HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: I’m not going to show you any pictures here and in a minute you’ll understand why. Well, it is out of pure embarrassment, and my personal self-revelations, even to you all, darling ones, do not extend this far.
If you came over to visit, I would be so incredibly happy to see you! I would show you around my house and show you the things I love, and we could have a cup of tea or a glass of wine and it would be so lovely! You are all invited.
But I will never, under any circumstances, ever, show you the inside of my freezer. Freezers.
We have a couple of freezers, long story, and I was very happy about that during the pandemic. Still am. (They are not separate, just in the fridge.)
But I am absolutely completely incapable of throwing food away. I have to freeze it. Oh, well that’s not exactly right, if we have leftover broccoli I will just eat it, same with green beans, that kind of thing
But let’s say I make delicious sautéed flattened chicken breasts that I served with Parmesan cheese and rice and vegetables. And let’s say there are two of those left over. First they get tightly wrapped in saran, then I put them in the refrigerator because they would be great for lunch! Then we don’t have them for lunch. Then I have to do something with them. Into the freezer they go!
If we have leftover grilled lemon pepper salmon, yummy, that gets a day in the refrigerator until I decide that I’m not going to make salmon salad, and then into the freezer it goes! I could make lemon pasta, right? And that would be delicious on it. Someday.
But gradually, my freezer is filling up with little bits and bobs of things like that. Greek chicken, the leftover meat from turkey tacos, (wouldn’t that be good for nachos someday?) the leftover flank steak that would be great for stirfry. Someday.
But you see, I never use them. I always make new chicken or new tacos.
And also, my freezers are kind of like hideous Jenga. None of those things are symmetrical, so they sort of have to be stacked and layered. Very very tippy. And I have had several narrow escapes from frozen blocks of cheese landing on my toes.
Yes, I bought plastic dividers for the freezer; figuring cheese goes in, one chicken goes in, one bread-like things go in another one. That was so great. Very efficient. But I still can’t see everything.
Generally things are labeled, but not always, but if I have leftover beef bourguignon or pasta primavera, I’ll write that on the container. But sometimes I think oh, I’ll recognize that when I look at it. Which I… Sometimes do.
From time to time I’ll make a vow to just throw everything away. Or just close my eyes, put my hand in the freezer, and make for dinner whatever I pick.
However. I don’t do any of those things.
Reds and readers, do you have a freezer situation? Or a solution? Are you playing freezer Jenga?
But let’s say I make delicious sautéed flattened chicken breasts that I served with Parmesan cheese and rice and vegetables. And let’s say there are two of those left over. First they get tightly wrapped in saran, then I put them in the refrigerator because they would be great for lunch! Then we don’t have them for lunch. Then I have to do something with them. Into the freezer they go!
If we have leftover grilled lemon pepper salmon, yummy, that gets a day in the refrigerator until I decide that I’m not going to make salmon salad, and then into the freezer it goes! I could make lemon pasta, right? And that would be delicious on it. Someday.
But gradually, my freezer is filling up with little bits and bobs of things like that. Greek chicken, the leftover meat from turkey tacos, (wouldn’t that be good for nachos someday?) the leftover flank steak that would be great for stirfry. Someday.
But you see, I never use them. I always make new chicken or new tacos.
And also, my freezers are kind of like hideous Jenga. None of those things are symmetrical, so they sort of have to be stacked and layered. Very very tippy. And I have had several narrow escapes from frozen blocks of cheese landing on my toes.
Yes, I bought plastic dividers for the freezer; figuring cheese goes in, one chicken goes in, one bread-like things go in another one. That was so great. Very efficient. But I still can’t see everything.
Generally things are labeled, but not always, but if I have leftover beef bourguignon or pasta primavera, I’ll write that on the container. But sometimes I think oh, I’ll recognize that when I look at it. Which I… Sometimes do.
From time to time I’ll make a vow to just throw everything away. Or just close my eyes, put my hand in the freezer, and make for dinner whatever I pick.
However. I don’t do any of those things.
Reds and readers, do you have a freezer situation? Or a solution? Are you playing freezer Jenga?
Our freezers are a combination of newly-bought, items waiting to be cooked, and leftover this and that. No solution and I don't see it changing any time soon . . . I play search and find when I want something specific; fortunately, I am reasonably good at taking something out of the freezer and turning it into a relatively delightful meal . . . .
ReplyDeleteCan you come over? xoxo
DeleteIt's easy, Hank, and you have a good start with what you've got in the freezer . . . simply and fix things that you and Jonathan enjoy . . . .
DeleteOh dear. I established an habit of using up what’s in my freezer BEFORE I go shopping. I keep on finding food from the back of the freezer. I’m almost out of my favorite cashew milk ice cream and I was reminded that I need to buy more.
ReplyDeleteIt’s easier to buy frozen fruit and vegetables, put them in the freezer rather than buy produce and have them spoil quickly in the fridge . Only produce I would buy now are those that I know will be used frequently and there’s no chance of them sitting and spoiling.
If it’s okay to say something. There are many great combinations from what you already have in your freezer.
Hank, if it’s okay to say this, you have many great possibilities of combinations from your freezer.
DeleteIt is wonderful of you to say it! Thank you! I just have to work on actually DOING it...
DeleteHank, you got this. You can do it.
DeleteHank, clearly you are someone who enjoys cooking more than I do. Maybe keep a list going on your refrigerator door of the leftovers you've saved toward a new meal? Though I've always had a large chest freezer, I began seriously and methodically using it in 2022, the year I had two knee replacements and in between, God threw in a burst appendix and a week in the hospital. I am married to someone who can heat water in an electric kettle or a cup of tea in the microwave. Period. So I bought two dozen takeout containers at the grocery store and before each surgery I cooked up a storm and filled them all with meals. Lasagne, chili, alfredo, whatever. These containers stack easily and neatly and can be labeled. I also have a half dozen Corningware casserole dishes with lids for freezing soups and casseroles. When all these containers are full and the freezer is stacked I feel rich indeed: NO COOKING NEEDED, my favorite state of affairs. I come in from a long day of working outside, heat a frozen dinner I've pulled out to thaw that morning, make a salad while French rolls are baking in the toaster oven (or, for chili, cornbread in the main oven), and voila. Dinner is served. The meals are plain but they are homemade.
ReplyDeleteI am careful never to heat anything in plastic but I was alerted recently that the takeout containers are toxic. Sigh. Of course they are! I am sad and need to look for an alternative. I'm not sure what else is light, stackable, washable, and NOT ROUND -- rectangles/squares take up far less room. The alternatives appear to be glass (heavy and breakable) or stainless steel (expensive). Sigh. p.s. When I have teensy bits of leftovers that are too small even for a lunch for my husband, I feed them to the dogs or to the chickens. (Selden)
Selden, when my son came home for the funeral, he stopped at Costco and brought 3 casseroles. Since I do not usually buy premade meals, I was surprised at how tasty the shepherd’s pie was in spite of no peas. However, they came in a lovely metal pan with a hard plastic top, that could be easily recycled with your own premade meals. You would just take the top off, put it in the oven, and there is your supper. I don’t know if you have access to someone who partakes of these meals, but the containers are very practical and would serve your purpose.
DeleteI agreed – everyone needs chickens – the world’s best garburator!
Yes, so agree, those Costo things are delicious and huge, and the containers work so well! ANd yes, the container dilemma. ANd round is SUCH a problem. It doesn't fit anywhere.
DeleteDo not cook so much that you have leftover food.
DeleteAnything in a freezer over three months will taste terrible. Throw away older food.
Sell one of the freezers!
Anon, I use up almost everything in our freezer long before 3 months. The whole point of having a freezer, to me, is to spare me having to cook and take advantage of grocery 2:1 deals. Margo, I do buy Costco meals when I have to be in Vermont for medical care. One of those big pans of chicken fettucine will feed us for three meals. I don't use the large Costco pans in my freezer because I try to only thaw one meal's worth at a time. Thus I have always come home and divided the large pan into smaller takeout containers. So I'm still searching for a good freezer option. Maybe there are aluminum small pans! (Selden)
DeleteYes, the aluminum foil pans with lids come in various shapes and sizes. You can get them at Walmart or Dollar Tree for example.
DeleteI do not have a nice big separate freezer. I know. It is shocking.
ReplyDeleteAt least once a month, I go through the freezer and retrieve those containers and reorganize the freezer. Then I try to use the leftovers for meals. That doesn't mean that there aren't some random things in there, too small for a meal, that might never get used. But I couldn't do what you do Hank. I don't have the space.
Oh, we don't have a separate freezer, either. We just have the ones in the fridges. ANd its exactly the space that's a problem. The freezer is above the fridge, and it is FULL.
DeleteNot much help here because a) I rarely cook and b) my husband loves leftovers so they get eaten.
ReplyDeleteMy freezer is mostly full of the gel packs that come with my monthly specialty medication delivery. Maybe someday (when I am missing the Minnesota snow) I will build my own igloo. That reminds me some more will be arriving today!
Those gel packs are SO hard to throw away..they can be so useful!
DeleteI only have the freezer compartment above my somewhat small refrigerator. Right now it's pretty full because my son bought a couple of different types of breakfast sandwiches the last time he was home. He's coming for spring break this week, so we will see if he eats them, if not, those boxes are going to be mercilessly discarded because they take up too much space. The old ice cream will be tossed too. I only save leftovers in the fridge and mostly I eat them up.
ReplyDeleteYes, same here, just the ones over the fridges. But they get full really fast, and I know there are things in the way back I will never see again... Good luck on the sandwiches!
DeleteWe have a very small freezer, which limits the amount of people I can store in it. Well, the amount of people I can store whole.
ReplyDeleteBuy a mincer - takes up less space.
DeleteSnort!!
DeleteHa-ha!
DeleteMade me spit my tea!
DeleteSHHHHHHHH :-)
DeleteWe have a bottom freezer, usually big enough. All summer long I freeze veggies, and we’re still eating on the ones from 2025. Everything is vacuum packed to take up the least amount of space. Proteins in the left basket, veggies in the right, things in boxes in the pullout drawer. I love cooking with those vegetables I froze the day they were picked. There’s a huge difference between them and peas from Equador or broccoli from Brazil.
ReplyDeleteWe’ve been planning to buy a freezer for the overflow but never get around to it. And I don’t have the energy anymore even to shop on line and order one.
Thanks to all who sent condolences on the events of last week. It was very much appreciated. Xo
We are all thinking of you....xoxo
DeleteJoining the rest…just my refrigerator’s freezer, no longer cook for more than one meal at a time, and lost my joy in cooking several years ago (eat to live, not live to eat)…But wish you well in your excavation, Hank. Elisabeth
ReplyDeleteYup, just the fridge's freezer. ANd today I will...start!
DeleteOoo, guilty, guilty, guilty, my freezer twin! I too have one or two servings of things that would’a could’a should’a been upcycled into a brand new meal, but once they go to downstairs freezer Purgatory, they are doomed to growing hoarfrost until so unrecognizable they can be thrown away without compunction.
ReplyDeleteOh, yes, yay, and that is SO great--when I come upon something unrecognizable, out it goes. SO rewarding!
DeleteWe have 2 fridges in the house, with 2 freezers – one on top (bread and ice cubes), one on the bottom (your kind of stuff…usually too disgusting to use when I remember). 2 Freezers – one stand-up in the basement - it was supposed to be the main freezer, but things happened as you will see. It now contains berries except cherries and bacon – I don’t know why, and overflow. Some stuff has not been investigated in years. Can you say freezer-burn? It is stuffed to the gills.
ReplyDeleteIn the ‘cottage’ which is attached to the house and involves going out the door, and into the cottage – this is our summer and big occasion dining room. It has 2 fridges – supposed to be turned on only for special occasions but it seems they both now get plugged in in May and unplugged about October. They hold milk (too many spare summer kids), and fruit, and lettuces, and… Then my brother decided to cut back and brought his chest freezer – which is in the cottage and now my main freezer. It holds 4 milk cartons with cherries, butter, other meat, and chicken pieces – big items like roast beef, chicken, duck is to the side. There is a basket for the hamburgers that I premake and freeze, sausages, and other things – not leftovers! Then floating on top is the ‘can’t be bothered to walk to the basement things’.
Since my sister died, I now have to dismantle another fridge, and 2 freezers. I don’t think that I have made it past the top inch of the cottage freezer all winter – after all we are only 2 people. I have not bought groceries since February. I keep thinking that I should start cooking some of it – it is getting past any ‘use-before-date’ and feed it to the chickens. It would be semi-free chicken food – by the way in case you needed to know if you feed chickens salmon, it tastes in the eggs the next day.
Don’t even ask about the power bill. I need a yard sale – freezers and fridges for sale. I would be rich!
I am haunted by the chickens and salmon. SO weird. How did you discover that?
DeleteHank, if I promise to not look in your freezer, can I come to your house for dinner. OMgoodness, the meals you cook. I have a freezer full of this and that. I liked the idea of shopping my freezer before shopping the store. I wish the perfect non-toxic square/rectangle unbreakable dishwasher safe containers would be easy to find or created. I just looked at Amazon, easy to see what’s available “out there” at 5:30 in the morning, and the lids are all plastic. Why? What else can we freeze in that doesn’t have plastic in it?
ReplyDeleteYeah, the container thing is an issue. Even glass ones have plastic tops. Terrified to say this, and I do try to avoid plastic, but sometimes I can't , and so it goes.
DeleteI have decided that as long as the food is not in contact with the plastic, I am OK. :) (Selden)
DeleteI'm also a card-carrying member of the Frequent Freezing Club, but I do label EVERYTHING. I'm pretty good about using up those bits and bobs in both freezers, and Hugh has become adept at bringing things to the top that could be used. The upstairs freezer is on the bottom and is basically a divided drawer, so things don't fall on me. The freezer in the basement is the size of a dorm fridge, and great for things like soup stock and bags of blueberries I picked last July. (The door holds the year's supply of Thin Mint cookies from the girl scouts, something I dole out in small portions.)
ReplyDeleteWhere I fall down is that bag of frozen mango chunks that I was going to use in smoothies, and then I stopped making smoothies. Or the giant bag of chopped spinach waiting for that vegetarian spinach lasagna.
Yup. Because it would be SO wasteful to toss it!
DeleteWe have only the bottom freezer in our one refrigerator. We are only 2 people. But we do both cook. And there are leftovers, on purpose. Because we use the leftovers. I always label anything in the freezer if not obvious (like frozen green beans or peas.) The bottom freezer really isn’t big enough. I make my own chicken stock so 5 or 6 quarts (I use empty brown cow whole milk yoghurt containers) take up quite a bit of room. 20 years ago ai would have loved a separate freezer… Good luck Hank. I’ll bring home made bread and wine if you invite us for dinner. 😊
ReplyDeleteIt's a date!
DeleteHank, 😊
DeleteTuan’s me, Suzette C smiling up above.
DeleteI have one freezer, the skimpy half of my refrigerator. As summer approaches, I'll empty it of everything except frozen pizza. Be brave, Hank, and shovel the contents of your freezer into a trash bag. I dare you...
ReplyDeleteOh, I cannot do that. I just thought about it, and I can't. Jonathan puts his leftover pizza in it, too..at least that's recognizable.. Maybe I'll just go throw two things.
DeleteFrom Celia: thanks everyone this is fascinating reading. I have a lot of sympathy Hank as I was also a wrap and store, a try to label the odd shapes, a list of contents, a storer in plastic that won't stack, a storer in glass - wow what a mess when that broke. I'm not sure I've missed any possible combination of ways to package, sort freeze and reconstitute. BIG SIGH! Now I've gone from 2 to 1, from a house with 2 fridges
ReplyDeletePlus a small chest freezer to a small fridge with a smaller freezer I give up. It holds my breakfast milk, blueberries, bread and eggs. A little cheese, a very few condiments and that is that. I'm
Learning a new way of living, stay tuned.
Big hugs, Celia. I know you are having to make a lot of adjustments right now.
DeleteHugs from me, too, Celia.
DeleteCelia, that sounds like normal UK fridge size! Although "American" size fridges are gaining ground. Big hugs and we'd love to have a report on how you're doing.
DeleteBig hugs! What you're doing sounds very wise and logical.
DeleteWarmest wishes, Celia, as you navigate this physical and emotional journey. (Selden)
DeleteCelia, may you continue to learn new ways of living. Such wise words. Thank you. Elisabeth
DeleteBecause we always have venison, and sometimes a wild turkey, in our freezer, we have a freestanding one in addition to the bottom French drawer in our refrigerator. I also freeze a lot of produce in the summer from the garden.
ReplyDeleteWe used to have a chest freezer, which I utterly detested because in order to find stuff on the bottom I nearly had to do a headstand into the darn thing to pull out enough stuff to see what was down there. The upright one is way better, easier to organize, and easier to find what we have/what we need.
Hank, since this happens so often, why not just cook what you need to cook, and not have leftovers at all? I know it isn't easy to cook for two, but if you're not going to eat it, and it just goes into the freezer black hole until it gets thrown out, that seems like a waste of a lot of effort. Not to mention the feng shui/psychological stuck energy over agonizing about it.
If the reason you're cooking four chicken breast is because that's how they're packaged, why not repackage and freeze the raw breasts, instead? They thaw pretty quickly, and it's nice to have a protein already in the house.
OH, ha ha, LOGIC! Thank you..I think I might be a little portion-challenged. :-)
DeleteBe careful of things falling out of the freezer. My mother broke two toes from a bag of giblets falling on her foot.
ReplyDeleteHow about just pulling a few of the packages out at random and making a kitchen/freezer surprise with whatever you have. Take a picture with the information about what is inside the package then you will have a date and record when you look at it and you can delete the picture when you use it
Yes, I can completely envision that! A frozen block of anything is SO heavy! Plus the gravity of it falling..
DeleteI so am playing freezer Jenga! It's a constant struggle as to what goes in, comes out, and where it fits. It doesn't help that, due to old-house space restraints, I have the smallest regular fridge you can get nowadays. I'm pretty sure my freezer section is the same size as my Yeti cooler!
ReplyDeleteMy fantasy is to get a standing freezer; if I took out the closet next to the fridge, it would fit perfectly. Of course, every time I have enough to pull the trigger and buy one, there's another vet emergency...
DON'T get a freezer. That way lies madness... :-)
DeleteWe are down to one freezer now - the bottom French drawer in the fridge. Only "new" food is in that. We do have a chest freezer downstairs and I'm not sure if we're not using it because it doesn't work or because it needs to be disinfected. We did have a chest freezer at the old house. For years it was full of packets of breast milk (from my breastfeeding days). Open it up and there were trays upon trays of 4oz packets of milk.
ReplyDeleteLater, it came in handy when we went through our "buy a quarter of a cow" days - until that service went away.
We have been pretty good at eating our leftovers, so no need to freeze those. It helps that we've adjusted to cooking for two.
Liz, I used to raise and sell beef, pork, and lamb (also at one mad point, heritage turkeys). So I have two large chest freezers. As soon as the snow ebbs I will be manhandling the largest (which was so handy for multiple sides of beef in big butcher boxes ready for me to deliver) and sending it off to freezer heaven. It's about 6 feet long and 3 feet deep. Think of the bodies I could have hidden! Now that I don't raise cattle any more, I buy my beef from another farmer but mostly just buy 20 lbs. of burger at a time. (Selden)
DeleteYes, freezers are an illustration of how our lives change, that's for sure!
DeleteSelden, you could have hidden a whole family in that! LOL
DeleteI've got hamburger patties in my freezer from some summer barbeque so long ago, well, they're frozen so hard I should give them to the neighborhood kids to use as hockey pucks!
ReplyDeleteIn my defense, they share space with a half dozen freezer bags filled with corn cut fresh from the cob from my summer's farm box (how many ears of corn did they think a woman in a household of one could eat a week?). I also have several bags of butternut squash from the farm box I diced, roasted, and flash froze, and buttercup squash I roasted and pureed and froze. We've had some nice dinners of chowder and soup through the winter. I love the freezer bag method of storage; they lie flat and are very stackable!
I freeze my homemade roasted tomato sauce in big freezer bags. Love the flat stacking!
DeleteYes, I am a flat stacker, too!
DeleteLOVE flat stacking, that really works. And Robin, you are so beautifully organized with lovely stuff!
DeleteRobin Johnson
DeleteFat fingers! Meant to say, my parents have recently moved into assisted living near me, so I'm getting lots of sibling visits now. Freezer-ready meals are a life-safer!
DeleteWe only have the bottom drawer in our French door refrigerator and it is definitely a Jenga puzzle. No leftovers, however, except for things like soups and chili, and those I flat pack--and label--in gallon freezer bags. (Fill the bag, freeze flattened bag on cookie sheet, then remove cookie sheet.) The only problem with this is that the flat packs have to on the bottom of the freezer drawer which means everything on top must be unpacked and reorganized.
ReplyDeleteWe actually eat our leftovers for lunches, and then of course if there is a bit of extra chicken or especially fish, it gets added to the dog's dinner. My big freezer downfall is bread from our local bakery. No preservatives, so if it's not going to eaten within a day or two, into the freezer it must go. After lots of wasted bread, I've learned to divide it up in ziplocks with a piece of parchment paper between every two slices. That way you can just take out what you need.
Ooh, smart idea about the parchment paper! I bake bread whenever I make soup and always freeze the leftover bread. I had thought to slice it before putting it in the freezer but never thought about how to break apart the slices. Thanks Debs! (Selden)
DeleteYes, frozen bread is SUCH a challenge! It's bulky, and if one bit of air gets in and the moisture freezes, then you have globs.
DeleteDebs, I "file" my flat-packed items, like one-pound bags of ground venison. I have some clear plastic organizer boxes that fit a quart-size bag standing on end, and that helps me find them easier. (The meat thaws faster that way, too.)
Deletehttps://www.walmart.com/ip/BagDream-Disposable-Aluminum-Pans-with-Lids-Small-Aluminum-Foil-Pans-Tin-Foil-Baking-Pans-6x3-5x2-60-Pack/5848210006?classType=VARIANT&adsRedirect=true
ReplyDeleteGenius!
DeleteThose look great, Brenda, thank you. I wonder how often you can use the paper tops? (Selden)
DeletePerhaps put a layer of freezer paper or wax paper between the food and the lid to prolong the life of the lid?
DeleteI had to laugh & am picturing your freezer, Hank! :) We have not experienced Freezer Jenga with our large upright freezer, though. :)
ReplyDeleteCan you come over? xx
DeleteI am experimenting with freezing things in waxed (wax?) paper. Any thoughts about that?
ReplyDeletefreezer paper (which is a waxed paper) works but not as long, sadly, as plastic. (Selden)
DeleteWell, I put the waxed paper wrapped thing in a plastic bag that once held bread. Is that silly or brilliant?
DeleteI have done that and it does work! Plus, you're recycling! (Selden)
DeleteDon't ask me, Hank. We have three freezers and they're all full and I have no idea what's in all those tupperware containers!
ReplyDeleteHurray! Maybe we should excavate each other's--like a treasure hunt!
DeleteHow about putting a "discard by" date on your leftover food packages destined for the freezer? (For the refrigerator, I put an "opened on" date on things like tomato paste, packaged broth, etc.) And then, of course, you have to commit to a regular schedule for purging the freezer. 🙄 Having said that, I recently learned that 24% of solid waste in our landfills is made up of discarded food! Also, 50% of food produced in the United States is thrown away. All that wasted food then becomes methane gas. ACK!!! OMG! GAAAH! (Sorry, I didn't mean to wreck your day.) My New Year's resolution for 2026 is to reduce my food waste. Yeah, good luck with that! 🤣
ReplyDeleteOH, YIKES that makes me even more sad to throw it. Hmmm..dating is a good idea. Now where is the pen....:-)
DeleteThe freezer portion of our fridge is tiny, but stuffed full. This includes veggies for we humans, veggies for the 2 Boy Dogz (The Notorious YBC and The Duke Of Ears), meats for all of us, microwavable stuff my wife eats, frozen herbs in ice cube trays, bones for stock, and yes, a very small area for things that didn't get eaten, mostly sauces. As the head cook hereabouts, I ruthlessly serve leftovers for dinner when we have them.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, I have a friend who is like you, Hank. I'm pretty sure she has frozen leftovers from the mid-nineties in her freezer. I sometimes wonder if thawing out some of them would bring them back to life, as in "The Thing."
HA! THE LASAGNA THAT WOULD NOT DIE!
DeleteI laughed all the way through your post! I once cleared a lot of frozen, unrecognizable bits and bobs and was so proud to see the organized results, until... yes, more bits and bobs!
ReplyDeleteOh, I bet that was one brief shining wonderful moment. I am so envious of you. In fact, can you come over? xxx
DeleteSomewhere in my freezer is a bag of frozen cut-up veggies that I was so smart to cut up extra when I did vegetable soup. They have long ago become unusable. We have the items we use in front of all the items we need to clear out, so we have no problem with the extra padding being in the way. Yes, we are long overdue a freezer clean-out. My husband is in charge of onion chopping these days, and I like it that he always does enough to freeze some, but he doesn't put dates on them, which I think is essential. I may have to go back to onion chopping anyway, since he doesn't use the food chopper, which results in pieces that are too big. Oh, and we thought our purchase of a small stand-alone freezer was a great idea, but we had to put it in our detached garage. How many times do you I go out to the garage to see if there's something I can use out of that freezer?
ReplyDeleteExactly, there is NO WAY I'm going to the garage to look in the freezer. It's bothersome enough to go upstairs, you know?
DeleteHank, at first I thought you didn't want to show us your freezer because you had a dead body in it...for, um, research??? Right?? 😂 Anyway, I think you should have a list you add each leftover to and keep it on your refrigerator. Have a size listed as well, such as 2 chicken breasts, so you know how much you have as well. Make it a habit of checking there before you pull anything out to cook. 😉
ReplyDeleteThat is SUCH a good idea. Perfect. (I will never do it......:-))
DeleteMy freezers are drawers at the bottom of my fridge. Designed to help me stay organized with two shelves, one that can be made smaller so as to make all the food below it visible. I'm here to say that I'm sending this note to the I DO NOT REALLY CARE THAT MUCH ANYMORE club because, I open it and then I close it and say to myself, oh who cares! I do the same thing Hank does--there are all sorts of strange little things in there because I didn't want to throw them away. Am I really going to take the two tablespoons of tomato paste out when I need it? When I finally put on my gloves and start cleaning out, I PROMISE myself that I will only put the frozen lasagna's in there that come out in emergencies. And then, little by little the freezers fill up again and I'm slamming them shut because I I really don't care to eat what's in them!!!
ReplyDeleteThis is an extremely wonderful and reassuring attitude. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. xoxooo
DeleteI have a meeting so more to come in a bit, but you all are making me laugh and laugh! Thank you thank you thank you!
ReplyDeleteLike Deborah we have a French Door Refrigerator so the freezer is on the bottom. I dislike that the freezer is designed so its bottom is less wide than its top...such a waste of space. It makes it difficult to maximize its storage with that type of triangular shape. Plus when the hubby decides to hog valuable freezer real estate with 4 different flavors of quart size Hornstra Farm homemade ice cream I have to be very creative with the remaining space available. So I no longer freeze meat because I like to use it when it's fresh. Unless it's homemade sauce with meatballs...I will always find room to fit a Pyrex (glass) container of that in the freezer. :) Plus we're fortunate that we are a 5 minute walk from a small market that sells the freshest meat and fish.That means I can use the freezer to store premade meals, chicken pot pies, waffles and emergency bread and rolls. Frozen vegetables are stored in a smaller section of the freezer. With just the two of us it's sufficient storage space but I wouldn't mind having some additional space for perhaps some "mystery meat". :) During the "Heckin'Hernando" blizzard we lost power long enough to have to toss out everything in the fridge and the freezer but it was a great opportunity to freshen up the refrigerator with a good cleaning.
ReplyDeleteThat is such a great attitude! ANd yes, homemade sauce freezes SO nicely.
DeleteMy freezer is full of fruit. We have smoothies every day so when mangoes are on sale, I buy a bunch and freeze them and so on with every other smoothie approved produce item. Luckily the solution is to just avoid the produce section until we've made a dent in my frozen fruit stores. But, yeah, it c an get dicey in there.
ReplyDeleteIt's just that something is always behind or under something else. Then the whole structure collapses.
DeleteI'd say almost all the leftovers in my small (part of the refrigerator) freezer get eaten within a month, and I'm grateful for them. Things like a quart of homemade soup, leftover lamb curry, a few slices of raw bacon. Also, they are all labeled. BUT recently I found a ball of pie dough hidden in a corner. Wonder how long that's been there?
ReplyDeletePie dough! Right? A mystery....I think I have pizza dough somewhere. From before the pandemic, truly.
DeleteI’m a big believer in vacuum seal bags and Souper Cubes. I try to freeze leftovers in Souper Cubes (usually 2 cup ones for the two of us). When they are frozen I pop them out and put in Food saver bags, label them and suck the air out, seal and put back in the freezer. I have several bins I try to keep them in. I also freeze miscellaneous stuff. I got a good deal on feta cheese the other day so put it in small bags and froze it. I admit we still have dinner roulette but I know what I’m thawing usually.
ReplyDeleteDInner roulette--I love that! ANd you know that you only freeze good stuff, so you cannot lose!
DeleteHank, I'm laughing now because I decided to use a flat pack of split pea soup for dinner tonight and I had to pull every other single thing out of the freezer drawer to get to it!
ReplyDeleteHA! This is my legacy to you....that's the jenga part. Pull one thing, and WHAM. But good for you for using it! YAY!
DeleteAlthough food can be frozen to preserve it, it doesn't last forever. Most foods only last 6 to 8 months or some up to a year. But like food in the refrigerator it will go bad over time.
ReplyDeleteSooooooo my pandemic food is …toast?
Delete