Freezer Tips

Every Friday on my blog I post a recipe or some other food-related thing. As I was doing this week's I thought, I should share this on Sugar and Spice. And so I am.

Here are some ways I use our freezer. We have a deep freeze but any of these would work in a conventional freezer too. For me it is largely about convenience. I'm lazy like that. It is also a way I can make good use of grocery deals and save some money.

• I've already blogged about freezing cheese. See here for that.

• I've already blogged about freezing fresh chicken strips or breasts so that they aren't all clomped together when you are ready to use them. See here for that. Also, this same concept works for pork chops or steaks or any other kind of meat.

• Did you know that you can freeze fresh spinach? I wasn't sure so I did a little googling and found that about half the people said "no way!" and the other half were divided in the ways you could do it. Some said to blanch it first, some said it had to be fully cooked, but some said to just buy the washed and dried stuff and stick it in your freezer. I like that idea. I had just purchased a HUGE amount at Sam's Club and was anxious to not waste it. So I pulled out my trusty qt. sized freezer Ziploc (no, I'm not being paid) and made several serving-sized bags and threw them in the freezer. It worked great! Here is the important tip: don't thaw it out. Take it straight from the freezer and steam it immediately. I've made several batches of spinach pasta (see here for a great tutorial and recipe) and it really does work great. You can use it in anything that calls for steamed or cooked spinach. Obviously it doesn't come back well enough to use in a green salad or anything that calls for raw spinach.

• I hate fatty hamburger. I've been paying the $4/lb for the really lean stuff but then I see the 80% stuff on sale for $1.50/lb and I think, "even when I subtract the weight of the fat it is a better deal." So what is a frugal-and-trying-to-be-healthier girl to do? Well, I bought the 80% and fried up the whole thing (several pounds). Then I drained and RINSED it to get all that yucko fat off. Then I took out the Ziplocs and created several bags of pre-cooked ground beef. This has been AWESME because I can pull it out to make any number of things (tacos, sloppy Joes, spaghetti, pasta bake, etc.) and my meat is already cooked. One less step for me and one less pan to wash for Phil. If this isn't a win/win I don't know what is. I got cheap meat, made it less unhealthy and I get the convenience of pre-cooked meat. Voila! (Oh, I still buy the expensive 95% stuff for those rare times we have hamburgers or some other recipe that won't work with pre-cooked hamburger - like meatloaf or something.)
  

• Cottage Cheese freezes pretty well so if you find a good deal on it, stock up and put some in your freezer.

• Butter freezes just fine so you can stock up on that too when there is a sale.

• If you grind your own wheat into flour, you should freeze the flour that doesn't get used immediately. It retains the nutrients better in the freezer than at room temperature.

• Bacon bits (either that you create or if you buy the big bulk bag) can just be kept in the freezer and then used as needed. They will last much longer in the freezer.

• Yeast should be kept in the freezer and just used from there. This will keep your yeast much fresher and it will perform better for you. While we are on the topic of yeast, I highly recommend Fleishman's Yeast found at Sam's in bricks. I open one brick and dump it into a freezer Ziploc and then keep it in the freezer.

• My freezer also has lots of frozen veggies. Whenever there is a deal on frozen corn or beans or broccoli (Eden's favorite) or stir fry or whatever, I stock up.
  

• Cake freezes great. Make cupcakes and freeze half of them for the next time. (Frosting freezes ok but it is messy so it works best to freeze them before frosting.)

• Breads and rolls freeze pretty well too. This recipe freezes and then thaws out really great and tastes yummy after freezing too!

• Pizza dough freezes well. This recipe is the one I use and it makes two pizzas. We don't eat two pizzas at a time and so I take half the dough and put it in a freezer Ziploc (really, no payment) and then I have a pizza crust just waiting to be used. Do not defrost in the microwave though. It will kill the yeast and your dough will be flat and tough. Take the dough out of the freezer at least two hours before you intend to use it.

• And now, for my number 1 favorite thing in the freezer:

Ice Cream!

What's in your freezer?

Food Storage Question: Canning

Have any of you canned your own food? I really want to start canning things such as homemade spaghetti sauce, fruits and veggies, etc. Do you know any good ways to go about learning? What kinds of things do I need to get started? Please point me in the right direction... I'm such a food storage dummy... I'm trying though!!

Food Storage Questions

I'm feeling a little bit anxious these days about my food storage. I have a small amount stored, but I'm feeling like I need to get a lot more stored and quickly. When we get back from Utah I plan to do a large shopping trip and try to get us to about 3 months worth of food stored. The thing is, I'm not quite sure how much I need to store in order to have 3 months worth of food.

How do you girls figure out how much you need? Especially with things like toilet paper and toothpaste? Do you have menus planned and buy food that way, or do you just buy lots of canned fruits and veggies and pounds and pounds of rice?? Any tips you have for getting my food storage rolling would be greatly appreciated. I feel so overwhelmed when it comes to getting a good supply of food, but I know its important. So please, HELP!

food in 72 hour kit

What do you have in your 72 hour kit in terms of food?

Food Storage: The Freezer Way

Jen L mentioned that food stored in the freezer counts as food storage too, so along that line, I thought I'd share some tips on safely storing food in the freezer. I'm only just learning this, after buying some really yummy looking steaks, putting them in the freezer and taking them out a month or so later to find that freezer burn had got to them. So sad!! So, I've started reading up on tips for storing food in the freezer and I thought I'd pass on what I'm learning.

* If you are making an actual meal with the intentions of freezing it for later use (ie- a casserole or lasagna) skip the seasonings... add the pepper, onion or garlic when you warm the meal up, because these seasonings get stronger as they sit in the freezer. There are other seasonings that weaken when freezed, so don't risk it! Just season when you reheat.

* Don't overcook food that you intend to freeze. It is better that it is undercooked a little and takes a little bit longer to reheat, than to overcook it and lose some of the quality of the food.

* Keep your freezer at as close to 0 degrees as possible. Much higher or lower temperatures will increase the rate at which food quality decreases.

* The way you package food to put in the freezer will make or break how yummy it tastes later. Appropriate packaging materials are: heavy-duty aluminum foil, polyethylene bags, freezer film wraps, glass, plastic and metal containers. Inappropriate packaging materials: the shrink wrap that a lot of meat already comes in!! If you buy meat from the grocery store, it is best to overwrap it with an appropriate packaging material, otherwise, it only takes about 2 weeks for the shrink wrap to breakdown to the point that freezer burn can get to the meat. I just purchased a large roll of freezer paper for under $6. Its 150 feet of paper, and it is plastic coated. There are also many inexpensive containers that can be purchased with the specific purpose of freezing food.

* Keep your freezer full! This helps maintain a good temperature and keep all the food from going bad.

Hopefully you girls will find some of these tips as helpful as I did. By freezing foods, some of your family's favourite meals can now be counted as food storage! There are a few foods that don't freeze well. A partial list can be found here. Happy cooking! (and freezing!)

Powdered Milk

Powdered milk is sort of an interesting food storage item... because, well, we're all used to milk from the store... and powdered milk does not taste like the stuff from the store. However it's way cheap (in comparison to regular milk) and has a lot of uses. Remember: Not all powdered milk brands are created equal. If one tastes horrible to you, try a different brand (it may still taste horrible... but hopefully less so). We buy ours at Aldi. It seems to be ok for what we use it for. Aldi (if you have one around your home) also has great prices on evaporated and sweetened condensed milk.... other ways to store milk.

Sorry, these aren't meal recipes...

Ways to use powdered milk:

-Many bread recipes call for it. Experiment around with adding it to rolls, breads, etc.

- Add it to meatloaf 1/4 C to 1 lbs of meat. It adds extra nutrients.

-Add to mashed potatoes. Make sure to use some water to give it the right consistency.

-Mix up a quart or two and add it to regular milk. We were able to cut some costs by only buying a half gallon of 2% milk and then using both store milk and powdered milk at the same time. I didn't mix them together in the fridge, but if I wanted a bowl of cereal, I'd first pour some store milk on it, then pour some food storage milk on it. By mixing them, it's a lot harder to detect that one is from powder. I don't know if that makes sense or not...

-It is important to mix well!! And chill (especially if you are going to drink it)

-There are two types of powdered milk: Instant, and non-instant. Non-instant lasts longer, but they are basically interchangeable. However, because of different consistencies, the end product may vary when using other than what is called for in the recipe.

-Here are some measurements (I keep trying to fix the chart so the measurements aren't squeezed together, but everytime I publish the post, blogger pushes them back together. Hopefully you can just figure it out):

Milk desired & amount of water to use; Instant dry milk; non-instant dry milk

¼ cup 1 T. ¾ T.
1/3 cup 1 ½ T. 1 ¼ T.
½ cup 2 T. 1 ½ T.
2/3 cup 3 T. 2 ½ T.
1 cup ¼ cup 3 T.
1 pint ½ cup 1/3 cup
1 quart 1 cup ¾ cup
½ gal. 2 cups 1 ½ cups
1 gal. 4 cups 3 cups

Whole Milk
1 C water
1/3 C P. milk

Evaporated Milk
1 C water
2/3 C p. milk

This can replace evaporated milk in any recipe.

Whipped Topping
Evaporated milk (either above recipe OR canned from a store)
1/2 tsp lemon juice
Sugar to taste

Chill evaporated milk. Add lemon juice. Whip with beaters then fold in sugar.

OR

1 C cold water
1C p. milk
1 C powder sugar

whip together and chill.

Tootsie Rolls
1 C Honey
1/2 C cocoa
1 tsp vanilla
1 C p. milk

Cook honey to 255 degrees (hard ball). Remove from heat. Add vanilla. Mix milk and cocoa together. Add to honey. Pull like taffy until glass is gone and rolls into rolls.


Condensed Milk
1/2 C hot water
1 C p. milk
1 C sugar

Blend thoroughly in a blender. Refrigerate or freeze.

Buttermilk or Sour milk
1 C water
1/3 C powdered milk
1 T vinegar or lemon juice

Parmesan Cheese
1 1/2 C boiling water
1 1/2 C p. milk
4 1/2 T lemon juice

Blend together. Cook over low heat until milk boils. The curds will be small. Pour through cheese cloth strainer. Rinse and pour out excess water. Put curds in a bowl and stir to break up. Spread on cookie sheet and dry for 2 hours in a 150 degree oven. Salt and blend in blender to make powder. Put in a shaker.

Wheat

Word about wheat: It's great for cleaning out the digestive system. If there is an emergency it's best to already be accustomed to eating wheat. So this is a grain that should be slowly introduced into the family diet. If you have wheat sensitivities (not celiac disease) try sprouting the wheat first. This may help. Baking/eating sprouted wheat also adds extra nutrients. Just google "How to sprout wheat". But basically it consists of soaking wheat overnight, the rinsing, and soaking for 2-3 days.

How to use wheat... other than in bread:

- Use whole wheat flour instead of white/all-purpose flour in baking. If you start small, like 1/4 C wheat flour in a batch of cookies, your family will never know. Wheat flour can be substituted for white flour on a 1:1 ratio.

- Soak wheat berries over night and then cook on the stove for about 20 min for a hearty hot breakfast cereal. Or, instead of soaking, throw the wheat (1 C wheat to 2 C water) in a crock pot and let it cook over night on low, and you'll have breakfast waiting for you.

-Add wheat berries to soup... our favorite is Chili.

If you don't have a grinder, put the wheat in a blender. It won't be flour consistency, but it does a pretty good job.

Blender Wheat Pancakes (Lowe family favorite)

1 Cup Milk (1/3 C dry milk + 1 Cup water)
1 Cup uncooked wheat berries
2 eggs
2 T oil
2 T honey
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
Vanilla and cinnamon to taste (optional)

Put milk and wheat in a blender. Blend on highest setting for about 5 minutes. Add the remaining ingredients and blend on low. Bake on hot griddle. Makes 6-9 pancakes.


Wheat Thins

1 3/4 C whole wheat flour
1 1/2 C white flour
1/3 cup oil, emulsified in a blender with 3/4 teaspoon salt and 1 C water

Mix dry ingredients. Ad oil-salt-water mixture. Knead as little as possible. Makes a smooth dough. Roll dough as thin as possible on ungreased cookie sheet (not more than 1/8 inch thick).

Mark with knife to size of creakers desired, but do not cut through. Prick each creaker a few times with a fork or toothpick. Sprinkle dough lightly with salt or other spices as desired. Bake at 350 until crisp and light brown (30-35 minutes).


Honey Whole Wheat Bread (the breadmaker way!!)

1 1/8 C water
3 C whole wheat flour
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/3 C honey
1 T powdered milk
1 1/2 T shortening
1 1/2 tsp active dry yeast

Place ingredients in bread machine in order suggested by manufacturer. Select whole wheat setting and press start. *note* after experiementing with this recipe a bit, it works best for our bread machine to put it on the regular "white" setting with a light crust. The whole wheat setting made the bread too brown.

Black Bean Nachos

1/2 onion (or 1 handful of onion flakes if you are using dried)
1 T olive oil
1 C chopped canned tomatoes
1 1/2 C frozen corn or 1 can drained corn
1 can black beans (or 2 cups cooked black beans if you are using dried beans)
2 Tbsp lime juice
1 Tbsp chili powder
1 tsp dried oregano
8 ounces shredded cheese
1 pkg frozen spinach (if desired), thawed and patted dry
2 C salsa

If using a fresh onion, chop it and saute it with 1 Tbsp of oil.
If using onion flakes, this step can be skipped and you can leave out the oil.

Combine the onion, tomatoes (undrained), corn (drained), black beans, lime juice, chili powder, and oregano. Spread on the bottom of a pan. Spread the spinach over the black bean mixture (you can leave out the spinach if you think it tastes gross .) Spread the salsa over the top. Sprinkle the cheese on top of the salsa. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes or microwave until heated through. Serve with tortilla chips. The important part of this recipe is the lime juice, chili powder and oregano. All the other ingredients can be increased or decreased to suite your taste.


Fruit Smoothies
1 large can or 2 small cans peaches
1 bag frozen mixed fruit
other fruit as desired
flavoring if desired (such as pina colada)

Drain the peaches and blend until smooth. Add the frozen fruit about 1/3 a bag at a time. Blend. If it is too think add some water, 1/2 cup at a time. If it is too thin add a banana or more frozen fruit. Pour into your best glass and serve with a straw. If the straw has a little umbrella it will taste even better. Ignore any distractions as you blissfully sip your smoothie and dream about being on the beach.

Food storage

I am way excited about this week's recipe topic because, it is one area that I think I can contribute to. A little background first... my husband grew up on a ranch in Montana. They grew wheat and barley and raised beefalo. So when I got married, I married into a family that knows how to use their food storage! (compared to my family who didn't have food storage and the most wheat we ate came from Aunt Millie's "wheat" bread). So I was a clueless wife when it came to food storage. But since I wanted to be the perfect wife, and recreate (and perhaps try to top) every good memory my husband had from growing up of his family's eating habits, I threw myself into food storage mania. So, if it's alright, before I post recipes, I think there are some basic myths that need to be cleared up about food storage (I'm glad the church is trying to clear these myths up as well with their recent launch of a new food storage program that began last March). I'll also try to post info each day about different food storage items.

Myth #1- Food storage is just a bunch of beans and wheat.
Reality: Chances of us ever having to live on food storage alone for 6 months is very rare. So the chances of you having to use your food storage WITHOUT access to cheese, eggs, etc. is also pretty rare. What we always hear is true... store what you eat, and eat what you store. So if that's Mac and Cheese, jars of salsa, frozen veggies, peanut butter, canned applesauce, or cheese that you keep in the freezer, than that can all be food storage. It doesn't have to last 30 years in your closet for it to be considered food storage. Plus, wheat isn't the only grain out there. Experiment a little to find a grain you do like. Also consider keeping some chocolate in your food storage (or other yummy candy). If there is an emergency, it'd be nice to have some candy around for the kids (and you)!

Myth #2- I don't need food storage
Reality- Firstly, it's prophetic counsel. Secondly, let me share a personal experience. My husband and I had acquired 9 months food storage for 2 1/2 people before moving from MI in May. Now... it's almost gone. Our "disaster" was grad school. We ended up in a high cost apartment and the amount Cornell gives us to live on is really only enough for a single student... not a family. So we HAD to rely on our food storage. Food storage is not just for times of war, unemployment or natural disaster. But for times when resources are drained (costly medical emergency) or limited (college), ice storms, sickenss, power outages, the list goes on.

Myth #3- I don't have a place to store my food.
Reality- space may be limited in an apartment, but with a little creative thinking, food can be packed anywhere. Just think of the movie, "R.M"... under beds, in closests, make a couch with wheat buckets as a support (j/k). It becomes a fun adventure trying to squeeze it in.

Myth #4- Food storage is too expensive
Reality- It is if you try to buy one year supply all at once. We started a $5 a week plan... we spend only $5 a week on food storage (either by actually spending it, or throwing it into a saving's account for something pricier... like wheat or a wheat grinder). By buying a few extra things when they are on sale and slowly adding to your supply, you won't feel the effects of the added cost.

Anyways, I hope this helps a little and sort of makes food storage look a little less daunting.

Recipes to follow.