What's in your freezer?

[cjsmith]

Serious question.

If I am ever going to cook, I'm going to cook for one, which is pessimal from a purchasing and storage point of view. My freezer is perennially full.

Friends ask "Full of WHAT?" They have a point. Food! But it's not that simple.

What have I got in there? Seven servings of bean soup (and that's after I've eaten three), one serving of lentil soup, some meatballs, two servings of beef stew, four servings of meatloaf, one ancient serving of Dijon chicken I should really pitch, a couple of pounds of lean ground turkey, two frozen chicken breasts, a big honkin' pile of chopped onion, some chopped bell peppers, a bowl of walnuts, lots of frozen veggies of the Bird's Eye sort of genre, a handful of frozen taquitos, several ice packs, and a tiny Godiva chocolate raspberry truffle ice cream container I'd forgotten about.

I had to look in there to write that paragraph, and truth to tell, I'm surprised by some of it. I didn't remember the meatloaf, the Dijon chicken, or the ice cream. Some of these things were seriously buried, of course.

What would I like to put in there? Multiple kinds of flour. The half a lemon I didn't squeeze into a recipe or the half a can of tomato paste I didn't use. Most importantly, a large variety of finished products, so that I have a big choice of what to pull out of there.

So there's my question. What's in your freezer?

More later.

Comments

Re: In my freezer

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

The in-fridge freezer has one shelf already, and Rob's stuff is on the top one. Further dividing the bottom shelf probably won't help me all that much. (Giving up on the tupperware for a lot of things and using freezer bags instead might help a bit.)

Isn't it frustrating when stuff is only sold at a particular time of year? Grr! There's a kind of cookie Rob loves that is sold only around Christmas. I've tried to duplicate it, but I'll need WAY more effort to get even close; I'm starting from nothing.

Frozen banana! Hmm, now I'm thinking that if we had an industrial-size blender, we could make smoothies for Rob. Frozen fruit, some ice...

I'm also getting chest freezer envy. Rob is going to murder me. :) :)

Re: In my freezer

[moriamerri.livejournal.com]

Remind Rob that with a chest freezer (or, heck, any other kind of extra freezer) you could buy a few dozen packages of those cookies and stick them in the freezer and he could eat them all year (or as long as they last....)

What about a 2nd whole fridge w/freezer compartment? Some people have 2 and I think you have the space?? Or if you are really into freezing, a fridge-size freezer -- don't they have those? -- with a door that opens out (rather than a chest). The chest freezer is okay, but it really is a hassle if there's much variety of stuff -- it is all just piled in. Think it over. This is one of the reasons mind has only a few things in it. (Remember you may need to reserve a shelf just for cookies...)

I make smoothies in a regular blender all the time. Well, all summer anyway. Please don't tell me you didn't think you could do this, I'll like cry or something -- I am a fruit fanatic and I have several actual BLENDER cookbooks (some old). Blender handles ice and such just fine. Or frozen fruit.

Re: In my freezer

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

I definitely have to remember to talk about the cookies when I bring home a new freezer. ;-)

My mom has a fridge-size freezer and I admit the ability to reach everything more quickly is tempting. I may have to make another post asking people how they organize their chest freezers. It's so much more energy-efficient that I'd like to see if there are good ways to manage it.

Wimpy blenders do have problems with ice, though (I vaguely almost remember that we've even ruined one in the far past), and I'm afraid ours is probably the cheapest thing money can buy. A decent one should have no problem.

Re: In my freezer

[moriamerri.livejournal.com]

Wimpy blenders do have problems with ice, though (I vaguely almost remember that we've even ruined one in the far past), and I'm afraid ours is probably the cheapest thing money can buy. </>

wow, I really didn't know that! So, I'm the one who didn't know. My blenders have done fine -- and I think they are cheap and/or garage sale findings.... I've sometimes had problems getting things to blend if there is not enough liquid -- but I've never, say, burned out the motor or anything like that. I can see where ruining one might make you a little more hesitant than I am!