Kitchen freezer challenge: the results
Allllrighty. Last Monday, I rummaged through my kitchen freezer to find all the odds and ends that needed to be used up.
So, today I'm here with an update on my progress.
Let's start with this little group photo first:
I did use up some of the corn by making chili/rice bowls for my lunches.
I still have some corn left, but hey, it was a start.
I used up the cheese in the pan of baked ziti that I made.
I threw the peas away because they were a rock-hard, freezer-burnt lump. 😉 Even in my book, not everything is worth saving.
I made a single-serve smoothie with the fruit.
I did not do anything with the chicken broth cubes, but soup season is coming, so I'm not too pressed about them. I may just throw them in my chest freezer so that they don't get freezer-burnt.
So, here's what's left from that group:
I started with three partial jars of tomato sauce last week:
And I am down to one now, because I used two of the jars in my baked ziti.
On to this group of breadstuffs:
I toasted the waffles and ate them as is. Not as good as fresh, but workable.
I cut the two bags of bread ends into cubes, and then I remembered I also had a bag of frozen bread cubes in my chest freezer.
Those ones happened to be from some kind of cinnamon bread....sooo, I combined them with my other bread cubes:
And I made a pan of baked French toast.
Healthy? No.
Delicious? Yes.
I was going to use the random container of cream in the egg/milk French toast mixture, but I sniffed it, and it was funky. So, I decided not to risk ruining the whole batch of French toast; that would have been more wasteful!
I had planned to make mini pizzas with the naan, but I used all my cheese up in the ziti. So, instead, I used them to make scrambled egg wraps.
So, the only breadstuff left is...tortillas. And I'm not too worried about using those up.
Although maybe I should be, because I am fairly sure that my chest freezer is also home to some tortillas. Ahahaha.
Full disclosure: I did nothing with my frozen tomatoes or my whole wheat flour.
Bonus effort (from the chest freezer)
When I last made my grandma's cinnamon rolls, I froze five unrisen, unbaked rolls to see how they would fare.
This week, I put them on a baking sheet, covered them with a wet tea towel, and let them thaw and then rise for a good long time, like several hours (this is never a terribly precise science, so I recommend doing this on a day when you have a lot of flexibility). Then I baked and frosted them.
They turned out really well!
And this is a nice trick to have fresh-baked rolls for a small household; a whole batch of cinnamon rolls is too much for just Zoe and me! But this way, I can make a batch all at once, freeze them, and then take them out six at a time to thaw and bake.
That's much more manageable for the two of us.
Week Two: Starting on the Chest Freezer
Now that my kitchen freezer is in reasonable shape, it's time to tackle the chest freezer.
Luckily, it is not as big as the one at my old house, which means that it is not going to be such a gargantuan task.
However, I cannot possibly do even a small chest freezer in a week, so I'm just going to pull out a set of items each week and keep it reasonable.
One of the worst things clogging up my freezer: my chicken carcasses. 😉
Yup! Four of them.
I'm gonna pick the coolest day this week and turn them into chicken broth.
(If I had a crockpot, I would use it to reduce kitchen heat. But I gave mine to a classmate back in nursing school because I used it so rarely.)
In addition to the chicken bones, here are some other odds and ends.
Starting from the top left:
- homemade applesauce
- blueberries (I opened the bag and they are rather frosty.)
- spinach
- gnocchi
- chicken potstickers
The plan? I will:
- just eat the applesauce
- use the blueberries and spinach in a smoothie
- eat the gnocchi with some kind of sauce (perhaps the rest of the tomato sauce?)
- cook the potstickers to go with dinner one night this week
Thanks for following along on my freezer efforts; it is seriously so helpful and motivating for me!
While we're not doing a freezer challenge per se, your post did inspire me to update our written freezer inventory. This led to reorganizing both our chest freezer and fridge freezer! Frozen garden goodness was making it hard to find anything that wasn't green beans or pumpkin puree, so I corralled everything with heavy-duty plastic bins we already owned. It's so nice to go into the freezer for clearance chicken without causing a cascade of homemade tomato soup! 😛
I have this vision of a cascade of homemade tomato soup coming out of your freezer at you, sort of like the old horror movie The Blob. Please correct me if I'm wrong. 😛
No Steve McQueen comically playing a teenager in my freezer, alas!
Good job! It takes me a bit longer to do one of these challenges because I am cooking for one, but I am making progress mostly on using up the various proteins I have in the freezer. I always have veggies and fruits in there, rarely bread. But there are still frozen biscuits, some banana muffins, and a small bag of tater tot. So random! This week I will shop again and pull the old stuff to the front to get used along with some new things.
Did u know that chicken rotisserie bags are a viral purse? I had no idea until I made a random Walmart run.
That would work for sporting events or places where a clear bag is needed for security.
How on earth would you get the greasy film out??????
Ohhh, it's a purse made to look like a rotisserie chicken bag! https://corporate.walmart.com/news/2026/08/31/walmart-serves-up-a-limited-edition-rotisserie-chicken-purse-for-national-chicken-month
Burger king has a chicken nugget shaped purse! What is happening???
https://people.com/burger-king-dropping-bag-inspired-by-its-new-chicken-nuggets-le-nugguette-12120652
hilarious.
Yesterday at the park I saw a lady carrying a purse that looked like a large analog clock. It appeared to have the correct time too.
These freezer posts are so motivating for me! While I'm not doing a full freezer challenge I have been meal planning out of the freezer first. This year I've also been focused on buying less so my freezers don't get so overfilled. This way I can SEE more stuff and use it up as I go. Yesterday I used some very old gluten free puff pastry for pigs in a blanket (I was initially very excited about this find and then it sat in the freezer for almost a year), made jam with local frozen blackberries, blueberries, and strawberries, and defrosted three small bags of chicken thighs for dinner tonight.
It's super helpful to have some accountability, right?? I wouldn't have used up half of this stuff if I hadn't made it public last week!
I have not formally done a freezer challenge, since I'm not feeling like eating much -- or cooking-- but I'm thinking about it! Today I'm going to thaw some chicken-bean soup. It's a start. I will also thaw a cube of beer to make Welsh rarebit, since I do have cheese and bread that need to be used.
You have really been through it healthwise lately! I hope that you and your appetite are back to normal soon.
Thank you! I am getting better!
So glad that you’re through the worst of it. I’m charmed by "a cube of beer," and wonder how that item came about!
I had a free can of beer. I used a little in a recipe and froze the rest in a small ice cube tray. I don't drink beer but use it in soups and stews and Welsh rarebit.
This was fun, and I managed to use up several odds and ends last week: orange zest, bananas, turkey breast, half a jar of tomato puree, ginger, garlic and chili pepper. Yesterday I made pulled pork, which came out very well, and finished a small container of icecream.
Plus we had several popsicles. We are DIY-ing and were not nearly hydrated enough, the popsicles are for compensation.
Plans for the coming days: either small meatballs or small sausages, and also some frozen vegetables. As part of our holiday preparations we are eating down any foods that our cat-sitter would consider a burden. I will also freeze leftovers that we cannot use in our meals this week. The previous time we were on holiday, I completely cleaned out our fridge beforehand, and it was nice to have a clean start on our return (the freezer had easy meals for the first days).
I took out a half-gallon jug of frozen 1 percent milk. It didn't do so well. It had separated and part of it was too watery when I put it on my breakfast cereal. Part of it was sorta flaky. I shook it up better but it still wasn't so great. Then I let it sit in the fridge too long and it soured. Guess I didn't salt it to prevent it from going bad.) Doggone it! Snuggles got the leftover milk from the cereal and then several bowls of cold sour milk. He liked it so maybe it was only half a frugal fail.
Frozen milk definitely needs a lot of shaking to recombine it all! I froze some during the pandemic, when I was trying to reduce grocery runs.
I have never had much luck with freezing milk. I have wondered if it was because it was lactose free. Now I just buy smaller quantities.
The other day I used up two frozen chicken thighs, a small baggie of homegrown green onion, a jar of homemade chicken stock, baggie of homegrown sweet peppers, cube of homegrown basil in oil, the last puck of frozen tomato paste and half of a long-open box of gluten-free spaghetti. All that went into making chicken spaghetti with garden veggies.
Still have four frozen fish filets, the rest of the spaghetti and various bits of frozen veggies to use up.
Ruby,
What an impressive use of freezer items used up in a meal!
It turned out so delicious that I made sure to write down what proportions were used to recreate it later. We had not much liked the GF spaghetti, but cooking it in the chicken broth was a huge improvement.
Kristen, in my book, you aced the first week of the challenge!
At our house, we:
-- Used the frozen edamame and frozen chickpeas in a jasmine rice concoction.
-- Finished the box of frozen hash browns in breakfasts.
-- Used a bag of plant-based meatballs in a marinara sauce over noodles that I had received from Buy Nothing. The noodles supposedly expired in 2019 but they taste the same to us.
I think dry noodles have an exceedingly long shelf life!
When I make french toast, I will add protein powder to the milk. don't find that I can tell the protein powder is mixed in - just a suggestion to make the French toast less unhealthy.
Oh, interesting! What type of protein powder do you use?
(I find that my current brand does not handle baking very well!)
Good work! You made lots of progress. I used up the 5 potstickers hanging around in a bag in the freezer, as well as the last of some breaded chicken. I also used up a can of olives that was on my pantry list. For this week, my focus will be on cleaning/organizing the freezer a bit more so I can see what's actually in there. It's a little chaotic.
You made great progress.
I did pretty well this week, but had opportunity to do so.
We ate a ham last week that really needed to be used and freed up a lot of space.
We got a new puppy this week and all the kids came to dinner Saturday to meet her. This gave me a chance to clear out some random freezer stuff (cause 20-30 year olds would rather eat random stuff then like chicken casserole). We had some brisket, rolls, little smokies, brussel sprouts, and cheese curds all from the freezer. I made some mashed potatoes to go with it.
This week the hope is to make some hot sauce with all the peppers in the freezer and get it canned (DH has bags of different peppers in my freezer). I also have two large bags of loquats I need to do something with. They've been in the freezer since last summer cause I just don't know what to do with them. Anyone have ideas for loquats?
I don't know if you can food, but I'd probably cook them down to get the juice and make jelly or zizz up the fruit and juice to make jam. Loquot jam/jelly would be a neat Christmas present for adventurous eaters, too 🙂
I think I am going to try to kill two birds with one stone and make the loquat jelly and add some peppers. It may be a flop, but it may turn out good. We will see!
Just Being Real post:
We cleaned out my mom's fridge in the four days it took to get her to independent living at the home. As I have battled the 'black dog" through this whole process, we simply threw everything away and cleaned. It was the least important of a number of important "must dos."
As for my own fridge, I have been more successful eating extremely simply. I managed to freeze two bags of spinach. I ate a smoothie which felt great. I ate rice, lettuce and avocados from Sam's Club (which from God's grace hadn't gone bad.) Just last month I had a grocery bill of over 1500 during our big moves. So things are better.
In the "use it up" sentiment, I am making a simple, quilted fabric panel valance of two national parks. We are out of money for window coverings for now but I need to block the evening sun. As this valance is not forever, I can enjoy the process of making my own pattern.
I think that is ok about your mom's fridge. Sometimes you just have to do what is expedient!
I second what Kristen said, Mary Ann. Give yourself grace during a hard time.
Great job!
I used up a bunch of stuff;
1. Ribs (grilled both baby back and spare ribs )
2. Pork tenderloin (roasted after marinating)
3. Frozen berries (yogurt bowl)
4. Cauliflower fried "rice" (sautéed and ate with leftover pork tenderloin, this was very frosty, so bonus points for me!)
5. Also used up some shredded cheese and bell peppers languishing in the fridge (buffalo chicken stuffed peppers)
Threw away old gf chicken tenders, gf chicken wings and chocolate strawberry bites from my freezer. They were all ancient. 🙁 it is great to have a few shelves with space. Will continue on to the next shelf next week,
I have chicken carcasses, too! I will be making pot pies for Community dinner. I also found 4 pkgs of beef soup bones to use soon.
Happily found a huge package of halibut, used it last night for fish and chips for 19.
I used this challenge to organize the freezers, find stuff that I just won't use and send it on...
Enough frozen halibut for fish and chips for 19 people, BGF?? This may be right up there with the miracle of the loaves and fishes from the Gospels!
If it had been my bag of frozen lumpy peas, I would have put the entire bag into a ziplock and then taken it outside and slammed it against the concrete to loosen things. After that, I would have laid it on my left hand, which got stung by a hornet over the weekend and is swollen and itchy and obviously dominating my thoughts and leaking over into your comments today.
hornets are awful! I'm sorry. I hope it heals up soon.
Oh my gracious wasp stings are the WORST. You may remember my terrible adventures with yellow jacket stings...I swell up so badly and have to go on steroids.
Wasps (the family hornets and yellow jackets belong to) are my mortal enemies!
I hope you feel better soon.
Thank you for your good wishes. Pure ammonia helps the itch, and so does beastly animal-like scratching. Can't do anything about the swelling. It was because our cabin community had a 2-day fuels reduction project, and these hornets/wasps/demons are ground nesters. One guy got 7 stings on the back of his arm, so my encounter was fairly mild by contrast. And compared to your situation, Kristen, mine is no big deal.
In case you need to know, baking soda with water to make a paste takes the initial sting away, as long as it stays wet.
See? Dominated by this thing.
If you know any smokers who would give you a cigarette, tobacco makes a great poultice. Just tear open the cigarette, mix the tobacco with enough warm water to make a paste & secure it to the sting with a bandage. This may work best when the sting is fresh. This is an old southern granny remedy
I add my sympathies to everyone else's on the hornet sting, CCAJ. And if you think you could stand it, what I do for uncontrollable itchiness (poison ivy, insect stings) is to run a hair dryer on the site till the heat overcomes the itch. This actually gives me relief for several hours.
I used a bag of turkey broth/meat (1 bag left now) and most of a bag or frozen tortellini to make Weeknight Chicken Tortellini soup. This also used some crumbled bacon from the freezer, I added some frozen peas, and pulled out a chunk of a baguette to have with it. (Just 1 chunk left to use!)
Also used some walnuts for brownies.
Incidentally, I added a baggie with some leftover cream cheese frosting (perfect for a few cinnamon rolls) and some opened Biscoff cookies (to be crushed for another Biscoff butter cookie cake) when I was done making a cake for work.
My fridge freezer often contains things we use on the regular: tortillas, hamburger buns, nuts and crumbled bacon so I don't really count those on my cleanup list.
Can you please come to my house and tackle my freezers?
Haha, I keep myself very busy with my own freezers!
I never thought to put pasta sauce in its original glass jar in the freezer! Brilliant!
Thanks for sharing!
I don’t have much in the freezer but have been known to toss pasta sauce from the fridge. Love learning things here!
I only have the small freezer above the fridge, and I always know what is in it as I keep a running list on the side of my fridge. As I use things up, I cross them off my list. My list is computerized, as in it is easy to change up and then just print out a fresh new list. (There are just the 2 of us).
When I am at the meat section of the grocery store, I figure that I am the only person who does math to calculate the best (read: most cost effective) option. Here is my example: They had chicken thighs on sale priced at $13.00, so a set price, there were 6 thighs in each package. No price per kilogram. Then I saw that they had the "good" chicken (In Ontario, PCFF which is the PC (President's Choice) brand, FF meaning Free From: free from antibiotics etc.). The PCFF was priced per kilogram. I then calculated the "sale" chicken thighs and lo and behold the price per kilogram was a lot more than my PCFF chicken thighs. So I got the "good" chicken at a cheaper price. I bought 2 packages, and then split them up for the freezer.
I use a lot of math at the grocery store, to calculate unit cost per item (when comparing items). Also Canada has an identity crisis, we went metric in about 1977 or so, but people were so used to price by "lbs" that all produce is priced per lb, with the price per kilogram in very small print at the bottom of the label. It takes me about 2 hours to do a grocery shop - yes, seriously! But I really enjoy grocery shopping, yes, seriously! (It is the calm in my storm).
Linda, my mathy mind goes full speed during grocery shopping, almost like a game- calculating and comparing unit prices while also comparing these to my preferred price points. Then as I place items on the belt for checkout I run a fast estimated total (rounding items to the nearest dollar or fifty cents). If the total bill is noticeably over my estimate I take a closer look at the receipt (and kindly ask for any corrections). This has honestly saved so much money over the years, as the errors are surprisingly frequent and sometimes significant.
I check my receipt before leaving the store every single time I shop - 90% of the time something was overcharged and I end up at customer service to get a refund. Any day I can walk out of Kroger without stopping at customer service feels like a rarity.
Not a full freezer clean out here, but I did find a half bag of shelled edamame that were a perfect addition to my fried rice I made Friday. I have quite the carb collection (hot dog buns, tortillas, burger buns, french bread, naan) since my house is now down a teen (college! Yeah but tear eyes too) that I will need to figure out how to work into our weeks though not super concerned. Posts like this help me remember "oh yea the freezer has all kinds of stuff" so thank you and keep it coming!!
Hi Kristin! I've been reading your blog for awhile (and enjoyint it), but have yet to comment until now. (Congratulations on your graduation from nursing school, by the way!). I saw a post (might have been last week) about freezing pasta sauce and I was floored! You can freeze pasta sauce?? Right in the jar?? I'm new to being frugal-ish, so I'm always looking for new tips and tricks. I absolutely hate food waste, so finding out that I can freeze pasta sauce in the jar is fantastic!! I am absolutely going to try this. I am also divorced (7 years), and my daughter just went off to college, so anything I am interested in all the different ways I can save money. I find your blog to be that calming soft spot of the internet where everyone is nice to each other and we are all here to learn. Thank you!
Yep, it works great for me! I would not put a fresh, unopened jar in the freezer because liquid contents get bigger when they freeze, so they need space to push upward in the jar. But half a jar works perfectly well. 🙂
I'm so glad you are finding this to be a soft place to land on the internet. Yay! I'm glad you are here.
HIGH FIVES to you for all your progress on the freezer challenge!! Loving the inspiration. I just did the same over here a couple weeks ago with my chest freezer - it was getting fairly overloaded with bits and bobs of this and that. I'm using up the last item, a small container of shredded rotisserie chicken, to make a little bit of basil chicken salad tonight.
Oh I love this! I, too, have had a freezer full of chicken carcasses (and odds and ends of veggies). It's so much easier making a pot of broth when the weather is chilly!
Your freezer tortillas reminded me- do you ever meal prep breakfast burritos? They're great for when mornings turn chilly.
I want to try doing that, actually!
I used up a few freezer/ fridge/ pantry items that were lingering.
1. 2 spoonfuls of dubious looking tomato paste from the freezer added into pizza sauce for a pizza made on a discount prebaked crust. This also used up part of a block of past-date cheese.
2. Two frozen bananas and the last of a package of wheat germ from the freezer in banana chocolate chip muffins.
3. A past-date can of Campbell's seafood chowder. Not my favourite so it is good to get it out of my cupboard.
Past saving--I threw out a few pieces of freezer-burned naan bread.
with the leftover corn you could make corn chowda - and with the gnocchi you could use butter if you like them that way instead of sauce (something different)