Freezer Challenge Time (and some casualties)

I don't think I have done a freezer challenge since I left my old house, so it's been over four years! No, wait...I looked back, and I did one in July of 2023.

So...it's been three years.

Both my kitchen freezer and my chest freezer could use some focused work, soooo, consider this the start of some freezer challenges.

Some people do strict freezer challenges, as in...no other grocery shopping allowed. So, if you're new here, you should know that I am not trying to add needless suffering to my life, which is why I do gentle freezer challenges.

Basically, I allow myself to buy whatever other ingredients I need to make my random freezer contents palatable. Also, I do not restrict myself to eating entirely from the freezer.

Lastly, I take my freezer challenges in small chunks: one section at a time, or one grouping of food at a time.

This week: kitchen freezer

I'm starting with the kitchen freezer, since it's small and it's also where food is most likely to get freezer-burnt.

(My chest freezer is not self-defrosting; my kitchen freezer is. Self-defrost cycles are a major cause of freezer burn.)

I emptied it out, wiped it down, and took pictures of the contents, which I will now share with you.

First, a casualty: these bananas.

I'm usually pretty good about turning my frozen bananas into banana "ice cream", but I guess I forgot these ones existed.

I took one look at them and knew they would not taste good, so I'm calling them a casualty.

Next up, some whole wheat flour that I ground for pancakes. This is no problem; I will use that up in more pancakes!

This unopened container of OJ concentrate will just go into my chest freezer for future use.

I think this container has either heavy cream or half and half, which I could easily throw into a baked good of some sort.

I have a little tomato sauce problem; three half-used jars that I tossed into the freezer. Too bad I didn't realize I already had any open! Whoops.

Neighbors gave me some fresh tomatoes, and there were too many to use before I had a string of work shifts. So, I just quartered and froze them to use in the future (the skins will peel right off when they thaw.)

Ok, lastly, I have two groupings of smaller items. The first one is all bread.

I will eat the waffles at some random time. I could make mini pizzas with the naan. The tortillas are main for Zoe to use when she makes mini egg burritos (scrambled eggs and cheese in a tortilla).

The bread ends...I should cube those, and I think I have some in my chest freezer too. I might have enough for a baked French toast dish.

And this last photo is produce and cheese, plus some chicken broth (that's what the cubes are).

I gotta tell you...those peas were freezer-burnt together in a hard lump, and I decided to toss them. I'm not desperate enough to suffer through aged peas. 😉

I could make a smoothie with the fruit. And given that I have frozen shredded Parmesan and mozzarella, plus several containers of tomato sauce, I could definitely make some kind of pasta dish.

The corn...I bought that pretty recently, so I'm not too pressed about using it. On the other hand, frozen corn does tend to languish in my freezer, so maybe I should be purposeful about it.

My to-cook/to-eat list

Just to get my own thoughts together, I'm making a list!

• waffles (I'll eat them as a random snack)
• naan pizzas
• baked French toast (maybe)
• a smoothie
• a pasta dish
• some kind of corn-related dish (I might make chili over rice before my next shifts)
• whole wheat pancakes (although the flour is not a rush in my mind)

That should mostly take care of my kitchen freezer contents, and I'll try my best to get it all done this week. I'll plan to do an update next Monday, along with a fresh assignment for the next week.

Do you want to join me?

If so, you can make a list in the comments, sharing what you need to use up this week. And then you can update us in the comments next week; it's so helpful if you need a little accountability!