We love our freezers! They allow us to store food we’ve already made ready for a night/s when we can’t be bothered thinking about or cooking dinner.
Here’s our quick freezer guide where we share our tips about which meals and foods store well in the freezer and which foods don’t store well in the freezer.
Most things we make for our batch cooking sessions: sauces, curries, soups and stews tend to be great for storing in the freezer.
As a general rule of thumb, if you’re going to freeze anything, after you’ve cooked it, allow to cool thoroughly first. Then freeze. If you’re popping a meal in a bag to store, squeeze out the excess air first so you don’t get that yucky freezer burn on your food. If you’re wrapping items like bread or cakes, wrap them well in layers so avoid that same burn.
Label your freezer bags that contain your meals and food being sure to add a date so you know how old things are.
If you have little children or toddlers, portion up the food and meals in in smaller portions such as in ice cube trays or muffin trays which are ready to be popped out and can defrost quickly when you need them.
Be sure to also allow your meals to defrost thoroughly overnight or all day in the fridge before you cook.
Grains that freeze well:
White/brown rice (uncooked)
Buckwheat
Quinoa
Millet
Farro
Dairy that freezes well:
Cheese – grate it before you freeze so it can defrost super quick when you need it.
Eggs – beat before you store with some salt then freeze in muffin trays or a food storage bag ready for scrambled eggs one morning.
Milk – have a small back-up bottle in the freezer for those mornings when you’ve run out and neeeeeeed coffeeeeee!
Yoghurt
Baked goods
Baked goods are basically fine to freeze, though with items like bread, be sure to slice first so that you can pretty much use them straight away rather than having to wait for the entire loaf to defrost. As well, uncooked baked goods such as cookie dough, cake batter, pizza dough do fine in the freezer.
Speaking of baking, store your flours in the freezer – also awesome for keeping the weevils and other bugs at bay.
Did you know….?
You can also freeze nuts and seeds.
Fruit and veg in the freezer?
The vast majority of fruit and veg will freeze well but …..
Foods that don’t freeze well
Tomatoes (turn them into a sauce though and THEN go ahead and freeze!)
Cucumbers
Potatoes (can go watery and yuck)
Melon
Celery (fine if as part of cooked meals)
Lettuce and other salad greens
Green capsicums/peppers
Herbs and garlic (but great preserved in oil – pop in an ice cube tray covered with oil)
Creamy sauces
Hard boiled eggs
Mayo
Cooked pasta (though fine as part of a meal but needs to be uncooked or partially cooked)
Cream and sour cream.
Love batch cooking and prepping freezer meals for your family? We do too! We’re loving our reusable freezer bag set (yes, we’re bias)! Check ’em out here.
