Freezing Foods, My latest obsession!

I think I may have talked about freezing food when I posted about budgeting and coupons before.  I have done a lot more freezing since then that I wanted to share.

CHICKEN - I eat a lot of chicken, I like that you can flavor it easily and it is used in lots of ethnic cooking. It is honestly much cheaper than beef, and that is the biggest reason I use it a lot.  I recently bought roughly 9 pounds of boneless, skinless chicken breast.  The following are the three ways I prepared and froze my chicken.
Breasts - I usually wrap my breasts individually then bag them for freezing.  I have been thinking of how much waste this creates.  So this time I cut the chicken into my portioned sizes, and placed them on my Silpat to freeze for a bit, then I just placed them in two bags.  The pre-bagging freezing prevents major sticking to each other in the freezer.  I defrost these by dropping in a bowl of hot water for a few minutes, the 4 oz portions thaw quickly.
Chopped - Some of the chicken I chopped into bite size chunks. These I sauteed and portioned into freezer bags.  These I will use when I am throwing together something healthy, but don;t have a lot of time, salad, pasta, curry.
Restaurant Shredded -I just started freezing the cooked shredded chicken and it is AWESOME!  For this batch I threw some chicken in the crock pot on low with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and a few bay leaves, then covered with water.  The next morning I woke up to a delicious smell.  The first time I did this I took the chicken out and attacked it with two forks, this time I used a post from Pinterest.  I took the piping hot chicken and put all 5 large breasts in the bowl of the Kitchen Aid, added the paddle attachment, and turned it on medium-low for 10 seconds.  This is not an exaggeration, in 10 seconds my chicken was shredded, a little over-shredded to be truthful, should have gone slower.  But this is what it looked like.

I have frozen some of this in my muffin tray, with a touch of water.  It is great for quick easy portions for lunch.  I have thawed and mixed up a lunch serving of chicken salad, BBQ chicken, and buffalo chicken.  This is also easy to add to a fast soup.  LOVE IT!!!

PRODUCE/OTHER
Herbs - Cilantro sometimes goes bad in my fridge.  It shouldn't because I love it in lots of dishes, but sometimes I buy too much or forget I have it.  I have made cilantro cubes!  Cilantro chopped or pureed with a bit of water or olive oil, then frozen.  I have dropped this in beans as they cook up for refried beans, thaw and drop in the blender in salsas, or add to a curry for a bright finish.  This would be great for fresh basil in your winter pasta sauces, or for freezing pesto.
Lemons - Freeze your lemons after squeezing for zest later, just toss in the microwave for a few seconds and zest away! Also can add to sauces, especially a braise, so good subtle citrus!

Tomatillos - Do you use tomatillos?!  I love these little guys!  But I don't always use them fast enough, or need that much salsa.  So I have started peeling and washing these gems when I get home, toss them in a bag in the freezer.  I pull them out as I need them, defrost in the microwave, and toss in the blender with a couple cilantro cubes, add a half can of diced tomatoes and chiles, and you have a fast easy homemade salsa!
Coconut Milk - I love to make Indian inspired dishes, but cooking for one, I do not need a whole can of coconut milk.  I normally can get three uses out of a can, one in the pan, and two in bags in the freezer.
Canned Beans - Same as above, but I usually do half a can in a bag.  A warning is that beans lose some texture in the freezer, so I tend to use the frozen ones in soups or to make re fried beans.
Tomatoes - Toss diced tomatoes in a freezer bag for soups or pasta.  I also love this method for tomato paste, when frozen flat in bags, I just pull out and toss in warm pasta sauce and it thickens it right up.
Broth/Stock -  A tip for homemade broth and stock, after cooking chicken in a crock pot you can add a mirepoix mix to the broth and cook it a few more hours.  Strain out everything for stock, or puree the veggies to make a gravy.  I then pour this in muffin trays and freeze (you could use ice cube trays).  Less waste and easy to add to homemade soups.

Lastly, I am trying to do some premade smoothie mixes, I will update how it goes.


I hope some of this was helpful!

Saving at the Grocery Store (I Hope This is Clear)

A friend posted on her blog recently, her struggle to make good home cooked meals while balancing the budget she and her husband have established.  As I perceived it, her main problems are going back to the store, cooking for two, and saving at the store.  I have really thrown myself into the couponing deal-searching world in the last year or so, I watched my mom coupon as I grew up.  I have found it to be a great hobby, one I can justify spending time on and really do enjoy.  My friends make fun of me for my three ring coupon binder and my knack for the phrase, "It's cheaper at ______ this week."  But I have figured a few ways to pare down the food bill, even without the coupon binder and ad studying.  I wanted to share a few tips with my friend, and anyone else that struggles with these problems.

Going Back to the Store

Set a Menu, Be Flexible Within a Menu, Have Staples on Hand

    I love to grocery shop, it is cathartic and relaxing for me, which is why I try to avoid them except for when I am on my designated trips. I try to grocery shop every two weeks.   A previous post showed my menu board, I love this for planning my menu.  I find I cannot plan two weeks of meals and stick to it.  I plan my first week before shopping (but after looking at what's on sale in the ads), new recipes or specialty ingredients get planned on this week, then the week after shopping is my leftover week.  I don't eat leftovers all week, I just use whatever is left in my fridge for dinners.  Sites like Epicurious and Betty Crocker are great for plugging in what you have, and coming up with new meals.  I also know that I always have pasta, tortillas, canned tomatoes, and chicken in the house to replace any meals I just don't feel like making that specific night.  Be flexible with yourself, don't turn dinner time into a battle of your will against your menu.  When I follow my menu I always know that a) I am going to use up anything perishable in my fridge and b) I can do new stuff in just another week.

Cooking for One (or Two)
Pre-package Your Bulk, Utilize The Freezer, Know Shelf Life
   
     This is really hard to do!  I have been cooking on my own for years and I still over portion my food on occasion.  I have found two problems to deal with when you break it down, portion and price.  The answer is bulk and freezing.  I know buying in bulk seems counter intuitive, but buying chicken at $2/lb a couple times a month is much more expensive than buying it at $1.59/lb once every couple of months.  I learned to add a step to my shopping trips from my aunt, single for 30 plus years, packaged everything after the grocery trip.  I package my chicken/steak/ground meat into proper proportions by serving size (this helps if you are watching your weight too).  This helps me track how much is left (when I need to restock), only use what I need (no chicken salad for two days to use up leftovers), and easier meal prep (shorter defrosting and cook times).
     My mom got a freezer for me at Christmas last year.  I have filled it with lots of different things.  Rice, for example freezes well after cooking, when reheated in the microwave it re-steams itself.  I also freeze spaghetti sauce, leftover canned black beans, and coconut milk. This is a good guide to what freezes well, and not.  Sometimes it is trial and error with recipes, but the things that work out are worth it.  I made individual fruit cobblers the other day and froze them individually.  Now I can finish dinner, pop one into a mug, pop it into the microwave, and pop it into my mouth.
     Produce can often present a problem as the fresh foods go bad on your counter or even in your fridge.  Recently I bought some green zip top produce bags, 8 bags for $1 at the The Dollar Tree.  I have kept my veggies in them the past month.  They are great!  I don't understand the science, but I can leave lettuce in them for three weeks and it is still fresh and crisp, snow peas stay crisp, and strawberries don't mold after a couple days.
      Lastly, know how long things are really good for, meaning don't be fooled by "expiration" dates.  I know some will disagree with me, but I stand by this concept.  This is a guide for storing food, but I disagree with even some of these.  Eggs are fine for up to 2 months (chicken scientist told me this, I am not kidding), asparagus keeps longer if you set it in a glass with a half inch of water in the bottom, and hard cheeses can be kept for a very very very long time, just cut off the mold.

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Buy What You Use, Know Price and Ads, and Use Coupons

     Saving money at the register is a balance of buying what you use, knowing prices, and getting money off.  Obviously buying peanut butter is not a good use of money if you never eat it.  And $1 off at one store may be $2 more expensive than another.  And $1 off 4 of something is only good if you really will use 4 before they expire.  The menu and freezing will help you know what you will use.
     Knowing prices takes time.  The best way to do this is to look at your weekly ads.  Most grocery ads are online now, and you can even make a shopping list from it and print or email.  When you are new to learning prices there are various places to go to find out what actually is a good price.  I have found an EXCELLENT source for pricing in GrocerySmarts.  This site allows you to select a store and look at the rating of the current prices in the ads.  The red stars mean a great price, keep in mind there could be a greater price in another local ad, so look at them all.  You don't need to run around to 15 stores to get the deal, Walmart price matches any grocer's ad.
     GrocerySmarts also shows what coupons can be used with these deals, to sweeten the pot.  The most thought of place to find coupons is in your Sunday newspaper., which can be purchased all week long at most Walmarts, or many newspapers offer weekend subscriptions.  While this is the most thought of, the web has become an easy way for manufacturers to get there products to people, including coupons.  My favorite coupon site is, Coupons.com.  This site has lots of coupons to print right off the Internet.  My favorite deal blogger Hip2Save has a coupon page where she links to lots of printable coupons from all over the web.  She also has links to the Coupons.com coupons, WITH a zip code, since different coupons are released to different regions, but still work everywhere.  I love Collin with Hip2Save, she has some really useful videos about how to use coupons if you are going to really get into the scene.  RedPlum, SmartSource, and All You magazine offer printable online coupons too.  Here in Utah a great money saver is the Smiths digital coupon feature.  You can load digital coupons directly onto your card, and print out a list of what's on there.  Finally, look at your coupons to see how many you have to buy, if you won't use two boxes of something, just get the one and leave the coupon on the shelf for the next person that does want two.  But, just because you have never bought it, doesn't mean you won't.  Kraft usually is higher price than store brand, but with a sale and a coupon, the Kraft could win out.  And never feel bad throwing away a coupon, it is better than throwing away money.


     I know this was a long post, but hopefully something in there was helpful.  I have really enjoyed the process of saving money with the help of all these tools.  Please feel free to ask questions or add to my notes if you so desire!