Although not everything can be frozen, the things that can sometimes require a little prep work. Here’s some tips I’ve learned over the years:
Casseroles
Okay, so you doubled your recipe and have made two casseroles – one for now and one for the freezer. But, you don’t want all your casserole dishes in the freezer so what do you do?
Line the casserole dish with clear plastic wrap or foil and then spray with cooking spray. Place your casserole in the dish, cover with plastic wrap and freeze for a few hours until completely frozen. Remove from the freezer and take it out of the dish. Then tightly wrap the food in more plastic wrap/foil, label and place back in the freezer.
When you’re ready to eat it take all the plastic wrap off, place back in the original dish and place in the fridge to defrost. Then cook!
Fruit/Veg
I love to have fresh produce around and sometimes I see great sales but I know we can’t eat that much before it goes bad. Last week onions were $.79 for a 4LB bag at ALDI so I grabbed some, brought them home and chopped them up. I then put them on a baking tray and put them in the freezer for about 2 hours. You don’t want them in there too long or they’ll get freezer burn.
I pulled them out of the freezer and put them in a ziploc bag. I then threw them back in the freezer.
The advantage is that when you need some you can just go and grab a few and they’re not all stuck together in a big ball! I’ve also done it with peppers, blueberries and other fruits.
Ice Cubes
Want to make fun ice cubes for drinks? Add a small piece of fruit (strawberry, cranberry, blueberry etc) to an ice-cube tray and then add water. Freeze and then serve in drinks!
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Thanks to Clair for her great guest post in freezer meals. I hope that you got a few great ideas to use in your kitchen!
Clair runs her own blog over at MummyDeals. I check her blog out daily and love all of the frugal tips she offers! If you are into couponing or want to learn how (trust me, you want to learn how!)…. check her out!
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Yes, definitely do the chopped onion on a flatter surface first for a couple of hours and then transport to a bag. I skipped that little step and went right to the big ole bag and the onions were one big solid chunk so it was hard to use just a little portion at a time. 🙂 Great ideas.