Tips for organizing your freezer
- To vacuum seal your freezer bags: zip up your freezer bag almost all the way. Leave a hole and put a straw in it. Suck out all the air, quickly remove the straw and seal the bag the rest of the way.
- Wash and reuse freezer and storage bags except those that have been used to store meats.
- Freeze bananas for breads, cakes, smoothies and shakes. Just peel and throw in a freezer bag. Mash after defrosting. 2-3 large bananas are enough for 1 loaf of banana bread. Bananas can also be frozen whole in the peel. To use: defrost, cut off the end and squeeze banana out. It is already mashed.
- For foods that will darken (like bananas), add 1/8 tsp. lemon juice to keep them from browning in the freezer.
- To freeze apples: Peel, quarter, and slice a few at a time. Drop immediately into cold salt water. Place in freezer bags. The salt water prevents them from darkening. Use for pies, applesauce and apple butters.
- When you have several oranges or lemons, wash them thoroughly. Grate the peel before using and freeze the zest for later use.
- When onions or green peppers are on sale, buy a large quantity and chop into pieces. Freeze on a tray and then put into freezer bags. Later, take out what you need and return the rest to the freezer. Use for cooked dishes only as the consistency after freezing is not suitable for salads!
- To freeze corn on the cob: Clean ears by trimming ends and removing silks. Do not wash. Freeze in freezer bags. To serve: Drop ears in boiling water and cook 6-8 minutes after water returns to a boil.
- Collect all the odds and ends from the garden at the end of the season. Wash, dry and freeze together for vegetable soup.
- Buy catsup in the gallon cans and freeze all but one "bottle" full. Save salad dressing bottles for this. Do the same with hot sauce and whole tomatoes.
Photo By: sporkist
How much salt do you add to the water for the apples to not brown? Thanks.
Bea I think the official portions are about 2 Tbsp. of salt to 1 gal. water but all I would do is fill the bowl with water and give it 2-3 good shakes of salt into it. You don’t need much.
Thanks Jill, I’m so happy you taught me this, because for years it bugged the daylights out of me that apples got brown. Hurray. Now I have a solution.
Bea don’t forget you can use a cap or two of bottled lemon juice or even crush up a vitamin C tablet to put in the water if you want.
Thanks Jill. I’m so happy with this info because I love apples and the brown bothered me. Not appetizing at all.
Not sure if this is where this comment/tip goes or not. I love watermelon but a whole one last me a couple of weeks typically. I cut it up and store it in large bowls in the frig. Recently, I was down to end of one of those bowls and saw how much juice was left in the bottom. I strained any small seeds out and poured the juice into an open spot in my popsicle maker. Instead of pouring the juice down the sink, I got a cool treat!
Dipping apples in Sprite will help them not to turn brown also. The taste is not as strong as lemon juice.
Apparently in China they love watermelon.
Now they sell the juice on the street the vendor has a blender and mashed the pulp for people who want the cool treat of watermelon but not the mess of eating it. You can have it just the way it is or they will add sugar to it for you.
The things you learn when you know someone who has moved to a place far away.
One tip on freezing meals.
You have made a casserole for the first time and everyone says yuck.
I know the cost in time and ingredients but is it really worth freezing the left overs. Next week is not likely to make everyone go yum. Toss it now instead of a few months down the road when you clean out the freezer.
I didn’t know you could freeze ketchup!!! Wow!!
There are many things you can freeze (like milk) just fine but they do separate after they are frozen. This is no biggy though just shake well or stir and it should be as good as new.
i agree michelle .. wow! .. i didnt know this either ..
thanks for sharing ..
good idea grandma ..
Don’t bother stopping apples from darkening if you are going to put ?cinimon? in the recipe. They will turn brown anyway.
This is so true Grizzly Bear Mom. One year I had apples coming out of my eyeballs and even frantic canning and drying wasn’t enough so in desperation my last few lbs. I just threw in bags and froze – peel and all. Later I decided to try them for some applesauce and they were great. They were brown but didn’t make any difference.
They were so cold when I went to peel them I held them under warm water for a minute and to my surprise the peel just rubbed off. It turned out to be the easiest applesauce I had ever made.
Can I freeze Pumpkin Pie I made? Time frame as well please!
You can but it is a bit complicated to do. First they pick up other tastes from the freezer easily and after 2 weeks the flavor will start breaking down. You have to be careful not to cook the pie too long because it will cause the pie to weep and when that freezes it messes up the pie. Then be sure to let it cool completely, wrap well in plastic wrap, then in foil. When you are ready to use it let it thaw in the fridge 4-8 hours and not at room temperature because it will cause condensation and ruin the pie. Hope this helps.