Watch me clean out my kitchen freezer!
I've lived in this house for a little over a year now, and in that time, my kitchen freezer has collected some odds and ends that really need to be used up.
Since my kitchen freezer is self-defrosting, things in there are prone to freezer burn. So, I gotta use this stuff up!
I could take the easy route and just dump it all into my chest freezer, but that would really just be me pressing pause.
And I'm gonna be MORE likely to forget about these odds and ends if they hit my chest freezer.
Out of sight = out of mind!
To keep me accountable about using up my food, I'm going to share with you what all is in there, and then next week I will report back about my progress in using it all up.
So, this post will be filled with a bunch of unappetizing-looking frozen food pictures.
And hopefully next week's post will be filled with delicious-looking meals that I made with my freezer contents.
First up, a few meat products!
I've got:
- part of a package of bacon
- a pound of Italian sausage from ButcherBox
- some hamburger (maybe enough for two burgers?)
- a few chicken tenderloins
Next, some Parmesan and mozzarella.
These are two partial jars of tomato sauce, and a partial can of OJ concentrate.
It just occurred to me that I could use the ground beef + the tomato sauce and use it to top some pasta.
These are some frozen stuffed pasta shells from who-knows-when.
This is the recipe I use for stuffed pasta shells, and it does work pretty nicely to freeze them before baking.
But, pro-tip: you should remember to thaw and bake the ones you freeze. 😉
Next, a very partial bag of frozen corn.
A few frozen peaches from last summer. I think these made it up to my kitchen freezer from my chest freezer when I made a recent smoothie.
I could just use these up by...making another smoothie. Or I could throw them into a bowl of one-serving microwave oatmeal.
This bag has quite a few corn tortillas in it. I'm guessing they will be pretty dry when I thaw them, so I don't really think they would be awesome for tacos.
However, they could still be good in enchiladas, or I could slice them up and pan-fry them to make crispy strips to go on top of taco salad.
I could also use some of them to make some quesadillas; I make some that have a corn/cheese/green onion/cilantro filling, and that could use up my little bit of frozen corn too!
Alrighty! That's the end of my current freezer tour. The only other stuff in there are things like ice cubes.
And my container of yeast.
But ice cubes and yeast do not require a freezer challenge.
Also: there's some ice cream in there. But chocolate ice cream also does not require a challenge. 😉
Tune in next Wednesday for an update on all of this!
Burger meat+sauces+cheeses sounds like a casserole in the making... need to bless anyone with supper? save enough sauce to pour over the stuffed shells and you get a meal also! Use up some yeast to add a loaf to the blessing meal!
I need to do this for my freezers in the fridges. Our ice maker isn't working, so I had moved everything out of that one so we could fiddle around with it without thawing things. And I noticed many, many things that needed to be used.
Sausage + broken-up burgers + parm + mozz + tom sauces = terrific Italian sauce. I'd use it on pasta or over eggs. Or under eggs for an Italian version of huevos rancheros.
You might want to shred and add the chicken fingers as well, because they look a bit dry and freezer-burnt.
You could put the tortillas under huevo rancheros as well.
Eggs are so useful for using things up, aren't they? I bought a couple of dozen, for quick meals and to use up other foods in the run-up to my move. Theres a lot of eating down the freezer going on here as well.
@WilliamB, You could call them huevos Romanos!
We have such a tiny freezer, but still we sometimes forget about things in there and have to get creative using them up.
A trick I learned from my mom for thawing things that might be dry like bread or tortillas is to put a dampened paper or cloth towel under a piece of parchment paper. Set the item to be thawed on top of the parchment and seal everything in foil, (either in a dish or make a packet out of the foil leaving some airspace around the food.) Place in a preheated oven at 350 degrees for 20 mins or so. The paper towel will give off steam that will moisten what you are thawing. Don't put the items directly on the damp paper towel or it could stick to it. This also works even if the items are not frozen, just adjust the time in the oven accordingly.
These posts are some of my favorites along with Tuesdays Five Frugal Things. Recently I took inventory of my fridge freezer plus my upright freezer in the basement and am challenging myself to use those items too. Good luck!!
I keep the contents of my big freezer written down on the trusty chalkboard, along with how many I have of each food type, but my refrigerator's freezer is not something I inventory, for some reason. Maybe because I don't have any trouble seeing what's in there. Right now, I have frozen vegetables and fruit, GF bread, bags of bones for broth, and a pound bag of tea. I really need to make more broth.
As noted, the cheeses, tomato sauce, shells and odds and ends of meat seem like a combination made for each other.
You could also fry some of the tortilla strips in butter and dust them with cinnamon sugar to have with the peaches...
I use a lot of frozen vegetables and often have partial bags - which I use up! - but I wanted to mention that when I first open the bags, I use scissors to cut a strip off the entire top to open the bag, then use the strip to tie the partially used bag shut. It saves me from having to find a rubber band or twist tie. On the flexible bags at least, the bag strip makes a perfectly good tie and stays tied.
@JD, Had the same issue w/rubber bands. Then had a light bulb moment... now I have no less than a dozen slipped over the inside doorknob of my pantry. Only took 70 years to figure that out.
@JD,
Brilliant! I always find myself searching for a twist tie or a rubber band. will try this!
@Liz B., This made me laugh at a memory of my Mom. She had an unsightly square freezer container next to the sink for twist ties and rubber bands and the occasional screw or nail. I finally told her that it was NOT a competition to see how many she could save.
@Chrissy,
That's hilarious! 🙂
I'm currently in the process of using up everything in my freezer too! I tend to hoard food and as an aspiring minimalist, this now will include the freezer too.
Looking forward to your next Wednesday posts.
I always loved when you did these challenges in the past. Looking forward to it!
Oh I LOVE a good freezer clean out challenge.
The Bestest Neighbors have this yellowing newspaper headline taped to their fridge: "In Refrigerator's Depths, Mystery Lurks." I think this applies to a lot of our fridges and freezers. And, hey, don't most of us love a good mystery?
Meanwhile, I'm proud to say that thanks to recent intensive use of contents, I had room enough and then some for yesterday's beef delivery in my upright freezer in the basement. There are still a few mystery packets floating around in my refrigerator's freezer, but I'm now inspired to get to those.
Finally, I had no idea that partial jars (plastic jars, I assume?) of tomato sauce could be frozen. Thanks for the tip, since I rarely use a whole jar of sauce at one time these days.
@A. Marie, Partially full glass jars of sauce can be frozen. Just make sure there is head space- - I would say at least an inch, more is better.
@A. Marie, If you've smaller freezer-safe containers, you can also part out the sauce into your usual serving size. We seldom need more than half a 15 oz can of sauce for any given recipe, so I freeze in ~8 oz portions.
@A. Marie,
Great job clearing out the freezer! I need to do this....we have a chest freezer AND two fridge freezers containing all manner of mystery parcels.
I generally put pasta sauce into smaller freezer-safe containers myself, since my hubby makes a big batch (doctored up jar sauce that is truly the best I've ever had). We only use about 8 ounces or so at a meal.
@A. Marie, I just came here to ask that. Can I put a half-full glass jar of tomato sauce in the freezer? I usually put it in a plastic bag & would love to skip that step
Yup! I've done it tons of times. As long as there's room at the top for the sauce to expand as it freezes, it should be just fine.
I would use your ground sausage with you abundance of kale and make a pasta dish for dinner. Brown the sausage and saute the kale in the drippings, add some cooked pasta (and some of the pasta water) and some seasoning of your choosing .
I love it when you do a freezer challenge !! It is very motivating for me. I've started keeping a running list on my fridge of all the things in the freezer. It helps me to remember what all is in there , and is great for meal planning.
One of our favorite ways to use up frozen corn is bbq chicken tacos with ranch slaw. Just chop up some chicken breast/tenders etc., add a handful or so of frozen corn in a baking dish. Drizzle with oil, salt/pepper and generous amount of bbq seasoning. Pop in 425 oven for 16-20min. In the meantime, mix slaw mix with some ranch salad dressing to taste. To assemble, put chicken/corn mixture on tortillas, cheese, slaw mixture and crispy jalapeños. It’s so good, yummy with watermelon as a side and easy peasy!
Oooh, that sounds so good!
Leftover marinara sauce also makes a pretty decent pizza sauce for homemade pizzas. I add some extra Italian seasonings and garlic, warm it up to meld the flavorss, and it's better than take-out for sure.
Our fridge freezer has no mystery ingredients, but about two weeks of lunch-size entrees plated up from leftovers and four jars of homemade chicken vegetable soup. I find things get eaten if they are at a "ding and dine" stage.
I confess, it's always weird to see a "normal" fridge! No doubt you use all that space with your girls at home, but my husband and I have learned we can't be trusted with a large fridge. When our landlord replaced our personal and beloved 1950s Philco (which died from a bad compressor *sob*) with a regular-sized one, we wasted SO MUCH food. The larger fridge always looked empty, so we reflexively bought too much vs. just enough. When we moved to our house, we purposefully bought a fridge as close to the interior size of our Philco as we could, and we're back to our food-saving ways. The odd thing still goes once in a while, but we're talking a partial bag of radishes after three months of nothing vs $10-15 in the trash every week. The standing chest freezer does most of the heavy lifting; the fridge is for fresh produce and beverages.
Oh, interesting; I've wondered what life would be like with a bigger or smaller fridge.
It's only Zoe and me now, so this fridge is definitely on the large side for us!
I had to take out the ice maker bucket ( someone left the freezer door partially ajar and all the ice was one big block) this morning, so cleaning the rest of the freezer is on tonight’s agenda. Use the ice in our chickens water container to keep the water cool.
Looking forward to see how you use up the odds and ends.
You inspire me to try new recipes and get things out of the freezer and use them. Thanks for the stuffed shell recipe. I am only cooking for my Mom and me these days...that is a challenge to cut down and get things used up.
Ah, so you have two people to feed just like me! Definitely good to be able to freeze things when there's only two people.
So…..please do a recipe post for those wonderful sounding quesadillas!
Just thinking last night tha tit was time for me to do the same.
Chicken tortilla soup- tenders, corn, tortillas
Nachos- tortillas, mozzarella
Smoothie- OJ and peaches
Meat sauce- ground beef, leftover jars of sauce over pasta with Parmesan
So I immediately (like others) think sausage w/ sauce & pasta topped with cheese. Chicken wrapped bacon OR chicken w/veggies casserole. Peaches & OJ smoothies. Bacon cheese burgers. Cheese quesadillas (pan fried or baked).
When I make spaghetti sauce I always keep original jar out on counter & refill with sauce after dinner to put into freezer. Sauce is already seasoned & meat/veggies ready to thaw & reheat. That way I can easily see in freezer.
I try to keep on door that way easily seen & accessible.
You are braver than myself because I gave up freezing bread/buns because never can get thawed out without getting soggy or hard as rock.
My downfall is leftovers in fridge that don't get eaten in 5 days that go to dogs or occasionally in garbage. Need to work on that, of course getting microwave might make easier for reheating to eat.
What a fun exercise! Looking forward to seeing what you do with the odds and ends.
I need to do this myself!
My favorite line 'chocolate ice cream requires no challenge. ' Agreed!
Do I ever let chocolate ice cream get freezer burnt? NO.
@Brenda and Kristen, the real challenge with chocolate ice cream would be not eating the entire carton immediately!
Suggestion to use bacon, corn, some tomato sauce, some cheese, hamburger and tortillas: Make Settler’s Beans (recipe example https://www.food.com/amp/recipe/old-settlers-baked-beans-56419) with corn and tomato sauce added. Top with cheese and scoop
up with corn chips you make by baking quartered tortillas in the oven.
Idea #2: Bake the tenderloins with the peaches and tomato sauce and eat over rice.
#3: Bake the tenderloins with the OJ and thicken the juices before serving quinoa or couscous.
4: Cook the sausages in tomato sauce and eat hot in a hard roll OR with the stuffed shells.
Thank you for this. I have (half-heartedly) been trying to prioritize using the (multitude of) items in our upstairs fridge freezer over the past few weeks and not making much progress. “An inventory, of course” she mutters softly to herself.
Yes! And if you want some public accountability, you could post your inventory in the Frugal Girl facebook group. 🙂
That Italian sausage would be amazing in a sausage sweet potato hash (red bell pepper, onion, sweet potato all diced up and sautéed in coconut oil or another oil of your choice, brown the sausage with it all as well, then top with fried eggs.) One of our faves!
Looks like pizza ingredients! Or Italian sausage + ground beef to make meatballs or a meatloaf.
Wow, this is all typical contents for my freezers. If I *didn’t* have this type of stuff in my freezers, I’d feel very good insecure. Having it allows me to have plenty of options for meals.
Food* insecure (not good insecure). Dang autocorrect.
I like having some things in my freezer....but I know when it's small quantities like this, I'm very prone to forgetting about what's there and letting it get freezer burnt. So, I want a clean slate!
Package of Italian sausage + sauces + cheeses immediately made me think "baked ziti". (yes, I realize it's summer, and most people don't want casserole-type meals....but we eat stuff like soups and casseroles all year round). I have my sister's/brother in law's recipe, and it's delicious.
Kristen, do you, or can you, use the orange juice concentrate for Orange Julius (Juliuses? Julii?). That sounds like a lovely treat!
Oh, I make baked ziti in the summer! And yep, I was thinking of doing that to use up the sauce.
For the chicken and OJ. Make OJ honey chicken! Typically use 1 cup honey, 1 packet Italian dressing, and 1 cup OJ (ready to drink). Mix the OJ, honey, and Italian dressing. Pour over chicken. Bake until chicken is done. I think I do 350* for about 40 minutes for 6 thighs (usually what I use, but any kind will work). Serve with rice or veggie side (corn). You can use premade Italian dressing too, just cut back on the OJ some.
I didn’t know you could throw half used jar of pasta sauce in the freezer?!?! Brilliant!!!
Yep! Even if it's a glass jar, it works fine as long as there's room at the top of the jar for the sauce to expand.
@Kristen, I practically smacked myself on the forehead when I saw this. Of course! Th glass jars spaghetti sauce came in are no different from my glass containers—and they take up less space. Absolutely will do this now, thank you 🙂
Yep! It works great for me, and it's especially foolproof if the jars are plastic. 🙂
1) Mexican soup with the corn, ground beef and a little bit of the cheese and the tortillas (throw some in to thicken the soup and toast the rest for toppings)
2) chicken parm with sauce, chicken, cheese and some pasta
3) smoothie with a little scoop of orange and the peaches
4) stuffed shells and sauce
5) baked egg cups: bacon crumbles (use left over bacon on a salad!) and sausage crumbles and an egg in each muffin cup! Little salt and pepper and a few green onions and you have breakfast all week:) I usually make zuppa toscana with that sausage and kale (so yummy!) or crumble it on homemade calzones- but two soups in one week may be overkill and three Italian dishes seems like too much too…
Haha, first I need to defrost my freezer, one I don’t have to defrost. THEN I will start my own challenge. I can already feel how good that accomplishment will feel.
How about corn, sausage, tomato sauce with vegetable broth and onion for a tasty soup?
Or orange juice and peaches for a smoothie? I’ve become fond of spinach or beets in my smoothies combined with peach/ citrus.
Since it’s Fred lettuce season, maybe bacon fried crisp/ crumbled for salad topping?
I make stacked enchiladas. Just layer all of he ingredients with the tortillas and bake. Much less effort and texture won’t matter
I love a freezer cleanout! I hate (frozen, will eat it on the cob) corn, so no idea why it's in my freezer, but it is & needs to be used up in some fashion. I've started adding mine to fried rice, but since I don't prefer it, I can only use up a little at a time.
@Hawaii Planner, This soup works just as well with frozen corn as fresh: https://www.washingtonpost.com/recipes/corn-chicken-soup It is lighter than many soups. I have also cheated and used rotisserie chicken added at the last minute instead of what they use. Not quite the same but works well with leftover chicken.
I really enjoyed this blog post. Now I will walk over to my freezer (which tends to freezer burn meat immediately upon entry to its cold depths) and see if I can resurrect a meal or two from it.
Kristen, sometimes I make an enchilada casserole with my defrosted tortillas. Works really well!
We just cleaned out our freezer yesterday. Unfortunately there was much that wasn't salvageable and was tossed.
Just focusing on doing better going forward.
Quite the assembly of items in there! Good luck using it all up. I'm looking forward to seeing what you do with it all. It's inspiring me to take a look at my freezer next!
My freezer is stuffed as is my upright freezer. Just found out my 28 yr old son is moving in with us for awhile so that should help put a dent in it.
@Linda, my 24 year old son lives on the property and has been very helpful when it comes to dealing with leftovers - however, he was away on a dream trip to Thailand for a month. came home a couple of days ago, my fridge is already looking less crowded (yay). Freezer next? Maybe....
We use tortillas as pizza bases. Relatively light toppings and 8/10mins in the oven.
Wow! Thanks for sharing. I just cleaned out my freezer two weeks ago. I HAD to throw out some stuff. It was just too far gone. Yesterday I cleaned out my veggie bins. Yuck is all I can say for those draws.