Freezing Sale Items

[Disneyhayes]

Since the pepper freezing thread started I was wondering what else we can buy on sale and freeze. So if any of you wonderful people could tell me..

1. What you buy
2. How you freeze it
3. How long it lasts

TIA

 

[piratemamaof3]

my oldest esp, like tortillas. When my store had them on sale for $1 I bought a lot and just put them unopened int he freezer. I heard you can seperate them and store so you can pull just a few out at a time but we just gab the whole bag. let thaw on the counter or microwave w/ a damp paper towel. I have heard only to freeze a few months max so they don't get freezer burn.

 

[Disneyhayes]

my oldest esp, like tortillas. When my store had them on sale for $1 I bought a lot and just put them unopened int he freezer. I heard you can seperate them and store so you can pull just a few out at a time but we just gab the whole bag. let thaw on the counter or microwave w/ a damp paper towel. I have heard only to freeze a few months max so they don't get freezer burn.

That's a great idea! We eat tacos or fajitas or chicken wraps a lot so this will help. They are usually $3 and we will get 2 packs a month. If we get them for $1 that saves us $4. $4 x 12 is $48 which is 2 counter service meals

 

[piratemamaof3]

That's a great idea! We eat tacos or fajitas or chicken wraps a lot so this will help. They are usually $3 and we will get 2 packs a month. If we get them for $1 that saves us $4. $4 x 12 is $48 which is 2 counter service meals

yeah they are usually that price also so when I saw that I think I bought 6 packs. That should help a while plus they have a long shelf life even before freezing.

 

[lovemygoofy]

I have diced onions and peppers in ziploc bags right now. I have several batches of browned up ground turkey in small portions for dinners.

I have a large, LARGE amount of potatoes in my fridge and several batches will be shredded and formed into patties and froze in ziploc bags. I also will dice up several potatoes and freeze in containers to make soups and stews later. These will last about 3 months or so.

I am a hoarder of cream cheese in the freezer. I use it in my baking and for lots of dips and not for actual smearing on something. The texture does crumble somewhat. Mine last about 5 or so months I think.

I have roasted green hatch chilies(I am the southwest) and some roasted jalepenos in the freezer.

I also freeze chili and spaghetti sauce in individual portions. I have individual wrapped homemade breakfast burritos, pancakes and breakfast sandwhiches in the freezer as well.

Oh and I keep leftover meat bones in a ziploc bag to make my own broth. I also have a random bag of veggies from leftovers for future soups/stews.

I like being able to "shop" out of my freezer when I am in a hurry or too lazy to make a "real" meal.

 

[Sadie22]

You can find instructions online for freezing various kinds of vegetables and fruits as well as charts on how long various items should be held in the freezer.

I always buy on sale. I prepare meal-sized portions of entrees and side dishes in batches for the freezer. These are real meals. I buy lots of lean ground beef and prepare it in various ways: Mini-meat loaves, taco filling, chili con carne, and so on. I buy chicken or turkey breasts and freeze those for later use. We also make beef stew and chicken stew. DS likes to bake a panful of chicken breasts at one time. He will slice them and freeze for making sandwiches. Even DH, who doesn't do much cooking, can thaw out dinner.

On a Sunday afternoon shopping trip recently I found some short-dated meat marked down. I bought some and brought it home to freeze right away.

 

[Canooknic]

I always make extra chili or spaghetti sauce and freeze it into individual portions - I tend to use them when my fiancé is away with work for me and our boys.
I also always make 2 lasagnes and freeze one, perfect if you have unexpected guests!
Any leftover veggies from meals get thrown in a pot and made into vegetable soup which I freeze flat in ziplock bags for cold day lunches!

 

[ShariVT]

The best freezing tip is to buy a food saver. food doesn't get freezer burn and lasts way longer the zipper bags. For soup or stew I make a bag put the soup in it in a container freeze over night then food saver it that way the liquid is not a problem and the soup fits in the pan I am going to cook it in.

 

[MomToOne]

I freeze mainly meat. I buy when things are on sale, then eat from the freezer. I usually keep a stash of ground beef, boneless chicken breast, chicken leg quarters, pork loin chops, rib eye steak, beef strips for stir fry/fajitas/etc (cut varies based on what's on sale), baby back pork ribs, even various fish fillets and sausage. I just put meal size amounts for DD12 and myself into sandwich-type ziploc plastic bags, then put groups of the bags into gallon size freezer plastic bags. I just grab a small bag out of the bigger bags as I need for dinner that day.

I also freeze lots of cheese, mainly mozzerella, cheddar and monterey jack. I cook with these alot. I buy big blocks, and cut them into smaller approximately 4-oz blocks (which is basically one cup of cheese when you shred it). I just put these together into quart-size freezer bags. I keep them slightly separated in the bag so that once they freeze they don't morph back into one large blob and I can easily pull out one block at a time as I need. I don't think you'd want to do this with cheese that you will eat straight, but it works great for cooking. I make things like macaroni and cheese, lasagna, enchilladas, etc. with the frozen cheese.

I'll also throw extra bread items into the freezer when I have them. I'll do this with items I expect to use in the next week or two. Bread doesn't store too well much longer than that. Bread items also tend to take up lots of real estate in the freezer, so I don't like to keep too many there - I can save more money by focusing my freezer space on higher priced items like meat.

I also freeze butter and margarine. I just leave these in their original packaging and throw them straight into the freezer.

I'm not a coffee drinker, but my father would always stock up on coffee when it was on sale and freeze that. He would just keep that in the original packaging as well.

 

[MomToOne]

The best freezing tip is to buy a food saver. food doesn't get freezer burn and lasts way longer the zipper bags.

The problem with a food saver is the cost of the bags. I found that cost tended to cut into the savings I got from buying things on sale. Instead I focused on learning the sale cycle for the various stores in my area (chicken goes on sale at store x every 6 weeks, etc.), and now I buy just enough to get me from one sale to another. Then I can freeze it using cheaper methods and just use it before it burns.

 

[LJSquishy]

This isn't something I buy on "sale", but I buy the giant bag of shredded Mozzarella cheese at Costco and freeze it into 1lb portions. I take a new bag out when I need it and keep it in the fridge for a month or two. I worried the texture would change, but I haven't had any problems with it! I use it for homemade pizza, lasagna, etc. It is about 1/2 the price I was paying for the Great Value brand shredded Mozzarella at Walmart.

I make sure to slice & freeze any fresh fruit I buy if I can't use it all before it goes bad. I only use the frozen fruit for smoothies because thawed frozen fruit changes in texture. Sometimes I will snack on frozen sliced strawberries, yum!

I always keep an eye out for whole chickens (all natural, no antibiotics) on sale. I usually find them for about .60/lb on "clearance" when they get close to their Use By date. I just throw them in the freezer and thaw them in the refrigerator two days before I want to use it. I usually save the chicken broth from cooking it also (if I'm not cooking it in the oven).

I love making huge batches of soups & chili for the freezer. If potatoes are on sale (like an amazing deal), I will make a batch of basic potato soup and freeze it into individual plastic containers...then when I want to use it, I heat it on the stove and add additional ingredients, like ham, bacon, sausage, etc.

I always buy chicken breasts, ground turkey (93/7 or leaner), and ground beef (93/7 or leaner) when they're on sale. I divide into 1lb ziplocks and freeze.

 

[mrsbornkuntry]

Milk--just pour a little bit of it out into an already open gallon so it doesn't burst

Cheese--slices and shredded in the original package

Meat--original package or if it's a "value" package sometimes I divide it up into meal size portions in freezer bags or if it's ground beef and I'm going to brown it for various meals (tacos, spaghetti, sloppy joe, etc) I will brown it all at once, then freeze what I'm not using for that meal. That is a huge time-saver.

Butter--original package

Brown bananas--peel first, then put in freezer bags, use for baking or smoothies

Broccoli--If I cook too much I will freeze what's left and mix it in with stir-fry or casseroles (really good with rice dishes)

Pumpkin meat from carving pumpkins--Cook until soft, put in freezer bags, pull out and use to bake "cookies" for dogs

Bread and buns--I shop for two weeks at a time so I freeze what we're not using, it never lasts longer than the two weeks, if it did I don't think it would be very good past then.

Leftover broth, usually chicken--If I make homemade chicken noodle soup I usually have broth left over so I freeze it in ice cube trays, then heat it up for recipes needing broth, sick kids, sick puppies, etc.

 

[mrsbornkuntry]

I forgot about baked goods, too. I bake waffles, pancakes and muffins ahead of time for breakfasts throughout the week. Some people put wax paper between them to keep them from sticking together, but I haven't really had a problem. I bake them, put them on a cookie sheet to cool, then put them in a Ziploc container and put it in the freezer. Then the kids just heat them in the microwave in the morning.

 

[auger]

The problem with a food saver is the cost of the bags. I found that cost tended to cut into the savings I got from buying things on sale. Instead I focused on learning the sale cycle for the various stores in my area (chicken goes on sale at store x every 6 weeks, etc.), and now I buy just enough to get me from one sale to another. Then I can freeze it using cheaper methods and just use it before it burns.

Same here. I even inherited a food saver when my dad passed away, but the bags are a killer to your bulk/sale savings.

I use Walmart freezer bags and buy in large quantities when food is on sale, or I buy from SAMs. I know my store sale cycles and I simply use things up before they get too old.

I buy gr beef and chicken breast in large quantities and freeze dinner portions. I always clean the chicken and cut it however it needs to be for the particular meals I make. I always cook the gr beef up and add seasonings for the various dishes it is used for. Then I package, label, and freeze. This makes mealtime soooo much easier, because the messy prep work is already done.

I also freeze bread (make sure it doesn't touch the sides of the freezer or it will harden the bread where it touches), shredded cheeses bought in 5 lb bags at SAMs and portioned into baggies, tubs of margarine, other meats, sandwich meats, sliced cheese, and even take-out pizzas when there was an awesome deal like on a customer appreciation day.

 

[denisem]

I tagged this site awhile back to determine the shelf life of various items, but it also includes storage/freezer tips.

http://www.eatbydate.com/

 

[Mel522]

Not thing I necessarily buy on sale, but things I freeze. When I make cookies, I make extra, portion the dough out in balls and then freeze them. When I want cookies, I grab some, pop them in the oven, and I have warm cookies. It allows me to only bake what I want at the time, and always have warm yummy cookies.

I also make a bunch of family servings of lasagna and freeze them. I make individual pizzas and family size pizzas and freeze them. I've made and frozen Chili and soups. Cheaper and better than what you find in the frozen food section.

I also keep rolls and breads in the fridge so they last longer.

 

[anelson81993]

In my house, I'm not sure that there's many things we don't freeze.
Like others have suggested, big batches of soups freeze well. I'd suggest storing some of it in individual portions and others in family-meal size portions, that way you're not thawing a giant soup for lunch for one or trying to combine a bunch of little portions for your family. My family also doesn't freeze cream or milk-based soups (like my mom's potato soup), because we decided it didn't heat well.
Casserole-type meals, like lasagna or enchiladas or any other casserole, chili and spaghetti sauce.
Cheese!!! My family eats SO MUCH cheese! So we buy tons of it on sale and just throw it in the freezer. In fact, we don't just store cheese in our freezer, we hoard cheese in our freezer. Right now, I think we have somewhere in the realm of 6 bags of mozerella alone in the freezer, and that's low for us. My mom makes homemade pizza once a week, too, which is part of why we freeze so much cheese.
We freeze pretty much anything that could be considered a baking supply. We freeze butter, chocolate/peanut butter/butterscotch chips, almond bark, chocolate stars, M&Ms, and almost any kind of nut you can think of. We don't always have all these things, but whenever baking items are on sale we stock up and freeze. These things can last forever in the freezer.
We also freeze bread. I'm horrible about this--when I cleaned out my minifridge at school before Christmas break, there was still a quarter loaf of bread I bought to make toast back in September. Just to see if it was still good, I toasted a piece and tried it. And yes, it was still good. At home, bread doesn't usually last in the freezer that long, but we usually have some bread in the freezer.
We freeze any type of breakfast bread we eat. Right now, I think we have leftover French toast and blueberry muffins in our freezer, but we also freeze pancakes, waffles, pumpkin/banana/zucchini bread, muffins of all varieties, etc.
We freeze broth, and ham bones for soups, along with every kind of meat we eat. We also freeze leftovers.
We freeze bread crumbs and crushed crackers that we use for breadings or toppings. We also freeze snack cookies (Oreos and such), both crushed and not, for various desserts.
We freeze cookie dough, pizza dough, bread dough, brownie batter, pancake batter, and almost any other kind of dough or batter.
We have in the past frozen various types of desserts, including leftover Christmas cookies, brownies of all varieties, and bars. I think the strangest dessert we've ever frozen is birthday cake. Leftover birthday cake actually freezes surprisingly well, and one year we had part of my cake till nearly Christmas (my birthday's in August), and it was still edible.
Homemade pizza freezes well. Pizza crust (parbaked) freezes well, too, if you want to make the crust in advance. Just be careful about thawing/baking times with a parbaked crust.
Coffee freezes well. No one in my house drinks it, but my grandparents love it, so we always have some in the freezer for when they visit.
That's all I can think of off the top of my head that we freeze. I'm sure we freeze more stuff, and we've frozen other things too in the past, but those are our usual freezer items. I think it's possible we have a freezer problem