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Some tips on freezing food to save money
Buying in bulk and freezing food can be a good way to cut down on shopping costs. If you’re living alone, freezing can also help prevent spoilage.
What You’ll Need: Freezer bags, permanent marker, freezer labels, wax paper, storage containers
Tips:
Whenever possible, try buying your food in bulk and freezing off portions. This will reduce trips to the store, allow you to get bulk pricing deals, and allow you to store food in portions that work for your family. Make sure you clearly label all frozen foods so they’re easy to find. I also suggest never using aluminum foil to wrap food you’re going to freeze. If you do, make sure the food is completely thawed before you try removing the foil, so you don’t end up with bits stuck in your food.
When storing meat, use large freezer bags and put enough in each bag for a full meal. If you’re single, you can use small bags and freeze individual pieces. I tend to do a bit of both, since we cook family meals as well as eat alone some nights.
If you’re living alone, you can freeze individual portions of lunch meat, bacon, sausage or cheese. This will allow you to get what you need when you need it and never have to worry about a large package of food spoiling in the fridge before you can eat it all. Try wrapping the portions in wax paper, then putting them in a large bag so you can get single portions at any time.
Do you find that a can of soup or stew is more than you can eat at once? Instead of putting the leftovers in the fridge, put them in the freezer. This way you can get it when you want it with no fear of it spoiling before you want more. If you make a large pot of soup, freeze off individual portions for the family to enjoy at a later time.
Look at your local superstore or dollar store and try to find partitioned plates with lids. These are wonderful for making your own TV dinners at home. Put leftovers in the various sections to create single meals. This is a great trick for people who work a lot or have kids. You can make big batches of food, freeze it into individual meals, and people can grab them whenever they want.
Make extra pasta on purpose, and freeze portions of it, tossed in a small amount of oil. Whenever you want pasta but don’t want to go to the work and time of boiling a pot full, you can take out a portion, run it under hot water to thaw and heat it, add your favorite sauce or dressing and you meal is ready. (Note: “Angel hair” or capellini pasta does not freeze well.)
