on sale or getting maximum use out of every bit of nutrition.
About that last: In a piece called “Extreme frugality: Use all the bits,” I pointed out that the price of eating hasn’t been this high for 10 years.
“Extreme frugality may become a necessity, if it isn’t already. So why not work to get as much out of every food item you buy? (As) the per-plate price of food continues to climb, remember that preventing food waste helps make your groceries more cost-effective.”
Our freezer is crammed with cost-effective (and sometimes free) items that keep costs down and mealtimes delightful. Have a peek inside.
Produce (ours)
Rhubarb flowers. This is a weird thing to save, I’ll admit. But if you’re careful to remove any hint of leaf and stalk, they’re edible. Last year I roasted or steamed it and ate it, but decided that’s too much trouble. This year, I put some flowers in the boiling bag and saved the rest for soup.
Raspberries. Last year we froze more than 30 quarts of berries, to be used in pies or breakfast smoothies, or eaten in a bowl with a dumping of sugar. We’re coming to the end of the 2021 crop, which is a good thing: The 2022 berries are starting to ripen.
Sliced rhubarb. Eight bags, each holding about 1½ cups. To these I will add the same amount of raspberries, once we start picking in earnest. When I’m ready to make pie, I will add frozen Costco blueberries to make what we call “raspberry bluebarb” pie, one of the best flavor combinations ever.
Celery. The last of the 2021 crop, chopped and ready to go. The leaves get put into a dehydrator and are used to season soups and stews. (As a member of the Amazon Associates program, I may receive a small affiliate fee for items purchased through my links.)
Peas. Less than a quart of these left, alas; here’s hoping that the 2022 crop, which got a slow start, produces well. We parcel them out into homemade soups and my turkey pies. Occasionally I use an old mom trick when I’m too hungry to wait for the ramen to cool down: Toss in some frozen peas.
Bags of apples. Among the last of the 2021 crop, these were sliced and seasoned for pie last year by DF. As soon as he added the sugar they began producing a syrup, tinted brown from the cinnamon, so the bags emit a faint but delicious aroma. (More on that syrup later.)
Produce (store-bought)
Chopped onions. A while back DF cut into an onion and found it was starting to go bad. He diced and froze what was still usable.
Blueberries. One of those big bags from Costco, a great indulgence (especially on a hot day). Since we purchased these with the annual Costco rebate check, we consider them to have been free.
Very ripe bananas. This type is 69 cents a pound, compared to the 89 cents we normally pay. Sometimes I’ll luck into a huge quantity for a buck on the “ugly but still good” shelf. Cut into chunks and frozen, they’re ready for to pair deliciously with our backyard berries in smoothies.
Peppers. The ugly-but-good shelf sometimes yields red, orange and yellow peppers, three for $1. (Usually they’re as much as $2 to $3 apiece.) Chopped and frozen, they’re ready to toss into soups, chili or stir-fries.
Boiling bag. For much of the year, the boiling bag is heavy on onion and potato skins, carrot tops and other store-bought produce. At this point, though, it’s got a lot of volunteer Asian greens and quinoa that we grew, dandelion and chickweed, a handful of pumpkin blossoms (boys only) and bits of rhubarb skin, plus a couple of apple* cores and some onion and potato skins.
Black beans. These are bought in bulk from Costco. Every so often I’ll cook a few cups, seasoned with cumin, salt, cayenne, garlic and olive oil, then drain and freeze them flat in plastic bags. They’re ready to add to rice bowls, burritos, tacos or chile verde.
Here’s the main part of the freezer:
(Notice all our classy non-Tupperware? We use a lot of yogurt, sour cream and whipped topping containers to store our finds. Lots of bread bags, too. And yes, we wash and re-use our Ziploc bags until they tear or spring leaks.)
Liquids
Apple syrup. I thaw those ready-for-pie slices in a colander to drain off most of the liquid, because I prefer pie with a crisp bottom crust. (Right before the pies go into the oven I add a bit more brown sugar, cinnamon and a touch of ginger.) Added to waffle batter, the syrup produces a flavor like cider doughnuts. I don’t bother with maple syrup, or even butter.
Vegetable cooking water. This goes into the slow cooker along with the contents of the boiling bag. The contents vary depending on what we’ve been cooking, which means the broth never tastes the same way twice. It may also contain things like the last scrapings from bottles and jars of catsup, jam or salsa, shaken with a little water. (Learn more at “Extreme frugality: Liquid assets.”)
Frozen whey. I drain my homemade yogurt because I like a thicker, milder product. That means almost two quarts of whey from every batch. We cook with it, add it to that easy rustic bread, and sometimes DF thins it with water and adds it to the tomato plants, which seem to like it. But we can use only so much at a time, so there’s usually at least one quart (and sometimes two) of frozen whey lurking in the cold.
(Pro tip: If you like Greek-style yogurt but don’t want to make your own, buy a quart of regular yogurt at the store and let it drain through a cloth-lined colander. Still much more affordable than buying the pre-drained stuff.)
Meat drippings. We save and freeze all pan juices. They’re a good flavor boost to gravy, soup or stroganoff.
Meat fats. Those pan juices, once chilled, generally yield a cap of fat. That gets peeled off and frozen separately, to use when sauteing vegetables.
Broths, assorted. Currently we have the products of several boiling bag cook-downs, plus one container of black bean broth from those black beans mentioned earlier. Thaw one or two containers, add whatever vegetables and meat we have on hand, and we have a fast, frugal dinner that’s also good way to rid the fridge of aging carrots and small amounts of leftover meats.
Way in the back of the freezer is the last of half a dozen containers of broth we made by boiling down homegrown pea pods. It’s so sweet and vegetal that DF and I sometimes sip it. This broth makes a delicious soup with a ham bone, split peas, and caramelized celery, onion and diced carrot (mirepoix!).
Animal products
Ground beef. We lucked into a manager’s special: several packages of extra-lean organic hamburger meat for 99 cents a pound. No, we couldn’t believe it either. Also got a big package of “bork” (ground beef and pork) for about the same per-pound price. We love grilling burgers and eating cold meatloaf sandwiches. Some of the meat will also show up on Taco Tuesday: It’s one way to use up some of the garden lettuce that’s starting to bully us.
Pork tenderloin. Another manager’s special, at $1.99 per pound for a giant slab. DF cooked the meat, cut it up and froze it in smaller packages for chile verde (using green tomato salsa we make from tomatoes that are too small to ripen reliably once the first frost has hit), stir-fries or chili.
Bacon. The stuff costs anywhere from $7 to almost $11 a pound up here. The only way we buy it is on sale with a coupon – and, if possible, other incentives.
Sausage. Country sausage and maple links – bought, like the bacon, on sale with coupons and on Senior Tuesday, which gets us an extra 10 percent off the store brand.
Sliced ham. Nice thick slices, from a boneless Cure 81 ham that we found for 99 cents a pound. DF loves a thick ham sandwich; luckily, he also likes to add some of that lettuce.
Chopped ham. A while back, DF found bone-in hams for 49 cents a pound. Initially he thought a number had fallen off the sign but nope, it really was 49 cents. So he bought three. This is the final bag of ham chunks from the last ham; it will probably wind up cooked with pinto beans and served with homemade cornbread. We also like to add grated sweet potato and thyme to make a hash we call “ham and yam.”
Ham bone. Sensing a pattern here? This bone is from the last of those 49-cent hams. It’s almost certainly going to be cooked with that peapod broth, some split peas, and sauteed onion, celery and multicolored peppers. What a pretty supper it will make.
Other bones. We keep a bag for bones right next to the boiling bag. They give the broth a little more oomph.
Cornmeal. We bought this in bulk quite a while ago. Maybe two years or more (!), but it still makes great cornbread.
On-sale butter. Our go-to price is $3 a pound. When we see it at that price point, we get extras.
And here’s the freezer door:
(Edited to add: A reader named Cheryl wanted to know what the little mouse guy is. That’s the Ouch Mouse, which holds a blue cube of frozen water. When DF’s kids were little and hurt themselves, the Ouch Mouse was a comforting ice pack. Still being used from time to time for DF’s grandchildren. Incidentally, if the name “Cheryl” rings a bell, it’s because she was the first of my “Meet a Reader“ series.)
Miscellaneous stuff
Sour milk. When milk goes wrong, we freeze it for pancakes, waffles or Lightning Cake.
Sour yogurt. If the yogurt starts to smell like beer, it’s time to buy a new starter. The beer-y stuff makes a truly delicious chocolate cake.
Hamburger rolls. This 12-pack of good-quality burger breads was free, thanks to our Buy Nothing Facebook group. Originally there were two packages, but I gave one to my niece.
Ice cream. Usually we do the store brand, with coupons and, if possible, on Senior Tuesday. Sometimes I can get a better deal; thanks to a confluence of rewards program deals, I was recently paid to buy a bunch of Talenti gelato flavors. (Learn more at “Rewards programs FTW!”)
Chocolate chips. Found them for a startlingly good price. Froze them because I don’t bake chocolate chip cookies very often, although I do like adding the chips to cake, brownies or oatmeal cookies.
Giant Hershey bars. Half a dozen of them, weighing 6.8 ounces each. Some have almonds, some are plain – and all of them cost just $1.19 each, thanks to a clearance sale at Walgreens. You can’t even get a small candy bar for that price these days, so you bet I bought the six that were left. When I get a yen for chocolate, I break off a piece.
Small Hershey bars. A six-pack of regular bars now costs more than $5 here. Recently the supermarket had a deal: the candy bars, a box of graham crackers and a bag of marshmallows for $8. Since I like graham crackers now and then, and since DF might want to make s’mores with his granddaughters some chilly day in late summer/early fall, I went for it.
Grated windfall apples. Each year our two trees kick some of the fruit off early because it can nourish only so many. Usually they land in the boiling bag, but late in the season I got the idea of grating them and adding them to my no-pectin raspberry jam, to see if they’d encourage a firmer set. It helped only a little bit, which was fine with me; I like a less-rigid jam. Pretty sure this year’s apple duds will go for soup stock, but I will use these last gratings in my first batch of 2022 jam.
What’s in your frugal freezer?
Again, I know that not everyone wants to go such extremes. Some folks find us downright squirrelly. But we rest well at night knowing that we’re staying under budget and reducing our carbon footprint. Another excerpt from “Use all the bits”:
“Each piece of food represents not just money but also resources: Think of the dollars and fossil fuels that went into planting, irrigating, spraying, harvesting, packaging and transporting the elements of our meals, and of the dollars we spend to get those elements. So why NOT use all of it?”
I know I’m not the only squirrelly citizen out here. Readers have left comments about their own frugal food habits, from the $1.50 meat sprint at Aldi’s to making garbage soup. Like me, they are determined to get the most of every food dollar.
Okay, everybody: What’s in your frugal freezer? And is any of it as weird as rhubarb flowers?
*Another of my rewards-app deals, these pommes cost anywhere from nothing at all to just a few cents each. In one case, I was paid four cents to eat the fruit.
Related reading:
Flat packages of pureed pumpkin in 2 cup portions. There were 14, now 2. Last year’s Halloween decorations!
Good on you for repurposing the decor!
I have one remaining package of flat pumpkin. It’s not enough for a pie, so I will add it to the next batch of chili. Love the flavor (and nutrition) this gives.
It is great in muffins with raisins too. Gives them a nice golden look.
I’ve made pumpkin muffins in the past, but not for ages….These days I’m more likely to do pumpkin bread, because it’s one pan vs. dolloping batter into all those muffin cups. #EfficiencyExpert
My freezer is stacked with Ziploc bags. Ground beef or turkey, bought on sale, gets transferred to a ziploc, the date written in Sharpie, and rolled flat to freeze. This makes it easy to stack and fast to thaw for quick meals. The same with broth, which is frozen the same way on trays (in case of leakage) then stacked. When I make cookies or brownies half the batch gets frozen. I also buy butter on sale. Homemade bean and rice burritos for lunch. My freezer is packed! Probably the strangest things I keep in there are my seed packets for next year’s garden or the end of a peeled cucumber I keep to roll over my eyes when they are tired and burning from staring at the computer.
The frozen black beans are also super-quick to thaw when frozen flat: All I do is stand the bag in a pan of hot water in the sink and they’re malleable within a couple of minutes. I don’t have the confidence to store broth that way, though; because we reuse our plastics so much, pinhole leaks may develop. (I find them when washing the bags, which I fill with water to check for weaknesses.)
It makes a lot of sense to freeze half the baked goods. My mom started doing that when they moved to Florida, because people were prone to dropping in for a visit. She always had something to set out with coffee.
Thanks for reading, and for sharing your ideas.
I always enjoy reading these articles about saving money on food. And it is good to see that someone else’s freezer storage looks like mine! Do you have a system to let you know what is in the freezer? I hate finding stuff that has settled to the bottom of the freezer, unused for years.
We have a small whiteboard next to the other freezer, but it’s not an exact science: Sometimes we do find things we’d forgotten we had.
My niece upgraded to a much bigger freezer, and she’s going to give us her chest freezer. The plan is to keep all the homegrown produce (apples, berries, celery, peas, rhubarb) in one and meats and bakery-outlet bread finds in the other. Things will be easier to see, rather than being so Tetris-ed in that it’s a cube of cold confusion.
Very inspiring post! My freezer has a lot of similar bits and bobs.
When I get stressed about money being tight, I do a freezer, fridge and pantry inventory. Then some meal planning. Afterwards I feel back in control of some of my life. Inventory reminds me that “We won’t starve” and my brain calms down.
I appreciate your blog Donna 😊
Thanks for your kind words. And I, too, do food inventory to feel calm and secure. Sometimes when I’m in the basement to get something, I take a minute to look at all the goodness we’ve stored there. Then I come back upstairs announcing, “I feel so safe.”
I make ahead single serve zucchini, carrot, banana muffins and breakfast meals like waffles because my husband doesn’t like breakfast. I also make ahead pasta bakes and assorted Italian meals. When we were sick recently for almost 2 weeks we went through our frozen meals to almost empty it out I have never been happier to have a full freezer. We also have a pretty full basement refrigerator full of beverages and a freezer full of assorted meats purchased on sale.
No need to order DoorDash in your household. It must have been a relief not to have to cook.
Now your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to fill the freezer back up with homemade MREs.
My eyes were drawn to the large Hershey bars on the bottom left of your freezer door. Yes, I am a chocoholic! What a great find.
My freezer content consists of on sale meat which I build meals around, large bags of frozen veggies, two-person sized portions of black beans to top nachos…we eat them for a meal so black beans make for a cheaper protein source than hamburger…containers of a large batch of homemade chili and more containers of homemade spaghetti sauce also made in a large batch. It sometimes has a container of ice cream but not too often. I find it hard to stay away from ice cream so need to limit myself! Speaking of ice cream, it does bother me that what was once a half gallon has shrunk down to a smaller size. Shrinkflation, I guess.
Yep. I think it’s 1.5 quarts now.
Never knew that Wags marked down candy bars! Our freezer prizes include individual portions of one of those giant packages of frozen lasagna purchased on sale, homemade broth, lots of chopped up peppers, my husband’s famous ham and bean soup, and slices of ham. I buy hams and turkeys when they go on clearance after the holidays.
I was pretty surprised myself to see those candy bars for $1.19; it was one of those orange-tag clearance deals. The best-by date was months in the future, too. Given that a small Hershey bar is $1.49, the deal made me very happy.
Large yogurt containers full of homemade soup: In winter, I will make a huge pot of “food bank soup”. My recipe: it’s sort of like that old kiddie story, “stone soup.” I first did this back in the early 2000s, when unemployed in Florida; I found the food bank often gave out veggies so far gone that they were about one day away from being spoiled garbage. So I would take the limp veggies, chop ’em up, and dump ’em in a pot of either a big can of tomato juice or a bottle of Bloody Mary Mixer (no alcohol in this product, but lots of Worchester sauce so it’s very spicy.) I’d use everything I could — even the broccoli stalks (if you peel ’em and chop in little bitty pieces, they’re edible.) I’d add some canned veggies and leftovers (including whatever I’d put in the freezer for this purpose). Meat scraps, too, if we had ’em. Then simmer on the stove or slo cook in a crockpot. Of course, it made too much for two people in the house, so we’d freeze some in large yogurt tub(s). When sick, just microwave and eat! Or, thaw, heat up and serve with half a sandwich.
I always get such good ideas here! Several posts ago I got inspired to start cooking and freezing dry beans and peas. SO much cheaper and I control the sodium. I did black eyed peas first and then navy beans and they are both delicious and easy. So they are in zip lock bags and marked and stacked in the bottom of a square tupperware container in the freezer. I just pull out a zip lock bag and warm up. I am watching for the dry beans to be on sale because we like any of them. (And yes, I wash and reuse my zip lock bags!)
Also I have lots of chopped onions and peppers etc that I pull out to add to chili , meatloaf and stews. I watch for anything like that on “sell fast” table and freeze. My son in law brought us a handful of super hot peppers he grew…maybe habanero? My husband took a bite and said way too hot! So I sliced them in thin slices and froze them and I put like a 1/2 slice in chili and its just enough to give a kick. I always make double batches of chili, and spaghetti sauce and soup because it’s just as easy so that is stored in freezer as well.
I wish I could find some of those candy bars but I did find a 12 ounce bag of Ghirardelli chocolate chips in the close out bin for just over a dollar. They are in the freezer waiting for the grandkids to make Magic Cookie Bars
Next I’m going to try to start a boiling bag.
We have a little chest freezer, about the size of a clothes dryer, bought in the mid-90s. We bulk buy sandwich bread at Aldi and freeze it, so that alone saves a bundle.
Right now there’s ziploc bags of crushed tomatoes and jars of xatsup in there, both decanted from #10 restaurant cans. Lots of frozen veggies and whatever manager’s marked down meats we can find, along with some frozen fish.
The over fridge freezer has homemade popsicles, frozen fruit, my work lunches cooked ahead of time or assembled from leftovers, containers of baked oatmeal for breakfast, more veggies, grated cheese and frozen pepperoni.
Let’s hear it for restaurant supply stores! If you have room to stash the stuff, that is. Freezing it in plastic bags is genius.
To those who’ve never been in a restaurant supply store: Look for one in your area. Many are open to the public. They don’t always have the best prices — for example, the one in Seattle had kosher salt that was twice as expensive as the kosher salt found a quarter-mile away at The Dollar Tree — but they often do. Sharing the bulk buys with friends is another way to take advantage.
Thanks for sharing your tip, Ruby.
That should have been catsup, not xatsup. Where is autocorrect when you need it? 😀 The catsup was a screaming deal in a #10 can: $4.79 and it is delicious and made without sweetners of any kind. It’s about a two year supply for us.
Ruby, I also freeze bread. Being allergic to yeast, I have ordered yeast-free “millet special bread” from DeLand Bakery in DeLand, Fla., for several years. I usually order a year’s worth and double- or triple-bag it and pop it into the big freezer. It’s expensive, but the only way I can eat sandwiches. I haven’t priced it since the food prices have gone up, and I’m almost afraid to see how much it is now! I have only a few loaves left and I’m rationing it out really judiciously.
I also have a problem eating regular bread and so can only traditionally made sourdough bread. It is made with wheat flour, water, and salt. I buy it from a local restaurant every couple of weeks for about $10.00.
Many, many good tips from you and all the commenters, Donna. Thanks as always.
I’m in the process of eating down my own freezers (upright freezer in the basement and below-fridge in the kitchen) to make room for the 1/4 steer that will be coming in late July or early August. I still order the beef from the friend who raises the animal, since it’s so much cheaper and better than supermarket beef these days that words fail me. I share the excess (quite a bit of excess, now that DH no longer lives at home) with friends and neighbors, either at my cost or as barter for services rendered.
But in ordinary times, the freezers contain not only the beef, but chicken and pork all acquired Reduced for Quick Sale at Wegmans and Price Chopper; frozen tilapia (by far the cheapest way of having fish); bread from a local bakery outlet; some frozen produce (blueberries from the Regional Market, pumpkins/other squash picked off various curbs after Halloween, etc.); and a few frozen indulgences, such as single-serving pot pies and Trader Joe’s spanakopita. (My late SIL, who married into a Greek family, learned to make the finest spanakopita this side of Athens. She and I, both strong-minded characters, had our ups and downs over the years–but I trust that she’s still making spanakopita up on Mount Olympus. The Trader Joe’s frozen is a poor substitute, but the best of a bad lot.)
Judging from comments on previous stories, you’re not the only person salvaging pumpkins after Halloween. Well done!
This doesn’t quite match your situation, but….There’s a wonderful neologism for the practice of a group of people purchasing and sharing a steer from a farmer: “Cowpooling.”
My favorite things are the odd bits I save for something we call Voodoo Chili. These are tidbits that are saved and eventually added to the chili pot to make it interesting: a tablespoon of salsa, a quarter cup of spaghetti sauce, chopped onion or bell pepper, leftover BBQ chicken, leftover rice, thinly slices steak…just anything that you think is worth saving and will bulk up your meal while enhancing the flavor.
Voodoo Chili is never the same twice but it’s always delicious and nothing is wasted. Thank you, Donna, for being both entertaining and informative!!!
That sounds really good, whatever the incarnation.
And thank you, for reading.
I have bags of frozen onions, carrots, and okra ready for tossing into recipes, as well as chicken and beef bones to make broth. I have some blueberries and rasberries. I also have a veggie scraps back to make broth. I have some mini packs of avocado, a pound of ground beef, leftover beef stew, and leftover vegetarian chili.
OK, I have to ask…what is that little mouse looking thing guarding the candy bars in the fridge door??? LOL
My freezer is a treasure trove of goodness! I just put some lasagna in this morning that I was gifted from a friend! We had 2 Pillsbury cinnamon rolls leftover from our Sunday night movie club those got wrapped and frozen for future snacks when I hanker for something sweet!
Yesterday at Aldi, a worker was walking some things to the dumpster – I saw something yellow and stopped him – he was tossing bananas that had broken off the stalks and had some brown on them……I asked politely if I could save them from the dumpster! FREE bananas for the win! I ate one as soon as I got home (had some brown spots on outside, but was perfect and delicious! The rest went into freezer for smoothies and banana bread.
I also chop the onions and peppers to freeze when they start to get old. Publix has strawberries on sale 99 cents a quart this week, I have been stocking up — slice and freeze for smoothies and oatmeal. Same with blueberries – freeze them when on sale for muffins or smoothies.
Cheryl is a stocker stalker, Cheryl is a stocker stalker….
Forgot to mention the Ouch Mouse! It holds a plastic cube full of frozen water that you put on little kids’ injuries. Will go back and add it in.
LOLOL….I can’t help it I have an eye for the details !! 🙂
“ouch mouse”…thats funny and cute!
That’s what it’s called. I swear. And it’s come in handy a time or two when DF’s grandkids get hurt.
It also instigated one of my niece’s greatest mom-superpower displays ever. She was visiting at the same time as DF’s older granddaughter, who’d been nipped by a local insect and was NOT happy about it. After a time of us listening to the preschooler grizzle and moan, my niece spoke up. “Rose, are you tall?”
Rose stopped whimpering. “Yes. I’m tall.”
“Are you tall enough to put the Ouch Mouse back in the freezer, though? I don’t know if you are.”
Rose leaped to her feet. “I am! I’m tall! I can do it!”
“Well, maybe you are. Let’s see.”
Rose raced to the freezer, stood on tiptoe and maneuvered the Ouch Mouse in. “See! I did it! I’m tall!!!”
The tears and self-pity had vanished. And she went back out to play.
My niece is the mom of two and a veteran schoolteacher. She is also a rockstar.
One important item I forgot to add to my comment is the frozen pizza. I keep one in the freezer because I know the night will arrive when I don’t feel well, am too tired to cook or get home late. I buy a store brand or on sale frozen pizza (whichever is cheaper) on my monthly grocery shopping trip. It has saved the day many times.
When all else fails…Still lots cheaper than takeout.
Our local Acme grocery store sometimes has store brand pizza in the app as a freebie. They are part of the Albertsons chain of grocery stores, so a related store might be in your area. I get a decent freebie once or twice a month. They were plying me with pizzas for a while. Last week, I needed shredded Parmesan and my freebie was an 8 ounce bag of shredded cheese (which can also be frozen).
I do the same thing! AND, if it doesn’t all get eaten, Individually wrap the slices and put a note on it with the date and back in the freezer to ensure they get eaten! I find pizza freezes well and reheats just fine in the oven or a frying pan.
Or the toaster oven.
I just have the freezer next to my fridge. It isn’t even wide enough for a proper frozen pizza. In addition to my fridge I have a mini fridge we use for cold beverages> (I live in the south.) Last week we had left overs. For the life of me I couldn’t find them. The next day I sent to get a cold seltzer water, and yep. There they were in the bev cooler. First world problem.
My big chest freezer in the barn is currently stuffed to the brim with the results of our chicken’s “one bad day” – 20 heritage meat birds, some still whole, some painfully parted by yours truely – into thighs, drums, boneless breasts (because their bones were HARD and my hands tired, so it was easier to part out off the bones) wings (tipped and parted into two pieces). I made a LOT of broth and pressure canned it (11 litres/quarts) but again tired out so I froze at least half the carcasses in bundles for future broth making. To clean out the freezer I needed to take out the wool that I was storing there to deal with some wool moths (although I suspect the ‘moths’ were flecks of lavender flowers that my friend put with the wool and forgot when she gave it to me). I also took out the 4 square vinegar containers that I keep in there full of water to fill the freezer.
There is also a collection of prawns from our local Community supported fishery, some salmon from same, and some cod, and halibut, that I got whole and painfully parted out to freeze. some of that fish is getting old so I am trying to make sure I get to it sooner. All meats frozen with a foodsaver, which gives me so much peace of mine and so little freezerburn!
The fridge freezer seems to never get cleared out, although recently I discovered that the bottom layer was burritos that I had made for #2 son. He has moved to the barn loft where there is a microwave, so I am going to pass those on to him. there are two packages of perogies, which I might also pass on, as well as some english muffins that I made from my sourdough when it was healthy and bountiful. I have taken to freezing random chicken bones after meals or when I am deboning prior to cooking, they will get thrown into any broth making exercise. If I give #2 son the burritos, I can then cut up and freeze that last of the 50 pound bag of onions that I got when I hated the thought of onions at $1.49 and a bag worked out to 20 cents a pound. even after sharing and doubling the onions in every recipe, I have a few left that are in need of saving.
Finally, I am now planning to spend some effort harvesting and freezing chard and kale, we love chard cooked with feta on top and my chard is currently doing well, time to collect!
Ok, back to making kale salad, which was the reason I am on the computer now, looking for a recipe.
That sounds not just bountiful, but also healthful. It also reminds me that I need to deal with our kale, which is getting….big.
Interesting article. Milk, oranges, orange juice, yogurts, blueberries.
Impressive! I’ve dumped a few ripe bananas in there and need to actually do something with them… or just compost them, ha.
Bloody Mary mix is the BEST spice for veggie soup! Be sure to add it in small amounts because it is spicy.