When you put things in the freezer .... - Page 4

Lucky Charm · ‎03-09-2010

I don't eat meat, poultry or fish, but still buy large packages, if needed.

If I don't separate it into smaller portions, I do put the meat in a freezer bag, but leave it in it's original wrapping. I can clearly see the date on the label.

Mominohio · ‎08-08-2010

@Lila4Now wrote:
I vacuum seal, label, and date, everything that goes in the freezer. On some items I write how many are in there, like chicken breasts or thighs. Sometimes I'm feeding a different number of people. Two or three times a year I go through what is in there to make sure something isn't getting buried from sight. I also keep diced onion in the freezer. I don't care for it used uncooked, but it sure saves time on anything you cook having onion ready to go. When I use up my stock, I dice a couple more and freeze them.

@Lila4Now

I make a lot of soups and casseroles and crock pot meals. So I freeze in vacuum sealed packs, onions, celery, chopped/sliced zucchini and yellow squash, carrots, etc. in just the right amounts to just dump into the recipes I use.

When those things either come out of the garden, or are on a really cheap sale, I put up lots of packets. Saves a ton of shopping and chopping time when cooking.

house_cat · ‎03-09-2010

For anything that will be in the freezer longer than a few days, I use my FoodSaver. It had questionable reviews when I bought it and I was afraid I'd be wasting my money, but it turned out to be one of my most valued kitchen appliances. There's no need to label things when I use it, because everything stays fresh and easy to identify.

In the fridge, I use a piece of masking tape and a Sharpie to label almost everything.

~ house cat ~

homedecor1 · ‎03-09-2010

@house_cat

I do that type of marking on everything I put in my pantry. It makes me know when I "filled" and when the item expires.

I even mark my canned goods this way. During my reno project I was shocked how much food I bought and never used...thankfully, non outdated and was able to donate to our community food bank.

I have 2 bags ready to go over to the food bank which consists of cake/ brownie mixes, cereal, pb & j, spaghetti & soup. We won't be eating or using these things -- guess I thought we would during a cold snap.

chickenbutt · ‎03-09-2010

@Sooner wrote:
@homedecor1 We too are in the process of "eating the freezer!"

Oh my, me too! I have three freezers and they keep all being full! Lately, I've been working off a lot of stuff.

As far as most things I vacuum seal them. Some things I label on the tab end of the bag including month/year. Some things are pretty obvious because you can see them and they don't look a lot like something else, so I'll just put the month/yr on them.

Vacuum-sealing is the only way to go for stuff that will be in there for a week or more. I just started using some of those croissants from QVC. Remember the flat ones? When I got those I vac-sealed them in twosies. I put the month/yr on and was shocked to see that they were purchased in Feb of 2012. They are still perfect, because they are vacuum sealed.