Simplify life! What & what not to freeze.

If you have poked around my blog even a little bit, you likely have picked up that I love my freezer. I love it because it allows me to do so much! It fits my cooking style so very well. Why? Because it lets me tackle cooking on my terms. When I have time I give it a bit of attention in the form of a cooking project or multiplying a few meals. Then over time, when dinner time rolls around, things pay off with fast easy meals. It is especially nice when life is completely nuts, and I can turn to it to save the day!

Learning what you can and can't freeze will help you save time, money and effort while getting healthy home cooked meals on your table fast. Freezing food is great for preserving your foods for longer, allowing you to buy in season fruits and veggies at a great deal, to eat all year long. However, freezing foods has some tricky rules that change depending on what it is you want to freeze. Here are some tips:


What happens when you Freeze and thaw your food.
Using our freezers slows down the bacterial growth in our food, but it doesn't kill it. So we need to start with good quality food to start with. The quicker we can get what we plan to freezer in the freezer the better. When you freeze foods, the cells in your food expand and rupture, changing the integrity of the what you are freezing a bit. Because of all these ruptured cells, it is easier for bacteria to multiply and spread. Once food is thawed, the clock is counting for bacteria to build and contaminate your food with unseen nasties. Freezing and thawing foods in restaurants are highly regulated to keep us safe for a reason. Please be safe in your own home too.

Can you refreeze thawed foods?
It is very important to know that  you can not refreeze foods that have thawed. When you refreeze your food again, more cells are broken down, but more importantly the harmful bacteria that developed have continued to grow at such a greater rate with thawed food. It is important to use your frozen meat within a day of thawing, AND to keep the temperature cold in your refrigerator until cooking it. It is unsafe to thaw on the counter all day or leave meats out of the refrigerator very long.

However, once you thoroughly cook your frozen foods, you can refreeze them ONCE. Cooking your foods completely kills any bacteria that developed. We have had several times when we have gone into our big upright freezer only to discover something blocked the door from closing all the way. That is a sad, and unplanned very busy day of cooking meats and scrambling to save all your now thawed foods. If you do loose power, your food will stay perfectly frozen if you do not open your freezer and it is full. A full unopened, upright freezer keeps things frozen for up to 48 hours

Safety note: Hopefully you are aware of this, but just in case... When working with any meat, chicken or fish, ALWAYS sanitize your hands, cutting surfaces and anything touched by the meat. Things can easily go wrong with the bacteria if it is not cleaned up well. This goes for the utensils and marinades which meat touches before the meat is well cooked. Be safe :)

Protecting your foods in the freezer.
While our freezer can be our best bud, it can also be an enemy to our foods depending on how it is packaged. Even in a short time our freezer can change the flavor of our food if they are not properly packaged. The enemy to our foods in the freezer is air and time. Over time our freezer "burns" our foods and gives it a funny "off" tast. The food is still safe to eat, but its quality is not as good and gives off a funny flavor. The more air our food item has in it, the less time it will last well in our freezer. If our food went into the freezer with quality, being handled safely, and frozen with the least amount of air possible, it can last a remarkably long time.

Repackaging foods to remove air and store easier.
For me, I repackage most everything I put into my freezer into a quart or gallon freezer zip top bag. This allows me to remove as much air as possible and gives me uniform shapes to work with for storing things. There are some items we can remove ALL air out of, like a soup, sauce, freezer meals, and some meats, and there are items in our freezer we can remove very little air, like bread or bulky veggies. The more air removed from our items, the more time we have before

How to thaw items and meats properly.
We should always thaw our items and meat in the refrigerator over night before using. Thawing in the microwave on defrost is acceptable only if you will be cooking it right away afterwards. The microwave warms up your meat or item and starts the bacteria growing.

I know many people who pull freezer meals and meat out and directly put it into the crock pot frozen and have been fine. However, because of the slow heat and cooking temperature of a slow cooker, we run  the risk of bacteria building up in our foods as the crock pot slowly thaws and then cooks our food. Having good quality foods going into our freezer will minimize this risk somewhat, but it is always best to thaw our meats over night in the refrigerator before starting it to cook in the crock pot.

Freezing Leftovers or cooked meats.
Cooked meats are great to have in the freezer. You can make so many quick meals with cooked diced chicken, grilled meats, shredded pork and beef or browned up hamburger and Italian sausage. or meatballs However great having cooked meat in my freezer is, that fact is that cooked meat does not last as long. Be good about getting as much air out of your packaging as possible and try to use these cooked meat packages within 2 or 3 months to avoid freezer burn and waste.

I love to freeze my leftovers. If there is only just enough for one or 2 servings after a meal, it goes in  the freezer. We have 4 people who can take repeatable lunches in my home. Having single serving leftovers in my freezer avoids hassles making a lunch in the morning, saves money in the drive though and give variety from the same old sandwich everyday.

Foods that freeze well

Meats , poultry and fish Purchasing meats when they are on sale or in bulk is a GREAT way to start saving! By preparing and putting them in meal sized freezer quart sized bags you save time and freezer space, allowing you to get dinner on the able fast and being able to put more in your freezer for a longer amount of time.

Baked items and breads do well in the freezer. This includes cookies, muffins, english muffins, bagels, un-frosted cakes, pies, quick and yeast breads. Some things even do great freezing before they are cooked, such as bread dough, pizza dough, cookie dough, pies, and batters for cakes or muffins.

Cooked beans and cooked grains freeze great! This is a great time saver to cook up a big batch of various grains and beans. These items generally take more effort and time to cook, so making a big batch saves you time later. I like to do this with all sorts of beans, brown rice, lentils, barley, and wheat berries. It sure is handy to have as a quick, less expensive alternative to canned beans. and it helps us get whole grains in by adding them easily to any recipe.

Butter and margarine and grated cheese freeze great!

Eggs can be frozen raw but they must be taken out of the shell and separated.  You can refreeze the divided eggs individually in ice cube trays or just in any sized batch into quart freezer bags. When I get a really big batch of eggs and don't have room in my refrigerator for them, I freeze them in family sized batches of 12 eggs, one bag of yokes and one bag of white. The evening before we need them I pop the yokes and whites in the fridge and in the morning they are ready to go for scrambled eggs and omelets. I also make single and small batches for baking purposes.

Food that can be frozen but will change in its texture

Veggies and fruits are a great thing to have in your freezer. Chopping and preparing several onions or peppers at a time and freezing what you don't use helps save time the next time you need that item in a recipe. Having frozen fruits in for quick smoothies, munching or baking is amazing too. Because of the moisture content of most fruits and veggies, they change after being frozen and are not the same as when fresh.

Frozen veggies are great in anything that needs to be cooked; soups, stir-frys, crock pot cooking and casseroles. We often store chopped bell peppers, Jalapeno peppers, onions, celery, cilantro and herbs in  quart freezer bag straight from my cutting board.  Other vegetables need to be blanched before freezing to make sure to kill the enzyme that break down vegetables. Blanching in hot water for 3 minutes, then in ice water to stop the cooking process. This should be done for corn, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage and especially potatoes (or they will turn black). See HERE for a bunch of freezer potato recipes

Fruits are also a wonderful addition to your freezer items. Like vegetables, fruits also change texture in the freezer. They can be frozen together in a quart freezer bag or on a baking sheet and transferred to the quart bag later for individual pieces. We store in the freezer strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, grapes, pineapple, and peaches. We also make freezer jam and have it at all times ;)

Milk and dairy products can be frozen but may separate. Allow your milk to thaw out completely and shake it before serving. Block cheese will be crumbly and will not slice well, but is great for melting and cooking. Cream cheese and sour cream can be frozen but separate enough to only be good in cooked recipes.

Bacon and cured lunch meats are pretty much a must in our freezer. They usually don't last very long in our house, but you will want to be careful with keeping these 2 things in your freezer for more than a few months. The salt in these meats could react to the fat in them and turn the fat rancid over a long period of time. If you have had these items in your freezer for several months, just be aware and give it a sniff to see if it smells off before cooking/eating it.

What DOES NOT freeze well?
Freezing  some food defiantly changes the property of somethings beyond what we will find appetizing.

Cooked eggs and meringue become tough and rubbery. Jellies and jello weep. Lettuce and cucumbers become wilty and watery. Emulsion sauces like mayonnaise separate in weird ways. Crumb topping on casseroles become soggy. Milk base puddings or custards separate. Gravy thickened by cornstarch become watery and separate. Frosting made with butter or eggs weep. Cooked potatoes in soups become squishy.

I think the ultimate thing not to freeze though is raw potatoes. No one wants to eat anything black that's not suppose to be, ever!!

Did I miss anything? What have you found that does or does not freeze well?
Good luck in your adventures in making life easier with your freezers.