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Once I start cooking, it’s a whirlwind from start to finish. As a mother of young children, it’s important to save steps as much as possible. I want dinner on the table quickly…but I don’t want to rely on fast food or packaged dinners. What works for me? 
Call me the freezer queen – one of my favorite strategies is to utilize my freezer space to the utmost (almost to abuse, probably). Here are the items you’ll always find ready to go in my freezer that make dinner prep go MUCH faster:
- Peppers: sliced and chopped, sweet and spicy, I buy in the summer at the Farmer’s Market for cheap and use them in soup, chili, stir fry, fajitas, ETC all year long. Peppers do not need to be blanched. Just don’t eat them raw after freezing – yuck.
- Onions: chopped and in a bag, ready to throw in anything. I can chop extra onions while prepping an easy meal or even after the kids are asleep. I use my Pampered Chef chopper, one of my favorite kitchen gadgets ever! Onions need no blanching. If you try this, make sure to get the chopped onions in the freezer quickly so they don’t start to get watery. Freeze the bag as flat (thin) as possible at first, even if you are going to store it in the door like I do for easy access. Also double bag for odor protection. You might have to bang them around on the counter to break up a big clump, but it’s a good way to take out some aggression! I love that this also saves tears, because you only have to cut onions once for 5 meals or so.
- Celery: I have one bag of chopped celery for casseroles and soups and another of 3-inch sticks and leaves to throw into stocks and broths. No need to blanch. My celery would definitely go bad in the fridge every time I bought it if I didn’t do this!
- Cubes of chicken broth: I make my own broth (click here for method) and freeze some of it in can-sized portions and some in ice cube trays. This is ideal for those doggone recipes that call for 1 cup of chicken broth. What are you supposed to do with the rest of the can? If you don’t make your own broth, freeze “the rest of the can” in ice cube trays for next time…
UPDATE: I’m going to start freezing homemade cream of chicken soup, too, after reading how well it works in the comments when I posted it. Also find 3 freezable casserole recipes here. - Cooked Bacon: Every time we have bacon, I fry up the whole pound and freeze the leftovers. It can be crumbled into recipes that call for cooked bacon, plus it’s my favorite topping for homemade pizza. I also freeze pepperoni as soon as we open it.
- Lemon and Lime Juice: I try to find these on reduced produce, or at least a whole bag on sale. I juice them all and freeze in ice cube trays in 1 Tbs portions. They can be popped right into recipes like White Chicken Chili, or thawed and used for Homemade Guacamole.
- Summer fruit: sliced and sugared, whole. Mmmm, nothing beats June strawberries in the dead of winter. We use a lot of frozen fruit in yogurt (click here for my easy homemade no dishes version!), so this is essential to have on hand, plus much less expensive to buy in season.
- Meatballs and Chicken Nuggets: Easy meals! I make at least 4-5 pounds of meatloaf mix every time I make it and just make a few meatloaves and a bunch of meatballs. I can just toss a dozen into a pot with a jar of sauce, and dinner is ready in 10 minutes. Homemade chicken nuggets are a tiny bit time consuming, and I love being able to do the dishes once for three meals or so. The nuggets freeze individually and can be popped out and warmed in the toaster oven in 10 minutes or less.
- Shredded zucchini: Another summer bounty item. I always buy four humongous ones for a dollar at the Farmer’s Market, shred them all at once in the blender (or food processor) – notice doing less dishes is a theme here! – and freeze in Ziplocs in 2-cup portions for zucchini bread in the winter. You can also freeze cubed zucchini without blanching or shredded in ice cube trays to add to recipes. Sneak it into soups and casseroles, even jarred spaghetti sauce, to boost the veggie content of the meal.
- Walnuts: You can’t beat the sales on walnuts just before Christmas when everyone is thinking about baking. I try to buy enough to last the whole year and just toss the thick bags in the freezer. I also chop a whole pound at a time in my blender and store that bag in the door of the freezer to add to quick breads and cookies.
- Bonus: A bag of leftover cooked veggies for soup. See this post for details. UPDATE: My philosophy and tips on how to cook extra meals and freeze in advance. Three casseroles in one hour as a modified once-a-month-cooking day.
Did you appreciate these tips? Find more ways to make easy changes in your kitchen at the Monday Mission checklist.
Kitchen Stewardship is dedicated to helping people balance God’s calls to be good stewards of our earth, health, budget and time. Find out more about the mission here.
How does KS work? Posts will include Food for Thought to give information, Monday Missions to share simple steps toward making changes in your kitchen, and Mary and Martha Moments to help you be more prayerful in your kitchen.
The basis for all my craziness in the kitchen: On Conscious Thought.
- Why I have Empty Ziplocs in my Freezer
- Use your Dishwasher Wisely
- What are the dangers of Antibacterial Soap?
- Good Lenten Sacrificies
- Be Prayerful in the Kitchen
Find a great list of recipes you can make ahead at Life as MOM’s Ultimate Recipe Swap.
Hungry for more? Related posts:
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Great tips! I never thought about freezing celery before. I always buy a bunch for a recipe then the rest ends up going bad in the fridge.
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Hi! I just stumbled across through WFMW and was wondering about freezing strawberries. Do you flash freeze them first? Are they mushy upon thawing?
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Katie Reply:
March 23rd, 2009 at 5:46 pm
Sarah, Ooooo, how big? I’m interested to see your recipe — I feel like I’m always doing something different with mine and then not writing it down, so I have no consistency. I read about some ladies who make such a big batch that they mix it in a Rubbermaid storage tub! That sounds like fun, eh?
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You have some great ideas! I never thought about grabbing lemons or limes from the discount rack and freezing the juice. Definitely gonna try that one!
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This is a wonderful post. It looks like I’m not the only one who has a problem with dying celery because I never use the whole thing fast enough!
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Thanks so much- theyre on sale here for 99 cents a lb- I’m going try it out
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I do much of this as well, but some of these ideas were new to me.
I posted on freezing leftover egg whites today.
Good tips all… thanks.
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Great post Katie!
I too keep celery, onion and peppers in my freezer! I’ve also frozen a mixed batch of the three that I know will be the right amount for one of my favorite meals, jambalaya! (But I’ve learned to not do too many bags of it – or else when I go to make another variety of soup that doesn’t call for peppers, I’m stuck!
I’m hoping to make a big batch of meatballs this week (you’ll see me detail it on my blog in the next few days) – wish me luck!
Best,
Sarah
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Great tips, and what a great blog as well,Hope you wont mind but I’d love to guide Foodista readers to your site, just add this little widget here to this post and it’s all set to go, Thanks!
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I love the lemon/lime juice tip!
Here is my favorite freezer treasure: browned ground beef. When it is on sale, I will buy 5-10 pounds and brown in it batches. I then divide it into 1 or 2 pound portions and freeze it in zipper bags. I use the meat in my crockpot for chili or taco soup or sloppy joes…it makes the prep quick and easy in the morning if the meat is browned and ready to go!
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Katie Reply:
August 11th, 2009 at 9:38 pm
Very smart! I should do this more often myself. Thanks for stopping by, Elizabeth – I hope you’ll be a regular!
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Great tips. I already have local peppers and fruits in the freezer awaiting my first long winter without my beloved farmers market. But I did not think about the onions. That was another local item I was going to miss this winter. The farmers market is today so I think I will buy quite a few of them. Also in learning to cook I have begun to learn about lemons and how good they are for you and how you can use them in so much. Great idea for the lemon juice.
I finally got up the nerve to try Chicken broth a few weeks ago. My freezer is getting full quick now. It is time to get that deep freeze.
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I never would have thought of this, and what a great way to save time and money! Especially the onions; I hate chopping them!
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Spotlight: Posts That Caught My Eye « The Road We Travel // Dec 19, 2009 at 7:00 am
[...] freezer food prep but I don’t think we’ll EVER have left over [...]
My freezer must have list (even before I got my fancy chest freezer) would be
broth
mashed pumpkin (from fresh)
beans (from dry)
a few brown/black bananas (for bread or smoothies)
Jimmie´s last blog ..How to Learn Chinese
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I completely love this post. I’m definitely with you on the homemade chicken stock but I’m going to try out some of your others too! Found you on Tip Junkie. Can’t wait to check out the rest of your blog.
: )
jackie.
jackie´s last blog ..Meatloaf Muffins
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I know this is a bit late to be replying, but I just wanted to say that I am really inspired by this post. I constantly feel like I am the worst homemaker ever and really regret not asking my mom to “teach me” when I was younger. I really struggle desperately with meals in the kitchen….mainly just being able to be healthy at the same time as being quick and simple. We moved recently (two days after my son was born to be exact!) and replaced my fridge, and my old one is in the garage and has been for a while. Needless to say, it is totally nasty, but I am very motivated to clean it out now and follow your suggestions! Thanks so much for sharing!
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Katie Reply:
May 18th, 2010 at 1:21 am
Robin,
Katie
Welcome! You’re not alone in our generation, wishing we could have learned more from our moms. You’re in a huge time of transition,, with a new house and a new baby, so you definitely need to cut yourself some slack for a little while. Then you can take baby steps to get back on track. Hopefully you can find some good ideas here and stay motivated!
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What a lot of great ideas you’ve posted. I also love using my freezer, but reading your post has inspired me to use it even more!
Here are my tips to add to the mix:
If a recipe only calls for the juice of a lemon, zest the skin into a baggie and freeze it for later. It’s so handy when a recipe calls for a Tablespoon of lemon zest/rind.
Also, when I buy a whole celery, I cut the base and leaves off, give them a rinse and chuck them in a bag in the freezer for making chicken stock later. Because the stock gets strained, nobody will know you used the inedible bits to get extra flavour. (I store the celery stalks in a Tupperware Fridgesmart container in the fridge and they stay crisp for weeks in there.)
When I cut the head off an onion, I sometimes also chuck it in a freezer bag for making stocks.
And sometimes I’ll really thoroughly scrub my carrots before peeling them, so I can save the skin for going into stock.
It’s all about making stock in my household!
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Heather,
I have 3 ways I freeze strawberries: whole, sliced, and sliced/sugared. To freeze without sugar, I spread them out on a cookie sheet first (either whole or sliced) and freeze them that way, then transfer to a bag or container. Sometimes the sliced ones get stuck together, but a big clump can just go in a smoothie. I tend to use them frozen: smoothies for whole berries and in yogurt for sliced. Yes, when they thaw, they’re “mushy”, but mixed into yogurt they’re just delicious. If you want sugared berries for topping on ice cream or shortcakes (or yogurt too), just use about 1/4 cup sugar to a generous bowl (3-4 cups?) of sliced berries, mix up and store. My favorite way to eat these is about half thawed, so they’re really cold with little ice crystals…oh, I’m salivating just thinking about it!
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Heather,
They’ll probably still be decent in smoothies, but depending on where you live, fresh and local is far and away tastier! In Michigan, our strawberry season is June. They don’t compare to what I can get in the store any time of year.
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