To Freeze or Not To Freeze?
I have never been very knowledgeable about freezing food. As a matter of fact, there was a time not too long ago that I barely froze anything. Then I wised up.
I wised up because stockpiling items I had gotten at dirt cheap prices required a change to my old habits. I mean what do I do with all that mozzarella cheese I just bought?
I will tell you that when I was buying it I was asking myself, “can I freeze this because either we are eating a lot of cheese in the next 2 weeks or this is going in the freezer”. Well I did some research and sure enough you can freeze mozzarella cheese.
Some of you are saying, well of course you can freeze it, everyone knows that. But I didn’t and maybe other people don’t know as well. So I did some research and found this Cold Storage Chart. It tells you if you can freeze an item and how long you can freeze it for. What a great tool! Now I know I can freeze milk for 3 months. Never knew that before.
What about veggies? Like zucchini? Carrots? I am starting my summer garden.
Kelly,
You need to blanch vegetables before you freeze them. Boil a big pot of salted water. When the water is at a full boil, drop in your washed cut-up veges. (Use Green Giant as your size guideline so you get even cooking.) Most veges need to boil for 4 minutes, but there are on-line freezer blanching guidelines. Immediately dunk the veges in a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking. Freeze in freezer bags right away. Make sure to get as much air out as you can so they don’t get freezer burn. Don’t forget to label your stash with the date and ingredient.
I like to give them a spin in a paper towel lined salad spinner before I pack them off to the cold storage. Less ice. More veg. Not necessary though.
Have fun with your garden!
Kelly… Yes you can freeze zucchini and carrots… if you see a vegetable in the frozen section at your local grocery store, then you can freeze it. Carrots can also be stored for long periods of time by keeping them in a cool dark place, and some folks will even store them in buckets of sand.
Does anyone know what is the proper way to “wash” produce, such as tomatoes and green peppers? I buy these items weekly and use them in their original state for home made sub sandwiches, and every time I purchase these items, I wonder who has touched it last, and does just rinseing under water and then drying them wash off any germs? My train of thought says no… that many germs will still survive the rinse and dry method.
You are right, many germs do live through the rinse and dry method, however your body is probably used to most of these germs. Unless you are serving raw vegetables to someone with a compromised immune system (someone who recently had chemotherapy, someone with HIV or AIDS, etc.) I would not worry too much about it. The truth is germs are all around us and our bodies, for the most part, do a great job fighting them off. As long as everyone you’re feeding has a normal immune system, don’t be too concerned about the germs. Rinsing your fresh produce should be sufficient.
I use a spray bottle with 1 cup vinegar and 1 cup water and 1 squirt of castile soap. I spray everything with this that I clean. kitchen counters, vegetables, even my cloth grocery bags cause they carry bacteria. It is supposed to be 99 % disinfectant.
Great post! Great site overall. I’m glad I found you!
What about sauces? Unused spaghetti sauce and pizza sauce – already opened from the can or jar . Can this be frozen?
Too funny — had to look up freezing mozzarella on line last week too! No way I could use all that cheese before it went bad!
I wonder why that site says whipped cream doesn’t freeze? I’ve been making my own trans-fat free “cool whip” for weeks now, and it is delicious!
How about non dairy creamer? International Delight or Coffee Mate liquid.
i am a freezer food queen and have always loved to buy in bulk even before couponing. this is just what i needed! thanks so much!
This may be a stupid question, but after freezing an item how do you thaw it properly to use it especially milk and things of that nature?