HOW do you freeze food?

[ktgrok]

I am loving some of the ideas posted, but not sure how to do them logistically. So, for say, taquitoes, how do you wrap them for the freezer? How do you prevent freezer burn? How do you heat them up??

[Amber in SJ]

For things like burritos I assemble them completely, wrap them first in waxed/ parchment paper, then in plastic wrap. I pack the wrapped burritos in a large freezer weight zipper bag that is clearly labeled with what is inside & reheating instructions. Individual frozen burritos can be packed in lunches or taken out when ever needed. To reheat you remove the plastic wrap, microwave in the waxed paper. My kids like to toast the outside in a dry skillet once they are warmed through by the microwave.

 

For things like taquitos or panko crusted chicken breasts, I place the rolled taquitos or breaded chicken breasts on a cookie sheet and put them in the freezer. After 1-2 hours in the freezer they are frozen solid and I pop them off the cookie sheet and pack them into gallon sized zipper bags. These can go into the oven frozen when we are ready to eat them. Cookie dough and meatballs can also be frozen this way. The first freezing keeps everything from sticking together so you can just take out what you need.

 

Meat that is destined for the grill gets frozen in the marinade. I make a cranberry pork roast in the crockpot. The pork roast gets frozen covered in the herb rub. This is easy to pull out of the freezer the day before and chuck in the crockpot then next morning.

 

I make meal kits when I am going to be out of town or for those nights when I am out of commission. A taco kit will be a gallon size bag with smaller bags inside filled with taco seasoned meat, shredded cheese & tortillas. A BBQ chicken sandwich kit will have bags of shredded chicken in BBQ sauce, sliced rolls & sliced cheese. A french dip sandwich kit will have the same as the chicken sandwich with the different meat filling. A chili kit will have a bag of cooked chili, a bag of cooked brown rice, a bag of shredded cheese and cornbread muffins. Stir fry kits, fajita kits, meatball sandwich kits. Anything you can think of, really.

 

 

I love my freezers. They save me time and money.

 

Amber in SJ

[Momof3littles]

I flash freeze a lot. Burgers, meatballs, pick your own blueberries, waffles, slices of pork loin, grilled chicken, etc. That means I spread it out on a tray, pop it in the freezer til firm (about an hour) and then bag or put into a container and into the freezer for good. We use Pyrex and also Foodsaver bags. That extra step makes it possible to pull out 5 or 10 meatballs for lunch vs. having to pull out an entire huge clump all stuck together.