Tips and Tricks for Freezing Just About Everything

Being able to properly freeze foods is a great way to combat food waste, save money, and even save yourself some time when cooking.

Unfortunately, you can’t just throw stuff into your freezer. You’ll end up with a lot of mushy, freezer burned food that no one wants to eat.

In order to preserve food properly to ensure maximum flavor and freshness, here are a few tricks and tips.

The Basics

Before we get into the fun stuff, let’s go over the basics. These rules apply across the board, no matter what you’re freezing.

• Never use glass. I know you’re trying to cut out plastic, and you’ve probably got all those extra glass jars left over from trying your hand at canning. However, I can’t stress this enough: never, ever freeze in glass containers unless they are explicitly freezer-safe. Glass can crack or even shatter when subjected to rapid temperature changes, or when filled with liquid that expands when it freezes.
• All plastic bags are not created equal. Freezer bags and sandwich bags are not the same thing. Freezer bags are actually made of thicker plastic, seal better, and often contain an additive that prevents them from getting brittle in the freezing temperatures.
• Food safety above all else. While freezing slows down the ability of foodborne bacteria to reproduce, it doesn’t kill it. That means that you shouldn’t leave stuff out overnight to cool before freezing it. You should also make sure that your freezer is at least 0 degrees Fahrenheit.

Freezing Liquids

The freezer is a great place to keep soups, stews, and stocks. But before you throw that entire gallon of stock into a freezer bag, think about how you plan to use it. If you’re only going to use a cup or two at a time, break it up into smaller batches before freezing. This way, you don’t have to defrost the entire lot.

Soups and other liquids can keep safely for up to 6 months, but it’s not really recommended past two months or so. After that, flavors might start fading, and you risk that freezer burn flavor. Yuck!

Freezing Dough

The freezer is also great for storing ready-made dough. Not only does cookie dough and the like store well in there, but you can bake it frozen — no defrosting necessary.

Go ahead and shape the balls of cookie dough, and individually quick-freeze them on a cookie sheet or other flat surface for a few hours. After that, you can just throw them all into a freezer bag.

Freezing Fresh Meat and Seafood

It is important to freeze these items right away. Don’t leave the raw meat in the fridge for several days and then throw it in the freezer.

Remove everything from the supermarket packaging, and then divide into portions or patties. Double wrap with two layers of plastic or a layer of wrap and a freezer bag to fight off freezer burn. You can store them this way for three or four months.

Freezing Fruit

If you care what your fruit looks like, you’ll have to individually quick-freeze them first. Spread berries, cubes, or slices on a baking sheet to freeze for a few hours before tossing them all in a freezer bag. If you skip the quick-freeze step, you’ll wind up with a block you’ll need to break apart with an ice pick.

Bananas are slightly different, because they don’t need much extra attention. Just break them up if they’re in a bunch, and freeze them in their skins. That’s it! They don’t need extra wrapping at all.

Freezing Vegetables

After washing your vegetables, chop them to the size you’ll likely cook them in. If you’re freezing leafy greens or other vegetables that get soft when you cook them — think zucchini or eggplant — go ahead and pop them in a freezer bag raw.

If you’re freezing something you want to retain some snap, like green beans or broccoli, blanch the vegetables first before freezing.