There are many good reasons to freeze foods. First, freezing food can save you money. After you grocery shop and purchase items in bulk or stock up on extra food items, freeze the items you won’t use right away so it doesn’t go to waste and you have to throw it away.
Second, it’s convenient to have a freezer full of food that you can grab for meals. Plus, it saves you from making unnecessary trips to the grocery store where you would probably spend more money.
And third, it saves you time. If you cook and prepare food in advance, you can freeze meals and snacks to pull out on busy days.
Before listing all of the foods you can freeze or the foods that don’t freeze well, here are food tips on how to flash freeze foods, how to prevent freezer burn and labeling food before you place it in the freezer.
HOW TO FLASH FREEZE FOOD:
With a bunch of food items below that you can freeze, I suggest flash freezing the food first if you don’t want pieces to clump together during the freezing process. Before flash freezing fruits or vegetables, first wash them and pat them dry. Then flash freeze foods by placing individual pieces of food separately on a baking sheet or tray and putting the tray in the freezer for 1-3 hours until the pieces are frozen. Once this is done, you’ll remove the frozen pieces from the tray and place them in resealable freezer bags, then label and put the bags in the freezer. If food will be in the freezer for a longer period of time, then wrap it with aluminum foil or plastic wrap and put it in the freezer bags.
HOW TO PREVENT FREEZER BURN:
To prevent freezer burn, you’ll want to minimize the food’s exposure to air by using freezer bags or containers. Make sure to push out any excess air from the freezer bags before sealing them. If you are freezing baked goods or meats, wrap them in aluminum foil twice and then place them in freezer bags. To freeze casseroles, read this tip here so you don’t have to put your good casserole dishes in the freezer for months or use aluminum baking tins. Wrapping and storing food correctly will prevent freezer burn.
LABEL ALL FOOD:
Be sure to label any freezer bag or container you place in the freezer with the name of the item, the date, quantity of food if applicable (for example, 2 cups of shredded chicken), and any cooking instructions. You might think you’ll remember what’s in the bag or container, but once it’s frozen it looks different and it is hard to tell what it is. Trust me, just label everything.
Here are 70 foods you can freeze or that don’t freeze well:
FOODS YOU CAN FREEZE:
Bacon Bits — Freeze homemade bacon bits that you can later use to sprinkle on top of baked potatoes or in soups.
Bananas — When bananas become overly ripe don’t throw them out. Peel and put them into a freezer bag, then label and freeze. You can use them for banana bread, muffins or smoothies.
Berries — Blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, and blackberries can make delicious smoothies or can be used in baked goods like muffins. Flash freeze the berries first so they don’t clump together during the freezing process (see above how to flash freeze food).
Bread – Buy extra loaves of bread on sale and freeze them. If you make homemade bread, slice it first before freezing.
Sweet Breads — Freeze loafs of sweet breads such as banana bread or zucchini bread. To freeze sweet breads, wrap them in plastic wrap and then a heavy tinfoil and put them in a freezer bag.
