Freezing List

Since we're on the topic of prepare ahead meals and the things that can be frozen, I thought I'd add a list of vegetables that can be frozen.

Leafy vegetables such as cabbage, celery, cress, cucumbers, endive, lettuces, fresh herbs, radishes, to name just a few. They just don't freeze well at all. They come out limp and water-logged and squishy. Some potatoes don't freeze well either, they end up mealy and well, yucky.

This isn't to say that you couldn't experiment with some of these in various stages of leaf production or chopped or flash frozen (good luck getting the liquid nitrogen for that). It would really depend but the general rule of thumb is no.

In most all cases, you want to freeze small pieces of whatever you're attempting to freeze. Stick an entire bell pepper in the freezer and then pull it out to thaw and see what happens vs cutting one into strips. There is a huge difference. Smaller pieces face less cell damage from the freezing/thawing process. So make sure to cut it up.

A lot of spices don't do well in the ice box either. They end up with a stronger taste that can over power or they become bitter. Pepper, cloves, garlic, green pepper, imitation vanilla are examples. Stuff like onion and paprika just plain don't taste the same after they've thawed. And to make sure that we're clear, this is raw, not cooked.

Cooked spices can often change their habits when in foods that are frozen, one example is that salt can actually increase rancidity in high fat items on top if losing it initial flavor. Ahem, not that anyone here has a lot of high fat items hanging around the fridge.

As for canning: There are suitable foods for different types of canning.

Fruits suitable for canning: pears, peaches, apricots, apples, plums, pineapple, cherries, blackberries, strawberries, raspberries, blueberries.

Vegetables suitable for canning: peas, corn, carrots, asparagus, tomatoes beans, beets

But then we have another entirely different world, preserving.

Fruits suitable for preserving: strawberries, large currants, plums, quince, grapes, gooseberries, blackberries, cranberries

Then there are jams: strawberries, plums, elderberries, grapes, raspberries, cranberries, blackberries, currants

And marmalades: apricot, plums, peaches, apple - sweet, sour crabapple, cranberry, grapefruit, lemon, quince, orange, yellow tomato

Butters: crabapple, quince, apple, grape

Conserves: plums, oranges, and lemon plums, lemon, raisins grapes, lemon raisins, rhubarb figs, rhubarb peach, lemon, orange peach, currants, lemon pears, lemon, ginger root prunes, lemon, orange orange, grapefruit, lemon kumquat, orange cranberries, lemon, raisins nuts in combination with any of the above

Jelly: Usually made from juicy fruits: strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, elderberries, plums, currants, grapes. Then there are the ones that are less juicy but still suitable: peaches, apricots, quince, cranberries, apples - sweet, sour, crabapple.

Pickling fruits and vegetables: tomatoes - red, yellow, blackberries, cucumbers, peaches, pears, peppers - red, green, green beans, cauliflower, cabbage, beets, onions

Fruits suitable for spicing are: blackberries, peaches, pears, red tomatoes

Fruits suitable for salting are: cucumbers, large and small

Fruits suitable for drying are: currants, grapes, peaches, pears, apricots, plums, prunes, cranberries, apples - sweet, sour, tomato


This by no means a complete list and I have recipes for canning that defy some of these guidelines. It's really all in experimentation.

Prepare Ahead

It so happens that my poor spouse cannot for the life of him not be sick if anyone remotely near him is ill. He gave me the flu I have and he swears I gave it back to him. So now we're both sick. And this leads to something that I'm sorely wishing I still had here.

Prepare ahead meals. This re-enforces that importance of having that little gem in the freezer.

Now I'd like to point out that buying a freezer, no matter what it's size, is an investment. Our grocery spending immediately declined when we bought ours. I did not just fill it up, we bought more meats and vegetables on sale and later started adding in other things to be frozen. By the time we bought a side of beef we were on our second freezer. And we have plans for another larger one for later on down the road.

Looking at other folks freezer set ups here.

My grandmother: She has a 25 cubic foot freezer that is older than I am and has seen better days. Fresh venison, rabbit, and hog that the boys bring her. She gets other meats from the family and it all goes in there. She further buys meat (on occasion) when it is on sale and drops it in there. She does have a few vegetables, but not too many since she doesn't do much of a garden anymore.

My father: He has two 25 cubic foot freezers with plans for another one probably half that size. In freezer one he has deer, rabbit, squirrel, pheasant, quail, goose, hog, gator, frog legs, white perch and catfish. All that he killed, caught, was given or traded for. In the other freezer he has beef and more venison. They don't have a lot of vegetables in the freezer, they tend to can theirs instead of freezing them. About the only vegetables you'll find in his freezer are breaded yellow squash and breaded okra. He can't exactly reproduce that batter so he prefers to buy it. I get frequent stories about how he and my little brother had 3 or 4 crock neck yellow squash for dinner right out of the garden. Man, there are days I miss such a long long growing season. Why two? His father-in-law is now in a nursing home so he provides for his mother-in-law, too and they don't go down there everyday.

My uncle: 25 cubic foot freezer filled with most all the game my father has but also with frozen foods from his garden. Corn, tomatoes, sweet peppers, and so many other vegetables that they prefer to freeze along with canning. With all the meat in there, you'd think that they wouldn't have enough room, but they do, and they are feeding a larger amount of people than my father, so I'd assume that they cycle through it pretty quick.

I know that my grandmother used to freeze her left overs but she never sat down and made entire meals to be put in the freezer. My aunt does the same, she'll freeze left overs that are en masse, but she doesn't go to the trouble of preparing a batch of gumbo and then portioning it out for future before meal use. (That is one of my favorite things!)

They prefer to cook same day and eat right after it is cooked. I feel for my aunt. When she is sick, she still cooks. But I don't (at least until we ate it all so that we can move!).

If you can buy pan cakes and waffles in the frozen food section at the store, wouldn't it stand to reason that you can make your own pan cakes and waffles to freeze? You sure can. Just have a look at the grocery store the next time you are there. What is in the frozen food section that you can do yourself at home? How is it packaged and how can you improve that packaging to extend the life?

Wax paper is your friend. You can put this in between stuff and over stuff and it will be easily removed because it is wax paper. I stay away from foil when I freeze, rip it or wrinkle it and now you have little wads of tin foil in your food that you're trying to fish out. If I can manage it, I put it in the food saver bags but that doesn't always work either. I collect the little plastic containers that soup comes in from Chinese delivery, I get them from people I work with and I always save mine, too. It is pretty heavy plastic and has a tight fitting lid that is still flexible enough to press down on so once the soup is in there, I press the lid down until it is touching and then seal it leaving less air. You'll have to find what you have on hand. There are a ton of freezer friendly containers on the market, some are made especially for freezing so don't overlook the bargain bin at your local mart.

Pan cakes, waffles, fried rice, fried chicken, pre-made vegetables already in a sauce. Whole meals like lasagna, fettuccine, my favorite being the chicken in a tomato sauce with zucchini, cheese and tomatoes, that is some awesome stuff. But I can make my own version of that at home and freeze it. Chili, gumbo, vegetable soup, stews, chicken noodle, and red beans and rice freeze well. I've never frozen jambalaya or etouffee, I'll experiment with that. Meatloaf, meatballs, stuffed cabbage (galumpki), mackerel patties or salmon cakes, crab cakes. Shepherd's pie, crustless quiches, pizza, pizza snacks (we love to make these at home, they never seem to make it to the freezer, though).

There are just so many things that you can prepare en masse and then freeze. How many exotic frozen meals are there in your grocer's freezer? It is all about finding the way to freeze it that works for you.

Just remember that you need to allow the food to cool before you start shoving it in the freezer. After it is down to room temp, it will be easier for you to handle and it won't melt what is already in your freezer.

If you can skip the salt when you are making the dish initially, this is a good idea. Salt can cause food with high fat content to go rancid faster. Make sure to stick with low fat food (you should anyway!).

There are specific recipes for this type of thing and if you have any, feel free to share them here!

Saving Private Benjamin

It's all about the Benjamins and keeping his face firmly planted in my pocket. Gas prices, food supply costs going up, everything is getting much more expensive. It's frightening. For those of us that are cattle owners and chicken raisers with fresh eggs aren't safe anymore. Now they have to contend with the destruction of their property and the theft of their only ripened foods with every thing that hasn't ripened yet torn off the vine so that it never will. These types of sabotage are beginning everywhere. My father was going off on this very subject the last time I talked with him. Then another friend in a different state on the other side of the country complained of something similar.

We're already feeling the heat. I know in my own household we have a side of beef, enough chicken to feed a small country... twice and canned and dried foods hanging out in another room other than the kitchen (my kitchen is barely large enough to handle what we eat in a week. Virtually enough to get us through a year without having to pay higher and higher prices. And also being close with a community of people that have a cannery that we can use and purchase what we want to fill those cans with here. (Did I mention that networking is the key? I don't think I did, network, network, network!)

Point being that not everyone magically knows that there are systems out there that aren't government driven and thus don't need a list a mile long of things that prove you're you after you've been sitting in an office that doesn't have air conditioning waiting to give your story to someone that doesn't really care they just plug in some numbers and tell you that making $9.00 an hour is too much to get day care aid and its too much for full benefits, but they'd be more than willing to give you the whopping $35 for a month. Of course you took it because it would mean that is one more meal on the table and one night less that you had to worry about if you could serve anything more than just smoother fried potatoes.

But there are places out there that can help out!

http://www.angelfoodministries.com/ I've personally done this one and still do it. I have a friend that is a high class lawyer and she gets two. The idea here is that you spend $25 for a box of food that changes from month to month. The box has pasta, canned veggies/fruit, frozen pizzas, meatballs, breakfast stuffs. They have side boxes that are $17 to $18 a piece that are grill packs during the winter months and alternate stuff like 15 lbs of breaded chicken nuggets and a 5 pound bag of chicken. Steak. The list is long, so go look at their site to find out which church is handing it in your area. The $25 spent would be doubled for the same items at a normal grocery store. And if you need help to the car, that have handsome little boys and girls push the dolly out to your car. There is no obligation to do this service other than the funds. The only drawback on this is you have a small window to pay and then you have to wait for 3 weeks before you get it. So look it up, and get some help, and be happy!

Another program is called SHARE is similar to Angel Food. Angel Food is hosted by the Baptist community here, Share is done by Catholic Charities. I found a site that has them listed.

Support your local farmers! The Farmer's Market is something to be praised and cherished. Without those wonderful souls toiling away for several months growing the food they wish to share with others, we would always be stuck with getting foods that are solely stored at the grocery store. I certainly don't want that!

Buy in bulk. You can buy a pound of this or 10 pounds of that, invest in a seal a meal and vacuum them up and tuck them away in your freezer. I buy all my culinary herbs in bulk. I have pounds and pounds and pounds of this stuff separated out in more manageable sizes because we cook with herbs and spices so much that it didn't seem feasible buying a tiny jar of it at the store when I could order it by the pound for the same price or less for a pound a piece.

Buy a freezer. Please. Buy one. They aren't that expensive. I have a 5 cubic foot one that ran me less than $135. I bought another one a 7 cubic foot and I spent $180-ish. I make fewer trips to the store, spend less money on full priced items and more on sale items because I can afford the luxury of not purchasing it if it isn't on sale because I have dinner sitting in the freezer at home. But to keep it filled, I have to buy. I just make the choice to go only when I know the sales are going on.

Having said that, buy a side of beef. Mine came pre-vacuum sealed so all I had to do was load it into the freezer. It will take a family of 4 (with several large bbq's going on) about 9 months to eat one 12 depending on the size of the beef. I immediately thawed out the a bunch of hamburger and started making meatballs as my first set of prepare ahead meals.

Buy on sale: I buy 16 ounce bags of frozen vegetables when they are on sale like that, I can't pass it up. I cook up several bags at a time and can what we don't eat (or just vacuum seal it and drop it back into the freezer in family serving sizes).

Plan your meals before you shop. If you do this, you will buy what you need instead of just tossing stuff in the buggy that looks good. Planning gives you a game plan. Your in, your out and you spent only what you needed to spend.

Check out the farms in your area. If any of them are apart of a co-operative, buy into it. It will enable you to get the freshest foods during the growing season and most of these will have more than just fruit and vegetables. Eggs, honey, milk... it just depends on the farms in your area. Once you've researched and picked out one, talk to them about your needs so that you can come up with a way to make not only you happy, but the man that is toiling away in the hot sun, too. He gets capital you get fresh food. Not a bad way of buying locally and helping to keep a farmer on his farm.

Check with your local extension. They will usually have information on farms and such around your area. Check with your local government who probably fund such things so they would be able to point you in the right direction.

And still there is growing it yourself. It is not as expensive as some people think. Dwarf citrus trees go for about $12.99 a piece with breaks if you buy two or more. I've seen all sorts of dwarf varieties: Blueberries, orange, lime, lemon, tangerine, pomegranate, fig, banana, cherry, apple, etc. None of the dwarf varieties I list here get above 6 feet tall and can remain in their planter. Container gardening in general is fairly easy to do and with some trial and error, can yield immense crops in small spaces. If you're pressed for space, grow your favorite ones or perhaps the ones that are most expensive so you are paying that much less every month your garden produces.

Happy living!

Meatball Mania! Followup

All of the meatballs were a success. We decided at the last minute to make a sesame ginger one as well which turned out great.

The favorite was the Caribbean Jerk. We decided all of the recipes needed about 1/4 of the marinade we put in instead of a couple of tablespoons. When we remade the Caribbean Jerk, we added a lot more of the marinade and it turned out just wonderfully. Needless to say, very few of them were left to freeze.

Better luck next time I guess.

It's been a real blast putting them together. I think the coolest thing is getting input from the kids who munched down more than we did.

Each recipe was easily made:

Caribbean Jerk Meatballs
2 pounds of ground beef
1/4 cup Caribbean Jerk Marinade
1/2 yellow onion diced
1/2 orange bell pepper diced
1/4 cup crushed pineapple, drained
1/2 cup of bread crumbs

Pre-heat oven to 375. Mix everything together but the crumbs. Mix thoroughly. Add the bread crumbs, mix until combined. Roll into balls. Bake for 25 minutes flipping the meatballs over half way through. Serve on a bed of jasmine rice with chunks of pineapple mixed in. We considered grilling the pineapple and adding it to the rice, but we weren't using the grill so we decided against it.

To freeze, simply place cooked meatballs in freezer bags or vacuum seal to extend their life. I prefer the vacuum seal personally.

Man these were good. It's a fairly easy recipe and it makes quite a bit depending on the size of the meatballs.

The recipe is basically the same for each one except for the sauces/liquids and minus the pineapple in the above recipe.

Sesame Ginger
Cilantro and red pepper (for the Fireball)
Peanut sauce and sesame seeds
Cheese (I used Colby jack) and garlic (4 large cloves)

Possibilities are endless. And each one can be served alone or on a bed of rice or noodles or in a sauce. We're still working on deciding how we want to serve them. Though, now that I think about it, pineapple in the sesame ginger sounds pretty good. Or perhaps making the meatball with watercress in the middle or chopped and mixed in.

The best thing about cooking your own meals from scratch is that you get to go through the fun of figuring out what the best way to serve them would be. Not to mention the family time. I know that when my children grow up they will look back on our time in the kitchen fondly.

Who could ask for more?

Happiness in Slavery

I got the vegetable soup, beef stew and meatballs made. The meatballs did not make it to the freezer. This whirlwind of Tasmanian Devils swirled through the kitchen like miniature tornados and devoured the first and most of the second batch of meatballs. I have three left.


It wasn't a bad day. I accomplished my goals for the weekend except for the Italian meatballs which probably wouldn't have made it to the freezer anyway. It was fairly easy, it wasn't as much work so much as timing. But if anyone asks, I slaved.

Go Go Gadget Carrots

Ten more sprouted! I know its silly to keep up with exact numbers but we were all out there surrounding the container jabbing our fingers at the tiny leaves and contradicting each other on how many there were really in there. At least it was a family event.



It's amazing, though. I was worried that my green thumb had truly turned black, but the carrots have sprouted, now we'll see if we get nice straight carrots. I'm certainly keeping my fingers crossed.



Something I've learned from container gardening is that it is limitless. If the place I've chosen to put my crop turns out to be less than ideal after the plant is actually put there, I can move it. If there is a threat of extreme weather, I can bring them onto the covered deck until the threat has past. There are a few disadvantages, however. More attention must be given. Ants tried to move into the nice loose, moist soil that my carrots were planted in. I had to stop that, they killed my mums last year that I had set out front by moving in. I wasn't paying enough attention.



The pumpkins are taking over my kitchen! We had a severe thunderstorm today so I couldn't put them out or else the wind would have pulled a Wizard of Oz on my plants. I was mildly disappointed, but the cooler weather when the storm first rolled up more than made up for it. It was hot out there today until the storm showed cooling everything down. We lost power. Again. For the hundredth time. This time it wasn't for hours so that was pleasing. But once again, it came while I was washing dishes and dealing with food on the stove and in the oven. It didn't happen when the worse of the storm rolled in, oh no, it waited until after the major chaos was over and it was merely sprinkling.



But I will run off on that tangent for page after page. I'm going to get off that soap box now before I get out of control.

We finished our shopping today. It was so bright out, the sky clear but we could see the black on the horizon and just wished for the relief that we knew was coming. But before we got that, we all stopped and bought sunglasses. It's funny to watch kids fuss over which ones look the coolest. We all preened over our chosen sunglasses and then the serious shopping started. I was out of spray bottles for my kelp solution so we hunted everywhere and walked by them twice before we realized. So we got some nice big spray bottles for the kitchen and the garden. I made up a batch of the kelp solution and got to work on the plants and the kids felt pretty good about helping out with that.



I got the rice all sealed up with no major disasters. I'm looking forward to getting my meatballs made tomorrow and probably some stew, too. I'm worn out so the rest may have to wait until a little later in the week. I have back problems so I'm battling some pretty serious pain at the moment. That is what I get for stomping around on concrete for the evening Friday. I've had just the worst leg cramps, too. So my husband has demanded that I relax, even going so far as to massage the knotted muscles into submission, something he rarely does. So my hopes of mass meal preparation have been thwarted by a man that will physically pick me up, put me in bed, then tie me to it without thinking twice. He has threatened to do this in the past and feed me through a straw that runs from the kitchen so he doesn't have to listen to me whine. I believe him.

Yum, Smell that Beef

Our half a cow arrived today, thankfully. Our yearling only dressed at 900 pounds which is small. It's amazing how much meat it is and at the same time, how much it isn't. 250 pounds of beef is nothing to sniff at. Really. But when we're looking at it from the perspective of how long will it keep me from buying beef at the grocery store.. it isn't all that much.

This weekend is going to have me in the kitchen, making and freezing meals. I'd planned on doing three different kinds of meatballs, meatloaf, beef stew and tomato base vegetable soup, so that on nights that we just don't want to cook, its a matter of heating up something out of the freezer instead of slaving over a stove or worse, eating out. I love to cook so I'm looking forward to spending the time in the kitchen with the kids, tripping over dogs and messing up dishes!

I suppose this is a good time for me to share my recipes... if I actually followed any when it comes to stuff I cooked in my grandma's kitchen or I just know how to make. Jake is getting there but is still surprised that I can say I want to make something and I make it with no recipe. I did this with meatballs a couple of months ago. I saw a package of them in the frozen food section, had to jump start my heart when I saw the price and just bought the hamburger to make them myself. It's the same principal as meatloaf (and I make a fantastic meatloaf) so I just made them and added what I wanted to give them the texture and flavor I wanted.

I have no idea what the measurements are. I just know what goes in and eyeball it. Not everything I do this with works perfectly and sometimes it doesn't work out at all, but for the most part, I just decide I want to make something and if I need some help from the internet, I look it up.

I'm trying to get away from this mentality now that I understand what my family will miss when I am no longer able to cook for them. A friend of mine just dies every time she sees certain foods because her grandmother cooked like mine does, like I do. Those little secrets have become very important to me over the past few years as my children grow up and ask me how this works or why I make things a certain way with a certain ingredient.

And I'm not talking Food TV Network here, with that, I do follow the recipes until I figure out how I want it to taste, then that recipe goes straight out the window. I'm talking about the pat of butter my father puts in every single jar of jelly he makes and how much of a difference that little pat of butter makes in the flavor between his jelly and someone else's or the specific way my grandmother chokes off her biscuits. I can't make them any other way, if I do, they are never as fluffy and light and my husband even noticed a difference when I put it to the challenge without saying anything to him about it.

These things, little as they may be, make a big difference and they are lost when they are not shared and past down. I still call my grandmother and father and ask them how they do whatever and I'm a fairly proficient cook, but I don't have their experience. Strangely, half the time, I'm doing the "I could have had a V8" routine because it's so obvious.

Tonight's dinner was excellent. The steak was flavorful with a minimum amount of seasoning and we could really taste the difference in the meat we have now and the meat we buy at the store. This is good stuff!

What I'm really looking forward to is the fresh vegetables to go with it. With my husband being the grandson of a butcher and me from a farm where we slaughtered our own, it's really taking us both back to our roots.

I'm pleased that I've met one of my goals. When gas prices started creeping upwards towards $3, I started setting goals to cut spending in our household. In most cases, it meant cutting something that saved us time or it meant cutting something that we could just do ourselves. Such as buying the half a cow and making some of the things from scratch that we'd normally buy prepackaged and growing our own vegetables with the eventual chickens, quail and a warren of rabbits after we've bought our own place. But there is a certain good feeling that comes with setting that sort of goal and then reaching it.

Speaking of growing your own. We've added bell pepper to our little garden. I had one sprout yesterday so I'm scrounging for a container big enough to put it in once it's ready to go out. I'm not cutting it too close with it, I've actually got til the end of the month to get some of this stuff out that I've just started to sow with plenty of time for germination. Not to mention that here lately, our cooler weather has been coming much later in October than usual. I'm gambling that I'll be able to squeeze a couple of extra weeks worth of ripening time for some of my garden. And if not, I'll be able to pick up the slack next year.

But for now, I'm going to get to meal planning and making a list of stuff I need to purchase for this weekend. If I'm scarce, then you know I'm hip deep in hamburger meat.