One of the best ways to save a lot of money is to make your own food.  Making your own food can sometimes be fun, but a lot of people aren’t really up to it every day.  The solution: Get a freezer.

Now, when I say freezer, I don’t mean the smaller compartment on your fridge.  That’s called a freezer, but it’s only barely a freezer.  The average temperature in there is only just below freezing.  It’s an even worse freezer because almost every refrigerator is “frost free”, meaning that the compartment is heated to a temperature above freezing every so often to melt any ice that may have formed.

So when I say freezer, I am talking about the chest freezer (or the upright) where the temperature is around -20°C. (or “really cold” Fahrenheit)  You can keep things in there forever.  Well, almost forever.

You can freeze almost anything.

Almost everything can be frozen.  There are a few things that don’t thaw gracefully, though.  Fruits and vegetables with high water contents don’t tend to thaw well.  They go mushy, but you can still eat them.  Strawberries are really good from the freezer, but they’re only really good for spreading on bread because their cells have all exploded and they’re kinda mushy.  Tomatoes, ditto. Good on pizza, though.  Lettuce, on the other hand, is not a good thing to freeze.  It will be pretty wilted when you thaw it.  Cheese may become crumbly after freezing, but it’s still good.

There are a number of things that people never think to freeze, but they really should.  Bread, butter, and even milk can be frozen.  Milk will separate when frozen, but you can simply thaw and shake to bring it back to its former glory.

Here are some quick tips for freezing and thawing various food items to help you get started.  Once you know how to freeze something, you can make a lots of it and freeze the leftovers to save yourself cooking time later.

How to Freeze Various Things

Meat: Once you’re done with a roast or a turkey or chicken, separate the leftovers into single-serving sizes and allow to cool until you can handle them.  Wrap the single servings in plastic wrap, then throw all of the single servings into a big freezer bag and put the whole thing in your freezer.

When you want to eat it, take out a serving, unwrap it, put it in a bowl and cover it with a plate.  Put it in the microwave for 2 minutes on high.  I don’t like to heat with plastic wrap, but you can if you like.  When the microwave stops, leave it in there for 2 minutes before taking it out.  This does two things: keeps the moisture in the meat, and allows the heating to finish and even out.  Now remove the plate carefully (steam is hot!) and serve.

Here’s the typical bowl-covered-with-a-plate setup that I use.  Corelle dishes are great.  And yes, I realize these don’t match.

Potatoes: Meat and potatoes work pretty much the same way.  If you have mashed potatoes, you can put single servings into baggies and stack and/or form them before putting them in the freezer.

When you want to eat a serving, open the baggie and put the brick of mashed potatoes into a bowl.  If it doesn’t quite fit (sticking out the top, for instance), then microwave for 1 minute on high, take it out and break it up with a fork/knife/hand.  Once your potatoes all fit into the bowl, add a little tap water (say a tablespoon) and cover the bowl with a plate.  Microwave on high until hot.  For us, it’s usually about 3 minutes total.  Stir about half-way through the cooking in order to make the heating even.  When the cooking is done, don’t lift the plate.  Wait a couple minutes to let the heat even out and the remaining steam be absorbed.  These instructions work for rice, too.  And pasta.  And maybe even turnip, but I don’t like turnip so you’ll have to try it and let me know.

Bread: Bread is easy to freeze.  Take the whole sliced loaf and put it in the freezer.  Make sure it’s on its side for easiest separation later.  If you made the bread yourself, don’t put it in the freezer until at least 8 hours after you make it or you’ll never separate the slices.

When you want a slice or two of bread, carefully bend the slices off.  It takes a bit of practice, but I can do it with 95% of all of the slices I’ve ever tried.  It gets harder near the heel of the loaf, but at that point you might as well just use the rest of the loaf.  The trick is to hold the whole piece of bread (fingers on each side) and gently separate it starting at your thumb side.  With practice, you too can become a frozen bread separation Jedi.

Once you have your bread, pop it in the microwave on high for about 30 seconds for 2 slices, or about 20 seconds for 1.  This is assuming that your bread is about regular size and your microwave is about 1200W.  If your bread or microwave differ, you’ll have to experiment.  Start with less time and work your way up, or you’ll make croutons.

Behold, a bag of frozen marble rye bread. This will keep in your freezer for at least six months:

Cookies: I’ve included cookies because I love home-made cookies.  To freeze them, wait until they cool and they’re no longer very flexible.  If they’re small, just throw them all in a big freezer bag and drop it in the freezer.  If they’re the big flat kind, stack them and lay the stacks on their side in the freezer.  This way they won’t freeze together into one big log.  (if it happens, separate with a butter knife)

To eat, you can do one of two things.  Option 1: Leave them on a plate for a few minutes.  Option 2: Eat them frozen.  I like option 2 for certain types of cookies.  Butter tarts are especially good frozen.  Just watch your teeth.

Corn-on-the-cob: Yes, you can freeze this.  Once cooled to the point where you can handle them, wrap them individually with plastic wrap and stack them in a freezer bag.

To eat, put them into a container that you can cover in the microwave.  Add some water to the container (just enough to cover the bottom of the container) and nuke for about 2 minutes for 1 cob.  It’s probably about 3 minutes for 2 cobs, but cob size and microwave power will vary.  Once the microwave stops, leave the cobs in the container for a couple of minutes so the steam can finish its job.

If you don’t think plastic wrap is bad for you, you can pop the cob in the radiation box without even unwrapping it.  You still have to wait for a couple minutes before unwrapping, but this works really well.  (I don’t do this anymore since we’ve been buying the cheap plastic wrap that doesn’t seem to stay as firm in the microwave.)

Hamburger patties, sausages, barbecued wieners: Like meat, only it’s already in single-serving sizes!  (read that however you like)  Barbecue the burgers/sausages/weenies and put them on a cookie sheet and pop them into the freezer.  A few hours later (or whenever), take them out and throw them all in a big freezer bag.  Do these steps and they won’t freeze together.  All bets are off if you’re using the freezer above your fridge though.  Don’t do that.  You shouldn’t keep anything in there except ice cream.

To reheat the burgers/sausages/nitrate-sticks, follow the meat instructions above.

For your viewing pleasure, here’s what a bag of frozen beef patties looks like:

Try It Now

So tonight (or any night after you get your new freezer) when you’re making dinner, make extra!  If you’re cooking for 2, cook instead for 6 or 8.  The extra meals will be really welcome on those nights when you don’t feel like cooking.  Just imagine roast beef, mashed potatoes, veggies and gravy all in 20 minutes out of the freezer!  (really - go get a freezer now if you haven’t already)  We do this all the time, and you can too.  It’s really easy.  (if you have a freezer)

Enjoy!