Simplify Life... How to freeze foods safely

I am sad to say that over the years I have thrown out alot of food from my freezer. You would think that once food goes into your freezer it is good to go, safe. But sadly it's not. Time, air and temperature are the great enemy in your freezer. In this post we will talk about how to combat each of these to help our food last the longest. We will also talk about how to freeze different things like freezer meals or leftovers to get the longest time possible out of them.

In my previous post I talked about what can be frozen and what happens to food when we freeze it. It is a great resource to read if you are just starting out using your freezer.

So now that we know what freezes well, we need to know how to freeze it.

Choosing what you freeze things in. For me, I have found that I love to freeze things in good quality gallon or quart size freezer zip top bags. I would probably prefer a food sealer to get out the air better, if I had one, but for what is easily available to me, freezer zip bags are what I love the most. I love these for several reasons. ONE, because they are uniform in size, helping them to stack well against each other. TWO, because they are flat and skinny if I take the time to flatten my food before freezing. It is amazing how much space odd sized containers really do waste. THREE,  they adapt to the food I put in it, leaving little to no air. FOUR, they cause less dishes. Sure they are not reusable, but at the stage of life I am in, I think this one splurge to save on dishes is worth it. FIVE, I can afford freezer bags, where I can not afford fancy, reusable tubs, containers or bake-ware. SIX, I can give these away to friends in need and feel great, without wondering if I will ever see my container again.

By packaging everything that goes in my freezer into the same sized, flat bags, I can have an organized freezer that I know where everything generally is. It can also be crammed to the brim with time and money saving good foods.

Labeling and dating is a MUST! I know we may think that we will remember what is in that little bag and that it is not really needed to label and date them. Please trust me, date and label everything. Before I was really good and consistent with labeling and dating my freezer contents I had many mishaps thinking I had pulled out something, only to find it wasn't what I needed or wanted.I have thrown out too many mystery. Kids don't really like sloppy joe tacos, and scrambling at the last minute to switch gears is not my idea of fun.

Tips for labeling :
1. Label before you put food in your bag. Once the food is in your bag, the bag will sweat, leaving moisture on it. This will make it hard, or impossible to write or tape on a label.
2. Always use a permanent marker to write the name and date on your bag. Even if you are taping a label with directions on your bag it is important to write what is in it with a permanent marker. That way if your label falls off, you still know what is inside.
3. If you do decide to print out a label with directions on it, it is best to laminate or tape over it. You could put it into a snack sized baggie even. Having the label sealed prevents your ink from running when it thaws, and it allows you to reuse it if needed.
4. Write the label on the bottom or side of your bag. This way you can stand up your bags after they freeze and can easily see what is in each bag, like a file system.

Tips for loading food into your bags and freezing:

1. Before we ever start filling our bags, collect our recipe and all our ingredients together. It is also helpful to gather any measuring spoons or cups you may need. It is important to gather everything we will need BEFORE we put anything in the bag. Once we walk away, we will loose track of what we did, and this is where mistakes happen.

2. Make a bowl of your freezer bags. Do this by turning over the zipper part to the outside. This protects the zipper of the bag from food that will make it hard to seal it. Once you have done this, open your bag and smash it flat so it will stand like a bowl

3. Fill your bag with dry ingredients first. Once your wet items go into the bag, depending on how much that is, your bag will start to sag. If there are alot of wet things in your freezer meal, you may spill if your bag gets too full and sags over. I save my wet items for last to avoid this.

5. It is important to work QUICKLY to get your meals or meats done and into the freezer. This is especially important with meats. For this and other reasons, I typically do not put my meats in with my freezer meals. I do them separately in a quart sized freezer bag in measured amounts that best fit our family. They are easily gathered at the time of cooking, and both my meats and my freezer meals last longer if they are separated until cooking day.

6. Once we bag up our contents it is VERY important to get as much air as possible out of the food. I do this by tightly packing the contents to the bottom, and rolling the bag around the itself to get all the air out, and seal it. I then flatten it with the palm of my hand. spreading it out. If you got all the air out, this will not be the easiest thing to do, but flattening the bag out is well worth it.

7. Once we have our meals or items all sealed and flattened out, we are ready to freeze them. Please know that if you stack them too high they will likely shift and sag over, leaving you will oddly frozen bags. I solve this by freezing only a few at a time on a hard surface, like a cutting board. This stabilizes things, so I can stack more on one stack also.

Once things are frozen, we can rearrange things to be easily accessible. If you have those slotted rungs in your freezer, it is helpful to put a piece of cardboard or a square of linoleum so that your bags don't slip through.

I really hope this helps you understand and be confident in yourself and your freezer meals. Using my freezer to help me prepare for dinner has truely saved me so my time, effort and stress. It has also allowed us to eat healthier with much more variety. Good Luck Friends!