I Can Freeze What?

There are many things that you can freeze! With getting ready for my Bulk Cooking Day, I have been checking through old recipes and notes that I have made over the years of things that freeze well. Here are a few I thought you may want to try...

All fruits and vegetables should be washed before freezing.

• Cheese- bars, sliced or shredded- If you are making a cheese tray I would not use frozen cheese, you can taste a little difference after it has been frozen. Most of the frozen cheeses I use for cooking- grilled cheese, manicotti, lasagna, toppings on cooked foods, etc.
• Canned Biscuits
• Eggs- whisk together, put into ice trays, freeze, remove from ice tray and store in zip lock bags until needed up to 6months, refrigerate to thaw
• Hot Dogs
• Yogurt or Gogurts
• Cookie Dough
• Butter
• Bread
• Dinner Rolls
• Garlic and Ginger
• Tomatoes
• Fruit- Oranges and Berries
• Vegetables- (cook these for 2-3 minutes and then cool before freezing- peas, broccoli, celery, spinach, corn (remove from cob), carrot) good for 4-6 months
• Onions- peel and chop- good for 2-3 months
• Peppers- cut and remove seeds

Vegetables in a zip lock bag with seasoning and or butter are great. When you start dinner you can pull out as many you need and pop them in a pan and reheat, they are basically finished, no prep time. This is great if you have older kids or a husband that has to cook on their own. They just pull out what ones they want and reheat in a pot. You did all the work but they can help fix dinner. (Think Green Giant Steamers, just made with fresh products you prepared-great if you have a garden and want to keep some of the fresh items you grew!)

Homemade items freeze very well also. Here are a few to try……

• Muffins
• Biscuits or Dinner Rolls
• Pancakes or Waffles
• Lasagna
• Manicotti
• Any meats- Chicken, Hamburger, Pork Chops, Ribs, etc.
• Vegetable Soup (don’t add potatoes if you are going to freeze it, they taste different after they have been frozen- I will usually cut up some the day that I reheat it and add it to it, cook until they are soft)
• Chicken Noodle Soup
• Spaghetti Sauces
• Cakes (just wait to ice them until you want to eat them)
• Tuna , Chicken or Ham Salad (go easy on the mayo, mayo tends to separate when frozen)
  

A lot of the items above can be made in advance and then just reheated when you need them. This will save you time and money. There use to be so many times that I would want something to eat for breakfast, say pancakes, but I knew we were in a hurry and I would not have time to make them. So we would leave a few minutes early and just stop at McDonald's or somewhere to grab breakfast. If you have pancakes already made then just pop a few in the microwave and that’s it, breakfast in just the time it takes to reheat in the microwave. Time and Money saved!!!

Don’t Freeze

• Mayo (tends to separate, if your recipe calls for it, try to use as little as possible)
• Potatoes
• Sour Cream
  
  These are all items that I have used and tried. As I find more items that freeze well I will add them to this list. You can check out this list at any time, I will have it at the top of the page as I Can Freeze What?

FYI........
According to Thrifty Puppy.......
You can freeze milk as well...just make sure you pour a little out before sticking it in the freezer. Otherwise, it will expand when it freezes and bust the carton.
Thanks for the extra info!!!