To Freeze or Not to Freeze (Your Food)... That is The Question

We all know that buying in bulk is a great time and money saver. I have been buying and freezing meats by the pound ever since I’ve been married but what I came to realize is there are other foods you can freeze so you are not wasting them either. 

I have two children who love their PB&J’s or grilled cheeses for lunch so I am always in need of a loaf of bread. I decided to buy more than one when I went to the grocery store and store the additional loaves in my extra freezer in my basement. This has worked out well and has saved me time and gas money. 

Being 100% French, I love serving freshly baked bread for dinner from time to time, especially when I have company. Those breads give off such an intoxicating smell when I pass by the bakery,  I swear I don’t have to do anything and a bread magically leaps into my shopping cart. 

I have found however that usually only half the bread is eaten at each
meal. I always expect we will eat the rest the following night but then something seems to happen and I end up not needing the bread so it sits on my counter sadly becoming less fresh and soft and more dry and hard. What to do about this dilemma?? I have to give full credit to my father for this one…. When he buys a freshly baked French baguette or Italian bread, he comes home and cuts the bread in half and freezes one of the halves in a bread bag or Ziploc bag. 

My parents enjoy the half of bread for dinner and don’t have any
waste.  The next time they want “un bon pain”, as my memere used to call it (meaning good bread in French), they just go downstairs to their extra freezer and take out a half loaf.  Tres bien Papa, wise thinking!    

I have found that when freezing items, it’s always better to freeze in smaller quantities because you never know how much you are going to need in a recipe and you can always pull out 2 one pound bags of chicken instead of defrosting too many and having them spoil. When I open a can of tomato paste, I take the leftover amount, divide it up by tablespoons, and put them in 6 1/2 by 3 1/4in.
bags. 

Now, when a recipe calls for 1T tomato paste, I don’t have to open a new can and waste the rest. I can go into my freezer and pull out one of my bags. I have also done this with other items found in a can including Chipotles in adobo. They won’t last as long in the fridge and it is probably going to be a while until I use them in another recipe.   

I just recently started freezing shredded cheese. My mother told me this was ok to do and now I love being able to go into my freezer and find various cheeses I can use to top on tacos or pizza. It seems every time I would venture to the grocery store, I would throw a shredded cheese bag into my cart. Then a few days later, I would search in my refrigerator for some shredded cheese and find a plethora of assorted cheese. The only bad thing was that some of it had been there a while and had become blue cheese…..we’re not talking gorgonzola either. Spoiled cheese is never fun to find so freezing the shredded cheese allows me more time to use
it. 

So to freeze or not to freeze, that is the question on deck. I say if you are lucky enough to have an extra freezer in your basement or have a nice size freezer in your kitchen, take advantage of buying in bulk, separating the food in appropriate sized bags, and enjoy finding the ingredients you need without there being any mold, hair, or blue hues to your food. 

Bon Appetit!!