What's in YOUR freezer?

My Dear One was digging through the freezer looking for ICE of all things the other day! He was like "What is all this stuff?"

I have two freezers you see. One for the easily identifiable, ordinary things. It has chickens, chicken parts, frozen meals, hot dogs, the butter horde, my steak collection. You know average stuff.

Then there's the small freezer in my refrigerator. The one that's convenient for me to stick little things in. That conversation reminded me of a girlfriend asking me what to do with partially used canned stuff. How long does stuff last?

So since my Gentle Giant has now LEFT ME for the Air Force and I've lost the will to cook, I thought now would be a good time to blog about frozen food.

These pictures were taken before the Penny De Los Santos photo webinar. I suspect Penny doesn't shoot much frozen food . . . please excuse the lack of light, color, tension, and composition. I feel so dirty . . .

#1 Old Bananas. They make the loveliest banana breads and muffins! I only use frozen bananas in my banana bread. Therefore I usually have anywhere from eight to a dozen bananas in there at all times. I'll have to make you all some banana bread some time! It's quite . . . aromatic . . .

#2 Broth. You know those pesky recipes that call for half a cup of broth? Throw the rest in a container and freeze it! I also freeze the homemade stuff too. It just seems like every time I have the stuff around to make broth there's no immediate use for it. So I make it anyway and then I freeze it!

Look here's some canned beef broth! Its just waiting for the next time I am making a little beef gravy! My theory is if it's been canned it can tolerate the freezer for a few months. It may start to die after the third month though so give it a taste before you use it.

#3 Herbs. This huge bag of bay leaves is only 1/2 an ounce! They lose their flavor so easily because they just don't tolerate the kitchen cabinet well. So they go into the freezer as soon as they're opened. I guess you can even freeze your fresh herbs in ice cube trays with a little bit of water over them. Makes them stay fresh for sauces and soups. Looks like I'm going to have to be experimenting with that this year . . . Does anyone need some tarragon? or thyme? or mint?

#4 Soups and Beans. Any of your homemade or leftover canned soups can go in the freezer! I love making big pots of pinto beans and saving them in pint containers to whip out later for tacos! Some people feel that freezing enhances the flavor of garlic and salt so if a soup is too salty to begin with it's going to get worse! The quart container on the right actually has the bean part of Red Beans and Rice in it. I am one pot of rice away from a family meal! I have actually frozen cooked rice before. It thawed out lovely. It seemed so wrong that it was delicious but it was! The freezer has a tendency to dehydrate things and nobody likes soggy rice. So maybe it makes sense . . .

#5 Sauces. Maybe you didn't need use all of that 1 gallon container of spaghetti sauce from Costco? Throw it in the freezer! This happens to be enchilada sauce. Enchilada sauce is . . . well its a LOT of work. So I figure why make the two cups I need? I make it by the gallon and freeze it. It just gets more garlicky! Who's ever complained about enchilada sauce being too garlicky? Besides if you got enchilada sauce in the freezer you're ready for carnitas!

#6 Egg parts. It just gets my gourd when a recipe asks for 4 egg yolks! So you CAN freeze the leftover parts. I usually end up using the egg whites to glaze baked goods. Yolks freeze well too but I usually just throw them in the fridge and make extra rich scrambled eggs the next day. My mother said in the "olden days" before refrigeration the only egg-part-specific food they made was angel food cake and pound cake. Evidently if you made one you made the other the same day! Those pioneer women were tricky!

#7 Peppers and onions. Peppers and onions freeze fabulously! Cut them up, bag 'em and throw them in the freezer raw. Of course these delicious chipotle peppers are a natural. They're canned after all. Do you have any recipes that call for a whole can of chipotles? I don't.

#8 Nuts. You pay out the wazoo for nuts these days! They do go bad so put any leftovers in the freezer. These are some lovely sliced almonds. I'll toast them up before I use them to garnish my next carrot cake or torte.

#9 Cakes and breads. Homemade cakes and breads don't have the preservatives that store bought stuff does so it's wise to throw them in the freezer after a few days. I threw these unfrosted cupcakes from Guitar Boy's birthday party in the freezer 3 months ago. My darling daughter used them in a beautiful trifle just this week! I love fresh baked goods, but the frozen stuff is remarkably good. Remember to bake and freeze before you have overnight guests! No dirty dishes and fresh baked food available in the morning!

Look! There's the bakery fresh pitas I buy from that weird little place in Kansas. These things are usually still warm when I pick them up. I've gotta get two packages for the price and quality. Then I've gotta use them IMMEDIATELY or freeze them because they're put in the package still steaming! I'll probably use these in pita chips since there's only two or three left. Have you priced pita chips lately?

#10 Tomato paste. Did I mention how well canned foods freeze? I did? Three times? Get off it? A teaspoon of tomato paste will fix a whole lot of lackluster sauces and soups so utilize it!

#11 Homemade burritos. Yes I keep homemade burritos in the freezer. It hardly takes any time and have you read what's in those frozen ones you buy at the store? How else can you ensure that your growing young men have fiber, protein, and whole grains in their quick lunch? Not to mention your growing young ladies! I want them growing up not out! Hmm, maybe I should eat these burritos . . .

#12 Flavored Sugars. I've got cinnamon sugar and orange zest sugar I made earlier this year. Now, both of these were used for rolling raw cookie dough in so I'm waiting for a cooked use. They would be lovely in some sort of baked good. If I wanted to put them in a drink I could boil them with some water and use them like a simple syrup.

#13 Summer Beverages. I almost always have something delicious going on cocktail wise in the freezer! If it's a cocktail you can freeze it. Leftover watermelon gets pureed with raspberry vodka and thrown in the freezer. Have a little cream left from a recipe? Mix it with some coffee and some Bailey's and throw it in the freezer for a rainy day. Of course you don't have to serve them in summer! Most people don't reject a cranberry margarita even in the dead of winter.

A well stocked freezer leads to experimentation and food discoveries!

And impromptu parties . . .

I love impromptu parties!

What delicious things do you have in your freezer?