Freezer challenge, anyone?
Since the grocery store options are a little iffy for most of us, this seems like a perfect time for a freezer challenge. Are you with me?
Almost all of us have a stash of random food hiding out in our freezers (doubly true for those of us with chest freezers!), and right now, we probably have an extra measure of motivation to actually eat it!
Why should you consider a freezer challenge?
Left to ourselves, we will usually grab whatever is fresh, new, and unopened, passing by the partial packages and odds and ends.
This perfectly good food to freezer burn, uneaten.
A freezer challenge helps you find all the random things and then make a plan for how to use them.
And sharing your "I used it up!" stories with other people is very motivating. At least, it is for me!
My freezer challenge items
My chest freezer is fairly full but because I completely emptied it last year, I know that nothing in there is super duper old.
Whew.
My kitchen freezer has gotten a little clogged with randomness, though, so that's what I decided to focus on first.
Let's start with a rundown of what I've got, left to right, top to bottom.
Row one
- Mozzarella cheese, both dairy and non-dairy (maybe some pizza?)
- 2 roasted orange peppers (I should make some of this mayo!)
- 4 waffles (might get my girls to eat these)
- a pan of bread cubes (overnight French toast)
Row two
- 6 burger buns (some kind of main dish sandwich)
- partial loaves of banana bread
- partial package of bacon (lots of options here; bacon should not present a problem!)
- 1 pork tenderloin (pork quinoa bowls)
- a bag of frozen bananas (smoothie)
Row three
- 5 chicken sausages (maybe a lunchtime option; not good for dinner bc they have cheese in them and Sonia can't have dairy)
- a partial bag of peas (I'll add them to pork tinga next week)
- a handful of chicken thighs (thinking some Chinese chicken lettuce wraps)
- frozen spinach (smoothie)
Since it's really fun to share freezer triumphs with other people, I'm going to start a daily freezer challenge thread in the Frugal Girl Facebook group.
The comment section here is great, but in the Facebook group, you guys can share photos of what you've been making with your freezer food, and I think that'll be fun.
And you can start threads of your own in the Facebook group as well, so if you need suggestions about a particular freezer item, that's a great place to get some ideas.
Join the Frugal Girl facebook group by clicking here.
And non-Facebook people, don't worry...I'll do an update post here next week, letting you know how I did with my freezer stash.
Are you going to work on eating up your frozen food with me this week?
I have explored some of my freezer space and brought the older meats to the top. I am also trying to stretch our meals with beans and lentils. Over the next few days we will be eating the last of a beef and mushroom braise and beans and knackwurst.
Yes!!! I defrosted my freezer last week and have already started my challenge. I made baked cod for the first time last night as we were gifted cod and I never had made it before. Earlier this week, I made turkey legs for the first time as I was also gifted those too. It ended up being a partial fail as they were not done in time for dinner but we had other foods to fill the gap and had the meat later, and used the bones to make a yummy broth. Today, I'm making bean with bacon soup using a ham bone and bacon that were in the freezer - new recipe. I'm thinking of how to use up my Aldi buns that may now have some slight freezer burn. Can they be saved? Stay tuned!
A couple of months ago, several bloggers were talking about freezer challenges around the same time, so that got me thinking. I walked over to our big upright freezer, opened the door, took one look and said . . . Nah, not today. Now I'm pretty happy that I wasn't able to generate any enthusiasm for it back then!
Last month I pulled out some frozen strawberries and nectarines that didn't get made into ice cream over the summer. I put them in the crockpot to cook then mashed and strained them. The juice returned to the freezer for later and the pulp was used to make muffins. I used a pumpkin bread recipe. I also used up random flours, nuts, seeds, coconut, dried fruit, extracts and other ingredients left from recipes. I cook my muffins in ramekins and ended up with about 6 dozen double size muffins. Been having the for breakfast most days.
That sounds delicious!
I would have no trouble selling those kinds of leftovers in this house : )
Kristen, would you mind linking your overnight French toast recipe? I, too, have a large bag of frozen bread cubes (Christmas with my family didn't happen due to illness so I never made the stuffing and I'd rather not make a giant batch of stuffing right now). Thank you!
Money has been tight so I have been trying to use a couple of freezer items a week since the beginning of the year so most of what's in my freezer is newish. But I do make big batches of soups and beans that I freeze in small containers. Then when I need them, I just grab a container on my way out the door and by lunch it's thawed out and I've got a healthy lunch.
I am making broth out of my abundance of chicken carcasses I've accumulated that are in my freezer, lol.
Yes, it's a great time for a freezer challenge! I have some strawberries that have been in there for way too long. I think I'll make some strawberry syrup a la The Frugal Girl and serve that on pancakes and maybe even yogurt. I also have some odds and ends of corn and beans and broth that work perfectly in soup. Finally, some blueberries would make for an excellent cobbler. That might help it feel more like spring, even though it is snowing right now here in Michigan. 🙁 That's enough for this week, but I'll try to tackle more next week.
I ate down my freezer in January & February, so the only old things are ones I really can't use right now, primarily smoked pig bits that I use for beans. Let me tell you, late February was a terrible time to restock the freezer!
So I'll be cheering one everyone else and I look forward to the success stories and pictures.
We took inventory this weekend and have started pulling out things for the coming week. We have only the freezer in our side by side, but there was still a surprising amount of stuff in there. We only threw away 2 items that were so old they grossed us out. The rest are in the works for meal planning over the next few weeks.
I've been very curious about what is actually in the stores now. Or rather, what isn't. I haven't been to a store in about four weeks, so I don't know firsthand what it's like here, but what about elsewhere? Have stores re-stocked, or are people still panic-buying?
Yes! I spent Saturday morning doing a freezer inventory and making a 2 week plan of meals and snacks so I could do one mega grocery run and then stay out of stores for a while. I have more meat in there than I realized, plus a giant bag of corn that I froze in the fall. My daughter was amazed when I pulled out a loaf of banana bread that afternoon for a snack. "How'd you make that so fast?" 🙂
This morning I used frozen strawberries in the oatmeal we had for breakfast.
I had emptied mine out pretty much, and right now it is almost full of delivered meals for my husband. He has basically stopped eating them, so I am giving most to an older widow and an older couple with health issues. We have stopped delivery, and I guess it's back to me trying to find things he'll eat on his own when I'm at work.
However, my co-workers and I are trying to work from home this week and probably next. We'll see how it goes, as our office uses wide media printers a lot and also needs signatures and seals, meaning we've got to meet sometimes at the office. I'm going to get creative with the few things left in my freezer to get most of them out of there, then start over, once this quarantine thing is over.
I noticed a half empty carton of ricotta in my freezer the other day, so I am now going to defrost it and make a ricotta poundcake. I also have some random quinoa, dried black beans, 1/2 fresh bell pepper, and 1/2 bag of frozen corn which I'm now going to fashion into a Tex-mex quinoa of some sort. A trick I learned recently is to lightly brown my quinoa in a little bit of olive oil before adding the water to it. Really amps up the flavor factor.
Thank you for the inspiration Kristin!
Returning to say that the ricotta poundcake turned out DELICIOUS. Here is a link to the recipe I used: https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/ricotta-orange-pound-cake-with-strawberries-recipe-1950348
Kristen, how do you keep buns from getting freezer burned? I cannot use a whole package and I end up using the extras for bread crumbs. I'd love to make your homemade hamburger buns, but no way I could use them up quickly enough! Thanks!!
In other news, Chef Michael Symon (from my hometown of Cleveland OH) is doing a daily "pantry dinner" on facebook and on his IG. @chefsymon (He has all the recipes in his profile) I have some random chicken and I'm going to go with his sheet tray dinner tonight.
I'm not sure if this will work for buns but I use this method for the homemade rustic loves of bread that I freeze. I wrap them TWICE in saran wrap and then wrap them in one layer of foil. Then I put the foil wrapped bundles in freezer bags. It sounds like an awful lot of paper waste but I re-use and re-use all of those components once a loaf comes out of the freezer until there is no life left in them. Others may have suggestions too and I'd love to hear them but that's the only thing that's ever worked for me. I hope it helps!
I usually freeze mine in my chest freezer, which is the simplest way to avoid freezer burn. A freezer that doesn't self defrost tends to keep things fresher for much longer.
But in lieu of that, I think Sarah's method sounds great!
I should mention that my husband and I are retired full time RV-ers so I have the added challenge of an RV sized refrigerator and freezer and no extra chest freezer for overflow. In addition, RV freezers frost up quickly. With that said, that's also why I do the extra wrapping method that I do. I agree with WilliamB that eliminating as much air as possible is key. Good luck!
When I freeze bread, I get as much air out of the container as I can, up to and including using a straw. Air is one of the main contributors to freezer burn which is why vacuum sealers do such a good job.
Ohhh I am so taking this challenge on! I pulled out a 4-pack of hamburgers from Omaha Steaks (my husband's family sent us a big box from Omaha Steaks right after I gave birth in December! While I think they're expensive and overpriced, it has been really nice to not think about meat for a while). I also took out a ton of oxtails we've had in there forever. So tomorrow? I think I'll stick them in a crockpot and simmer all day.
Great idea! I started doing this last week out of wanted to visit the grocery store less. Plus, I'm teleworking at home with my daughter home from school and have a little time to get creative and think of meals while we are both home all day.
Yes! I cleaned out my freezer last week before making a Costco run and have been intentionally working on eating the older, forgotten stuff up. Turns out I had a lot of butter stashed away, too, so that will be good for baking over the next few weeks while we're stuck at home. Eating at home so much now is a great motivation for clearing out the freezer; hopefully we can still restock it as the food gets eaten down.
Ooh, a butter stash is a great thing to have right now. Most stores I've seen are out of butter.
I have a few pounds in my freezer, mercifully.
I'm down to 8 lbs of butter and wondering if I need to buy more. It's been at least 6 years since I had this little. Funny thing is, I use butter almost exclusively in baking; I saute in oil and rarely butter my breadstuffs.
DH made me a list of the contents of the downstairs freezer, to sooth my panic, when I heard this isolation can last longer than an of us expect. We are in Western New York where all nonessential businesses are shut down til..... whenever....
Marinated burgers and leftover potatoes today,
Tomorrow the last of the chili
Wednesday, leftover broccoli, chicken cheese and rice.
Thursday, Polish sausage with eggs
That's as far as I can plan at this time
My husband stocked our freezer pretty well full this weekend, because I was freaking out about possible food shortages. We now have the quantity of food we need, but I'm trying to figure out how to be flexible with it.
I had not realized what a luxury it was to just decide what meals I'd make for the week and then be able to get all of the ingredients without even thinking about it.
I should add that we did not hoard! We had actually had a really, really sparse grocery run the week before, when everybody was pantry-loading, and barely made it through the week. Our fridge and freezer were empty by the end of the week. My husband hit two supermarkets and made sure we had enough food to get us through two weeks, which, with six people eating at home three times a day, ends up being a lot of food!
Yep I'm in.
I need to make notes on what I have in there so I can make matches with the other items I have. I wish I had a more usable pantry, mine is deep and large and things get pushed back so I tend to forget what I have in there. Being off might be a good time to rearrange to see if I can move my canned goods elsewhere. My fridge and freezer are shallow so I'm good at using those things up.
A deep pantry can be quite the challenge, I agree. Have you considered using risers, so the items in the back are higher up than the ones up front?
We got back to Canada on Saturday night, we're now 14 day quarentine, and I began "shopping" the freezer Sunday preparatory to doing up a shopping list for my son to bring us stuff. So chicken legs for Sunday supper, ground beef for chili, frozen pickles for noshing, bagels to use for breakfast and snacks, and chicken stock for soup. Hardly a dent, to be honest. We do have stuff on hand because we brought back a full cooler and two bags of groceries we had planned to eat if we were staying two more weeks in condos. So I had my son just get us some fresh veg, some baking flour, mozzarella, and potatoes. Later in the week, I'll get out some chicken breast for stirfy.
We use a Rubbermaid tub placed outside from about October to April, as an extra freezer. We do not have anything other than our fridge freezer, so it is really nice to have a limitless outdoor freezer for half the year. The problem is that, although we have had 10 inches of snow in the last few days and it is still snowing as I write this, we know spring is coming so we have already started our annual panic eating so we can get everything shrunk down enough to fit in the fridge freezer. I have made a list of what we have, indoors and out, and it looks like we will be eating up carton after carton of single servings of leftover soup for every lunch and a lot of our suppers. On the up side, I discovered two bags containing a dozen each of chocolate chip cookie dough waiting to be baked up. So, dessert after the soup is done! The only other major thing I have to dispose of is salmon, salmon and more salmon that was given to us last summer. I know that sounds like a great problem to have, and I am very thankful for the abundance Alaska gives us in wild fish and game, but even chocolate can get boring if you eat it too often. (Ask me how I know...)
My husband made salmon (and crab )stuffed mushrooms . Salmon, cheese, crab -stuff and roast the mushrooms. This and a salad made for a great meal. If you don’t have mushrooms you could stuff peppers or squash. Puff pastry stuffed with salmon and cheese? Alaska salmon- we are SO JEALLY!
I’ve been in my house, not leaving this is day 8 so I started my freezer challenge last week. My favorite thing I made over so far was lentil “ meatloaf “ it was frozen so I took part of it and broke it up and seasoned it into lentil tacos. I ate more of the meatloaf with mashed potatoes for dinner and there’s one piece left for a meatloaf sandwich for lunch tomorrow. I will be more than fine in the food department at my house.
Could you provide the recipe if it’s not to much trouble? Thanks!
Seconded.
I'm so torn because I also see this social distancing as a great way to use up what I have in the freezer. However, I also really want to support the hurting local restaurants. I know you mentioned that in a previous post also 🙂 Just trying to find a balance between using up my stash and helping to take care of some of the restaurants that we would be really bummed if they went under during this craziness.
I think a combo of both is probably the most sustainable route for most of us. Do what you can. <3
Another idea I see is to buy gift certificates for later use. One the one hand, you run the risk of losing the money if the restaurant goes out of business; on the other, you have supported the business without having to leave the house.
Yes, I think this is a great idea. Our favorite restaurant is donating 25% of all gift card sales to a relief fund for the employees.
This is such a great idea with the present time. Thank you! We’re in!
Timing is everything. My timing was off. I began the year by doing a freezer/pantry challenge. My goal was to "eat myself out of house and home" before I made any purchases to stockpile. Through out January and February I only purchased ingredients necessary to create a meal from what I already had on hand. Usually that meant only purchasing fresh produce and dairy. Well by the end of February I was 90% done eating the stockpile. When grocery store shortages became reality I only have a small amount of food at home. I'm optimistic that cooler heads will prevail and by the time I'm desperate for groceries the shelves will be full again. The good news is I have lots of TP and I only go thought about 1 roll of paper towels in a year.
Oh, man, that IS frustrating timing! Geez.
I'm glad you have TP tho.
It's certainly a good time for a freezer challenge. I recently did a freezer and pantry challenge that lasted a few months and it was great to use up those items that had been buried or pushed to the back. Now that I have restocked I am ready to do it again and focus on using what we have and avoiding the stores. My favorite part about freezer challenges is that it sometimes forces you to get creative but the end result is always delicious.
I had just enough frozen beef broth for one portion of soup, added garlic tops (that I forgot I was growing in the crocus pot), added 2 T of canned kidney beans, a half t of 'better than bouillon', 2 t tomato salsa, T of Ramon noodles broken up, ..it turned out pretty OK.
I haven't been to market in a week.
I'm not doing the freezer challenge, but for fun I thought I would put what is in my freezer in West Africa. It's not the same!
Little Freezer above fridge-
Ice (or water currently freezing) in ice cube trays or containers.
2 smoothies that I made earlier in the week
Chest Freezer
*5 whole chickens- bought from a local contact who raises them and slaughters twice a year
*ground beef and cubed beef- bought in a big chunk at the market by my houseworker who removes the bone, gristle, and processes it to be ready for me to cook
*Frappachino- decaf & regular (I need to make more regular)
*papaya chunks for smoothies
*small bag of mango chunks for smoothies
*ripe bananas- put in freezer when there was no gas in town for stoves. Now that we have it back, I'm making lots of banana muffins this week.
*yogurt
*one pack Lebanese bread
*homemade bread (about 12 rolls)
*1 dozen banana oatmeal muffins, 1 dozen Banana molasses chocolate chip muffins
*8-9 kilos of flour
*3 blocks of yeast
*4 small containers of lentils cooked with chicken broth, onions, and garlic
*bags of frozen garbanzo beans
*2 small containers of left-over sauce
Our country still has no reported cases of Corona virus, but it is all around us. We have some restrictions, but not total quarantine. Instead of using things up, I'm hoping to add some more beef for the inevitable quarantine time. Now that mangoes are in season, I want to start filling the freezer with those.
Please tell me about your frozen mozzarella--what is the texture and taste like after thawing? Did you put it on pizza? Did it melt properly? When I buy mozzarella, we usually have a small chunk leftover that sometimes gets moldy. I thought cheese was one of those things that changed badly when frozen so I'd never tried, but this could save all my mozza bits. Thank is advance!
Cheese actually freezes quite well if you shred it first. I shred it, spread it rather thinly in a freezer bag and then lay it flat in the freezer. That way the cheese isn't all stuck in one big clump together.