I give myself an A- (freezer challenge, week 3!)
You know the drill; first I'm gonna update you on how I did with last week's items, and then I'll give myself a new assignment.
Here's what I tasked myself with this week:
I ate all of the applesauce, and it was great timing because I got a cold last week, and the chilly applesauce felt nice on my throat.
I used the spinach and the blueberries in a smoothie.
I drank this while working on a quantitative research appraisal assignment. THRILLING.
I feel happy that these two bags are empty now!
I cooked up the potstickers last night to go with dinner, so those are gone now too.
My one failure: I did not get to the gnocchi, but I feel like that is an easy thing to add on to next week's assignment.
ALSO: remember all the chicken carcasses I had?
I cooked them all into broth! So now those bags are empty too.
Someone asked if I was using an Instant Pot for my broth, but nope, I use my very non-instant pot. And that's because I don't have an Instant Pot. Ha.
Here's the process I use to make my chicken broth.
So, here's where we stand:
Overall, that was a pretty successful week!
Next week's assignment
What should I tackle from my chest freezer this week? Hmm.
(I typed that sentence, went down into my basement, pulled together a group of food, and then sat back down at my desk. Real-time blogging here!)
Here's what I came up with:
I aspirationally purchased those cranberries last fall, thinking I would make cranberry bread.
I did not, in fact, make cranberry bread.
But, I am going to this week, because I know Zoe would definitely appreciate that!
(Here's the cranberry bread recipe I use.)
Next, just some marked-down chicken, which I need to use because markdowns are only money-saving if you actually use them. I'm going to grill those with some BBQ sauce.
The marked-down flatbreads (do we see a theme here??) will be pizzas for Zoe and me. The bag of 2023 mozzarella (literally at the bottom of the chest freezer. I didn't even know it was there!) will go on the pizzas. And I can use the tomato sauce from a previous week's challenge.
(The cheese will probably be fine, even though it's three years old. The bottom of the chest freezer is a very chilly place.)
Zoe prefers BBQ chicken pizza, so I will save some of the grilled chicken to use on her pizza, and I know I have BBQ sauce in the fridge.
Lastly, there's the gnocchi from last week, which I swear I will eat this week. 😉
I feel freezer happy already
I'm only three weeks into this, but woo, I feel like my freezers are already much less of a disaster. Yay!
It really, really helped to get those rotisserie chickens out; those are bulky, but the resulting broth takes up very little space in comparison.
A nice side-benefit of doing a freezer challenge is that it forces me to actually look at my freezer regularly. That means I know what's in there, so I sometimes find myself using up things that aren't even part of my official weekly self-assignment.
It's also much easier to see things in there when it's less crowded with chickens. 😉
After a few months of reading, today I decided I would finally comment. Then I saw the freezer challenge and I didn't want to think about my freezer. I find it especially hard to use food that I prepared. I never know how long it stays safe. But then... things that seem hard might be the ones I need to dive into and you're eating 2023 cheese. So I dove in and got stuff for a good smoothie: banana, avocado, spinach and blueberries. It's defrosting as I type this. Got to prevent brain freeze! Thanks for the inspiration and your overall very inspiring blog, Kristen!
YAYYY!! I'm so glad you decided to join in.
Thank you and also Mary Ann and WilliamB for your welcomes and helpful replies! 🙂
I did a smoothies, as well. Frozen spinach, frozen berries, bananas, protein milk. I added a packet of instant oatmeat for grans and a package of cashews for healthy fats. It was a real "kitchen sink."
Welcome to the Commentariat!
As your freezer stay frozen, nothing in it will become unsafe. It might get freezer-burnt and thus less tasty. My solution for that problem usually involves soup.
Lois, a smoothie is an excellent start! I look forward to hearing the ways your freezer becomes less scary each week.
I set a goal of using up items from all of our spaces (fridge, pantry& freezer) & try to use 3/month. (These can't be regular fridge items - something that's lingering). I used up: spring rolls, the last of a bag of pot stickers & the last of some chicken. I think I'll look around when we get home from our trip & identify 3 items to use up. I have a lot of chicken broth (from former chicken carcasses that I turned into broth!) that I need to use up in recipes. Oh, and carnitas that I need to reinvent, because the initial recipe was kind of boring.
You are doing great work on your freezer challenge!
I used chopped peppers in soup, as well as frozen penne, and sausage that first made it's appearance in sausage gravy. That soup fed me for three days.
Today I'm thawing pie crust to make quiche. I have Swiss cheese that needs to be used. I'm going to add bacon bits, but that's from the fridge, and mushrooms, which are canned, but my pantry needs weeding, too.
If I'm feeling energetic enough I'll make blueberry pancakes, using frozen evaporated milk and frozen blueberries.
What do you freeze your broth in? This is an on going struggle for me.
Me, I condense stock at least 50% and freeze in TellFresh containers. (I used to link to TellFresh when I mentioned them but - sob! - the company is withdrawing from the US so they're almost impossible to get anymore.)
Another county heard from, as my grandmother used to say.
I can most of my broth if it's from a few chickens but if its a one off we just put it in a ziplock bag and lay it flat. Takes up much less space. You could also use mason jars (wide mouth) if you have them.
I ….
• used the remainder of a jar of marinara sauce as pizza sauce
• used a small pack of salami in Italian sliders and then as a topping on bagels
• made chicken stock (some was used, some when back into the freezer)
• pulled out pistachios to make cookies (doing that today)
• used a container of pulled pork to make Cuban calzones
• used the remainder of some chipotle chicken and a container of rice in stuffed peppers
• Cooked a two-serving casserole that I saved for a night that it was just me and my husband home for dinner
I also made a list of all the things I could potentially make this week for dinner using freezer items and will be using that for our menu. No grocery shopping! I’m used to knowing exactly what we will be having each day for dinner, hopefully this loose plan will work.
My biggest freezer challenge is a doozy - only after I bought half a happy pig did I realize that that doesn't fit with how I cook now *and* that my roommate doesn't eat hamsteak as much as he used to. Fortunately the meat is well-sealed and the deep freezer is -10F. The meat will be fine till we get around to it. Maybe by the end of 2027 at this rate.
The side-by-side freezer is a challenge because it's so inconvenient. I'm constantly having to do mini-freezer challenges and rearranging to make space and not lose things. I almost can't wait for the fridge to break so I can get something else.
A side by side is the only thing that fits in my kitchen. Boy are those tiny shelves a pain.
Agreed! I always have disliked those when I have used them in vacation condos.
Why wait - life is too short. A side by side came with the house as well as an old energy inefficient upright freezer. Both got replaced ASAP. The current frig (bottom freezer, French doors) will be replaced before I retire or when the last water filter is used. If someone who shall remain nameless would stop adding ice to a glass that already contains a fruit juice, I'd not be cleaning icky stuff from the dispenser area. And losing the battle on the tray. But I'm told there is a different setup for water and ice dispensing that should eliminate this in the future.
However said nameless person excels at freezer, frig, and pantry management. There were some deals on burgers but weren't purchased as we already have enough. But given the state of the economy, which I don't see getting better until end of 2027 (I'm being optimistic), I am entertaining getting a small chest freezer for the basement.
No progress made here. Unfortunately, last week came with a fair amount of stress with daughter's relapse with her psych symptoms. Interestingly, she does overall better not being home, so we did eat out more than usual. This week I will tackle what I can with the forgotten frozen veggies in the freezer. I worked the weekend while my parents had my daughter over and ate pb & j, and leftover restaurant pulled pork from friday. We have to pay an exorbitant cost coming up for her infusion that was denied by insurance. Thankfully we have savings for things like this, but we'll be tightening the spending to make up it.
I'm sorry to hear of your daughter's relapse and wish better days ahead for all of you.
Do keep fighting them paying for the infusion - your physician may be willing to help. While your state insurance department may be good but has little sway over your coverage, it might be worth filing a complaint. YMMV depending on your state.
I’ve been very successful at eating down my freezer lately, because I’m buying less and less at the grocery store due to the alarming prices. Also, it feels like there are more people competing for the markdowns, and on top of that, the stores have gotten stingier with the markdowns! In years gone by, a dented can would be deeply discounted — maybe 80-90% off! Now it gets marked down 10-25% Expiring meat used to be 50% off. Now, it is 30% off. The store can do this because people will buy it!
Anyway, I find myself feeling uninspired by what I see in the store, so I go home and shop my freezer!
We cleaned out and reorganized our garage freezer this weekend, and found a few things I had gotten from the clearance grocery shelves as meals! $1 for a box of 8 crispy chicken sliders plus a 89 cent bag of frozen green beans, 2 slices of provolone, some lettuce and a cut up garden tomato made for a meal for 4 for under $3!
My local grocery store is remodeling/rearranging, and normally that would make me crazy but their clearance items are more than making up for it! I scored the giant tubs of dishwasher pods for $5 each, and a giant jug of Dawn dish soap for $5, bottles of olive oil for $5, canisters of collagen powder for $10 (normally $24), bags of frozen bagels for $1, frozen toasted ravioli for $1, Raos individual frozen pasta meals for $1, 2 big boxes of feminine products for $2 each, and bags of expensive beef sticks for $5 each, normally $10-12. Those are just my favorite deals, we have gotten a lot more and I'm sad they are ramping down!
Raos if any sort is a good deal. Feminine hygiene products are grossly overpriced and taxed.
This week's freezer challenge used up 2 chicken carcasses made into chicken pot pie, found a 3 yr old package of bacon ends, opened, rolled the slices like a cinnamon roll, wrapped and vacuum packed. Found 3 lbs of Hawaiian coffee beans, thought I was out, ground enough for use this week, stuck the beans back in the top basket. Found some dead looking buns, toasted them for dressing that went with a smoked turkey breast. Found 2 lbs of cranberries, made into spicy chutney. Found an errant tuna loin - how it got into the fruit and veg freezer i will never know. Will slice into medallions, marinate and have for dinner tomorrow.
While I was shopping in town last week I got sneezed on and I am now fighting a nasty flu. Thank heavens that mom is well.
Welcome, Lois! Carrie, I freeze my broths in silicone loaf pans, pop them out, cut in half with a hot knife and plop in a freezer ziploc bag.
Thank you! I’m going to try this!!
Well 2 weeks ago I said I would join this...but the life...and now plumbing issues (no water). Hopefully plumbing will be resolved soon and we can start cooking again. Then I will take out stuff from the freezer instead of adding to it.
I have four long-frozen fish filets and a small amount of soup mix veggies to deal with and that will have gotten the "been in the freezer forever" stuff taken care of. Still need to use up part of a box of gluten-free spaghetti that's been open a while.
What with food prices, there's not much of a chance of a backlog of meat building up in the freezer for the foreseeable future.
Kristen, you mentioned that you had a cold -- hope you are feeling better! I got to wondering though what nurses do when they are sick with something contagious but still have to go into work?
We mask up! I was looking like a pandemic-era nurse last week. 🙂
I actually saw a cranberry/orange bread recipe because I, too, have old frozen cranberries. I have too much going on to do it until the middle of October (trips here and there) so I will set a reminder.
I unearthed some Michigan Chicken Chili that was from a summer vacation, and I cooked spaghetti squash. I will put the chili in each half and it will be yummy.
I understand the challenge of looking through a full chest freezer! That's why we keep a notebook inventory on top of the chest freezer. At this time of year, our upright freezer is chock full of vegetables from my garden and the farm market. I pulled out chicken carcasses (just like you did!) to make room for chopped, blanched, and frozen carrots.
I haven't been nearly as systematic about this challenge as Kristen and many of the rest of you have. Plus, I'm concentrating on my refrigerator freezer because my upright freezer in the basement is fairly neat and organized (it has to be, because of my annual 1/4 steer).
But I've made great strides in the past two days. Our chilly, drizzly weather on Sunday kicked my soup-making impulses into gear, so I made what I call an "Old McDonald's" stock (as in "Old McDonald Had a Farm") with the bones from the Reduced For Quick Sale kosher chicken I bought last week, plus the bones from the two packages of pork ribs I freezer-dived last week that didn't come out so well, plus the bone from last Xmas Eve's Two Fat Ladies lamb. This is a good stock to make when you have miscellaneous bones to use up and are making something where it doesn't matter if it's chicken, beef, or whatever. Such as Portuguese kale soup...
And I've just finished making a Portuguese kale soup for Dr. Bestest Neighbor, who (a) is a Fall River, MA, boy through and through, and (b) will be ravenous when he comes in tonight from Yom Kippur services. (NB: He doesn't keep kosher, so he's OK with the chorizo in the soup. But he does observe the YK fast. Whatevah.) Into the soup went kale from both our gardens, plus 2 cloves of my own garlic, plus 2 quarts of the Old McDonald's stock, plus a package of RFQS chorizo from Wegmans out of the freezer. I can see the bottom of the fridge freezer now--and, alas, can see how badly it needs a wipe-out. 🙁
Ohhh yes, my kitchen freezer definitely got a wipedown. It was funky down there at the bottom!
My biggest win this week was taking two large Ziplocs of frozen vegetable scraps, simmering them in a big pot of water, and turning them into eight quarts of lovely vegetable broth. Six quarts went back into the freezer for safekeeping.
I missed last weeks comments, so here goes. From week one I did use up the breakfast sausage, bag of pasta sauce, and half the mashed sweet potato.
This week I decided I better take care of the fresh stuff so it didn't go into the freezer so I made banana cake (used up the extra ripe bananas and some heavy cream that's reaching end of life). Re the freezer, I ate one serving of the peppermint ice cream that's probably been there since last Christmas - one more to go, we had frozen corn with three dinners, and I put some sliced almonds from the freezer on the ice cream.
There is a big storm headed our way for next weekend so I'm planning to make broth from at least one turkey carcas (have at least two), which will then become chicken noodle soup, and make some cobbler. I have a ton of frozen fruit so blueberry muffins may be in order also; nobody currently at home eats smoothies.
This might sound weird, but cranberries, sauerkraut and chicken together in the crockpot makes a great meal. I usually use the cranberry sauce which is sweetened. If you use fresh berries, you might want to add some brown sugar for sweetness.
This time of year we do dinner sausages, Apple chunks and sauerkraut in a crockpot. So yummy with homemade rolls.
Cranberries! What a fun taste of fall and Thanksgiving time too (and heck, Christmas as well). I wish I had some now. Some delicious homemade cranberry sauce sounds pretty good to me. I don't think I've ever tried cranberry bread, though! It does look good too . . . (lucky Zoe!)
I have to say until I saw your first post about this it never, ever occurred to me I could freeze my leftover pasta sauce in the jar!! It's glass.....of course it can freeze but this was mind blowing info for me. Thanks for sharing the challenge!
hi Kristen,
You could do a breakfast version with the gnocchi … I’ve done that before. Fry them and then had some bacon and put an egg on top. Or, maybe sausage gravy?
OOHH - I am not a fan of gnocchi sans animal protein. But egg/bacon/sausage/sausage gravy has peaked my taste buds. However convincing the mostly Italian better half might be a challenge.