Is your freezer stocked with things you are not aware of? Do you have containers and bags of unknown food? If so this is for you. Stocking your freezer when you find a good sale or great coupons can be a great idea, but just like everything else you need to keep it organized. Very few things are as frustrating as having to freeze your hands off digging thru your freezer for just the right ingredient.
This is much easier to do if you have an upright freezer. If you have a chest freezer you will need to take the same basic ideas, but adjust them to your space and stack your items. This will be a task the first time, but if you keep up on it when you place the items in the freezer it will make life easier.
Take everything out of the freezer. (Depending on how full it is and the temperature, you many need to have some coolers on hand to place the items in so they don’t thaw out). I recommend you make separate piles keep meats in one fruit in another, veggies in yet another then there is frozen dinners etc. Then look for expiration dates. Yes even some frozen foods have expiration dates. Now if your freezer is frosted up it is the perfect time to defrost it. Now neatly place the items back into your freezer. I have one shelf for veggies, one for meats another for box meals. Then I place containers of soup in the bottom. Make sure you keep the oldest items at the front or on top. If you buy meat in bulk and it is not packaged for freezing I encourage you to invest in good quality freezer bags or containers. Package your meat in them and write the date you purchased them and even what the meat is (i.e. ground beef, boneless pork chops, chicken breasts, ground turkey, etc.) Do the same if you freeze soup after making it. Label what type of soup and the date you made it.
Here are the basic guidelines of freezing foods from the FDA: Item – Months Bacon and Sausage 1 to 2, Casseroles 2 to 3. Egg whites or egg substitutes 12, Frozen Dinners and Entrees 3 to 4, Gravy, meat or poultry 2 to 3, Ham, Hotdogs and Lunchmeats 1 to 2, Meat, uncooked roasts 4 to 12, Meat, uncooked steaks or chops 4 to 12, Meat, uncooked ground 3 to 4, Meat, cooked 2 to 3, Poultry, uncooked whole 12, Poultry, uncooked parts 9, Poultry, uncooked giblets 3 to 4, Poultry, cooked 4, Soups and Stews 2 to 3, Wild game, uncooked 8 to 12. (Again these are the basic guidelines.)
Now when you purchase new items place them at the back or on the bottom. Other words rotate your stock. Again make sure you use packaging meant for the freezing in the freezer sot that you don’t ruin the food by allowing it to become freezer burnt. It is better if you are able to vacuum pack food before freezing.
*Tip I take my meat out of the freezer and add my marinade into the frozen bag (if I plan to marinade), put it then into the refridgerator and allow it to thaw. As it thaws it will absorb the marinade and flavor the meat. Then cook as you like. My favorite treat on a salad is grilled chicken breast meat marinade in Italian dressing and then grilled. When I grill my chicken breast for dinner I make sure to have an extra piece to place on the grill. After cooking it I then chop it up into smaller pieces and place them in a snack bag. Then when you are having a salad or packing a lunch all you have to do is grab your baggie and you have a gourmet salad quickly. (If you don’t have salad real often you can refreeze the cooked chicken.)
No comments:
Post a Comment