What do you keep in your freezer?

[Kajikit]

Somebody suggested keeping flour and grains into the freezer to ward off pantry moth... but there is absolutely no room in mine! My freezer is always chock full of the following -

- frozen vegetables (assorted varieties)

- unsalted butter for baking

- bread and rolls (we live in Florida and they last about five minutes out of the fridge before they go nasty!)

- a few prepared meals and servings of leftovers (no more than a dozen serves at any one time)

- lots of meat. (this takes up 1/2 the freezer basket)

- and if there's any room left on the shelf this week, a couple of tubs of icecream.

[David A. Goldfarb]

About half of my freezer is filled with film and photographic materials.

The rest is stock, various bags of bones and trimmings that go into stock, things like bacon and fatback, demi glace, small containers of various sauces and braising liquids, some meat/chicken/fish usually, and ice--not necessarily all at the same time though. For instance, when I get a large coop purchase of beef, I'll try to use up other things to make space. In the winter I tend to keep bags of frozen peas and frozen corn on hand, but otherwise, I don't keep frozen vegetables. Short term, I might have some Chinese dumplings or tortellini in the freezer from time to time. Also ice cream or sorbets as I make them.

Edited August 26, 2009 by David A. Goldfarb (log)

[Tri2Cook]

I love experimenting with ice creams, sorbets and other frozen items so I have one freezer pretty much dedicated to that use. I have another dedicated to meats/seafoods and stock storage. The other is for stuff that I forage or grow through the spring/summer/fall to use during the winter. The fridge freezer is for day-to-day type stuff.

[nibor]

Trail mix. Butter. Little ziplocs each containing a handful of chopped up sesame chicken thighs, to throw in our lunch salads. Frozen peas for sports mishaps.

[fooey]

I have a whole shelf full of Pain Beaucaire, buttery sandwich loaves from a recipe I found in Bernard Clayton's "The Breads of France" (ISBN 978-1580083898).

They are so tasty. It's easy to grab one, defrost it, and make a sandwich with just about anything on hand.

I freeze slices of cake and quiche, otherwise I'd eat all of it and gain 50 lbs.

I also freeze soups (love soup!) and gumbo. It takes forever to make the stock, so I make sure not to let an ounce go to waste.

Edited August 26, 2009 by fooey (log)

[heidih]

Other than frozen snacks for the kids (including shredded cheese), my freezer is pretty much trimmings (and chicken feet) for stock, frozen stock, Korean rice cake slices, cranberries because I like them year round, frozen whole tomatoes, chilis, and citrus from when there is a glut of fresh, beans from when I cook a pot full, butternut squash or kabocha soup from large batches, frozen peas and corn for ice pack use, both flour and corn tortillas for quick emergency meals, and frozen meats from times when I buy in quantity. If my garden has no greens I keep a bag of frozen spinach for emergency greens cravings. I also have little bags of curry paste, chipotle en adobo, and other pastes where I did not use the whole can or batch.

[Peter the eater]

The freezer attached to my fridge has lots of small things that have fast turnover. The things in the chest freezer stay there for many weeks or months.

kitchen freezer: fruit juice concentrate, berries, peas, corn, portioned meat in vacpacs, ice cream, ice, stock.

cellar freezer: last year's pig, whole chickens, deer, big packs of red meat, blue freezer packs.

[pax]

Inside freezer:

Ice, frozen packers of veg/berries that need using up, ice cream, boo-boo kitty, a few frozen bottles of water.

Garage upright fridge/freezer:

All my animal drugs.

All my spices and baking things....flours, butters, nuts, frozen fruit in a various stages (whole, ready-to-bake, etc.)

Frozen veggies in the same various stages.

Extra ice cream, coffee, and butter.

Garage chest freezer:

Meats and poultry, things I've made doubles of like lasagne, dog bones, gel pads that double as either cold dog beds for the working dogs or saddle pads for the ponies, frozen gallons of water, and a frozen gallon of herbal tea, all the extra freeze packs, and two half filled flat back buckets.

[Blether]

Some shop-bought breaded fish (these days, aji / horse mackerel) and french fries for days when they're necessary.

Frozen (Chinese) broccoli because fresh veggies are *so* damned expensive here.

Several 290ml / 10oz tupperwares of Marcella's tomato-butter-onion pasta sauce, which is also my go-to pizza topping.

Some individual-size pieces of pizza dough in their oiled plastic bags, already pre-risen to the squishy stage.

This season's ongoing chili harvest in a plastic bag.

Sadly, still, the remains of last season's chili harvest in another.

A 1kg pack of beef mince - typically stays in there a month before getting used.

A bag of chicken bones accumulating as I eat through the latest chicken or chickens; bag of bits of carrot and other veg trimmings accumulating for the stockpot.

Ground African coffee

Since this year, a BIG bag of frozen brussels sprouts from France via Nisshin, who started stocking this, out of the blue. 800yen. Hurray for Nisshin for getting past the local standard 800yen for 10 pack of fresh sprouts.

Ice

Fresh breadcrumbs made in the blender from pieces / ends of bread, as and when.

A box or two of cooked stuff - soups or stews, cooked mince, chili or whatever.

A couple pieces of pork left over from making pork pies. Due to become sausages soon.

[Pierogi]

Inside freezer:

Ice, frozen packers of veg/berries that need using up, ice cream, boo-boo kitty, a few frozen bottles of water.

OK I know *I'VE* got a few mental images of what, exactly a "boo-boo kitty" ( ) is, but I'd love to know what it actually is !

Back to topic, freezer contents, only have the one as part of a top fridge/bottom freezer combo:

The usual suspects of frozen veg and berries

a bag of frozen french fries and another of onion rings (the shame)

ice cream bars and some other odds & ends frozen desserts from Trader Joe's for when I get a sweet craving

a gallon bag of left-over picadillo (homemade)

a hunk of left over roast beef

a hunk of left over grilled Santa Maria style tri tip

a ham bone waiting for cooler weather and split pea soup

homemade grenadine

leftover canned tomato puree

tomato water cubes for tomato martinis

bay leaves and excess spices

leftover tomato paste pre-portioned into 1 tablespoon dollops

some halibut steaks and jumbo shrimp (purchased frozen)

Parmesan cheese rinds for the next pot of minestrone

leftover ground pork, veal and beef waiting for cooler weather and a meat loaf

a commercial pie crust

a ball of homemade pizza dough

Way TOO much leftover bread ostensibly being saved for bread crumbs/croutons, but really only existing to annoy me every time I open the door

Interestingly, I was one of the advocates of flour/grain storage in the freezer, but then I actually started using the freezer to store things I might actually use in the future, and baking enough to go through flour before it sprouts wings. No longer need to store in the deep freeze, which is a good thing, since there is now no room for it !

But I do have a pound bag of recently obtained semolina flour waiting for, you guessed it, COOLER WEATHER and either bread or pasta.

[Carlovski]

As I have the joys of a shared kitchen, my freezer space is limited. i don't use it much anyway though, hence me also getting the smallest drawer! But usually I have

Frozen Peas - I feel mild panic If I don't have any left

An emergency frozen Pizza (Usually stashed in somebody elses drawer as mine isn't big enough!)

Curry leaves and kaffir lime leaves - freeze really well

Ice - I'm also the designated Ice drawer!

Some sort of low rent frozen potato product like curly fries

Enough room to stash a bottle of wine/couple of beers for emergency chilling

And that's about it - with a full freezer to myself I'd probably start freezing stock and basic sauces, but I don't have the room. I'm never too keen on freezing meat though - I usually have time to go out and buy fresh, and if not, I'll have something else.

[dividend]

I finally got around to moving the chest freezer from the parents' garage to DBF's basement, so it's practically barren:

- Various meat from my CSA meat share - whole big chunks, 1# ground packages, and brats

- Salted / unsalted butter

- A dwindling supply of homemade stock, plus some chicken carcasses and beef bones

- Homemade cookie dough balls

- A bunch of banana / carrot breads

The over the fridge freezer has the more day to day useful stuff:

- Frozen fish - salmon, tilapia, shrimp (Costco)

- Bready stuff - tortillas, puff pastry, the last unfinished loaf, cubes, crumbs, cooked rice

- Pine nuts

- Entirely too many frozen bananas (even after I baked 6 loaves of banana bread)

- Homemade pesto cubes

- Mini chocolate Haagan Daas

- Whole bean coffee

I just realized that the couple packets of pesto cubes is the last of the homemade goodness in the freezers. Time to get back into the habit of doing some batch cooking. Lasagna, mac and cheese, and tomato soup are a few of my usual offenders.

[Mr Wozencroft]

For me, like many others, its about squirelling away the good stuff to enjoy another day. I only have a relatively small freezer compartment and its jam packed. So for the last month I have bought no meat; but somehow, magically, its contents never seem to diminish. Any one else have my fortunate problem?

-Bags of chicken stock ice cubes.

-Fat. Butter, Pork(and skin), duck and beef. Once again in ice cube sized portions.

-Fish heads, prawn heads and shells.

-Chinese fish cakes.

-Egg whites.

-Pigs blood.

-Chicken feet for stocks and dim sum.

-Sichuan hotpot stock.

-Red braising stock.

-100 gram bags of pork, beef and lamb mince.

-Prawns.

-Small bags of ham.

-Baby squid and other prepped sushi protiens.

-Wonton, pizza dough and puff pastry.

-bags of bread pieces.

-deep fried chinese gluten and blanched canned bamboo shoots.

-frozen peas.

-bags of meat trimming and shitake mushroom stalks.

-Bags of ginger peelings for chinese stock.

-and lots of left over soups, stews and currys.

I really hate wasting food. I like to portion everything up before I freeze so I only defrost exactly what I need. I also list everything a note pad on the fridge door. So in theory I should know what I have.

[MarkinHouston]

The chest freezer has three 20-pound organix turkeys which were a post-Xmas sale at 30 cents per pound. God knows what two people are going to do with that wonderful bargain, but we are baby-sitting a 150-pound Leonberger for ten days in October, so he will likely get a lot of turkey. Then there is about sixty pounds of wild boar meat (some hams, ribs and loins, but thirty of the sixty is destined for making into salami, etc..... and that explains the ten to fifteen pounds of pork backfat to add to the wild boar. I also have fifteen pounds of Boston butt roasts which will become Arkansas bacon in the very near future. Those items plus the meat grinder/ice cream maker attachments command the large freezer. The two top freezers for the refrigerators have a few chuck roasts, a few containers of duck gumbo and pork chile verde, frozen peas, tortellini and venison. Another hurricane would prompt a huge cooking extravaganza as all of this stuff has "arrived" since Hurricane Ike came through almost a year ago.

[Lindsey]

Only last month had a total freezer meltdown, DH unplugged it!!! Gave me a good reason to start again from scratch and, having just returned from France, we are now the proud owners of:-

6 separate dozens of Escargots, both Burgundy and Charente

2 very large helpings of Confit of Duck plus extra duck fat in small containers

10 small Monk Fish tails

4 x 2 rib of Scottish Beef, snapped up when nearly out of date and so reduced to 1/4 their original price

2 whole legs of Scottish Lamb same deal

2 collar of bacon joints

3 Haggii, 1 of which is vegetarian with nuts and dried apricots (very good too)

Huge bunch of Fenugreek

2 huge Oxtails

lots of decent beef mince.

[Jenni]

Frozen peas

Curry leaves

Kaffir lime leaves

Emergency chillies (it's not ideal, but I am afraid of running out)

My Dad puts stock in the freezer, which he almost never gets round to using

Ice cream (not for long, heh heh!)

Maybe the odd frozen banana or grape - good snack!

Mostly I use the freezer for cooling down things like burfi and ice tea

[pax]

Boo Boo Kitty is an ice pack shaped like a cat face for putting on bumps or bruises. My kid is like Wiley Coyote's Tasmanian Devil...a whirl wind without much discretion.

Edited August 28, 2009 by pax (log)

[Prawncrackers]

Having moved house this year i now have the luxury of having two fridge-freezers, that's eight freezer shelves in total.

Just thinking about it now i keep a lot of uncooked protein, 6 shelves of:

- Pork Chops, Belly, Butt, Ribs, Trotters and other odd bits

- One massive rib of Beef, one rolled brisket

- Lamb Shoulder, Lamb Burgers

- Duck Legs, Breast, Giblets, pack of duck hearts, bag of duck trimmings to render into fat

- Big bag of Iberico ham bones (makes wonderful stock)

- Ostrich Burgers

- One sea bass, two lemon sole, squid, some small mackerel

- Block of 8-12 count whole king prawns, block of 21-24 count headless king prawns

Phew, it's good to have stock take, i really need to get to busy on all this stuff! But i'm like my mother, i like to hoard stuff in the freezer and keep it full all the time. I start to panic if there's not at least a dozen portions of fish or meat in there.

The other two shelves have:

- ice of course, coffee beans, pandan leaves, turmeric root, galangal, kaffir lime leaves, lemongrass, curry leaves

- Filo pastry, peas, spring roll wrappers

- The only cooked food i have at the moment is a shop bought Jamaican lamb pattie and two portions of rendang

[Blether]

That reminds me... I forgot to mention the bag of 1" and 2" pieces of trimmed ginger for curry-making.

[Pierogi]

Boo Boo Kitty is an ice pack shaped like a cat face for putting on bumps or bruises. My kid is like Wiley Coyote's Tasmanian Devil...a whirl wind without much discretion.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh.......gotcha ! Works for me !

[Moopheus]

pesto, tomato sauce, raviolis, 400' 35mm b&w film (Kodachrome and Fuji Provia in the crisper drawer).

[Aloha Steve]

In Kitchen Freezer:

Ice Cream (Rocky Road for my lovely better half)

Brownies

Lindsor Torte Cookies

Pie Dough

Fresh Peach Pie

Smoked Salmon

Sausage

Short Ribs

Chicken Breasts

Frozen Store Bought Dinners

Individual portions of:

Rib Roast

Sausage, Peppers & Onions

Stromboli

Pizza

Meat Loaf

Green Beans

Snow Peas

Broccoli

French Fries

Waffles

Ice Cubes

Garage Freezer (Thank you fellow eGs for all the advice)

Leg of Lamb Whole

Rack of Pork

Pot Roast

Full Brisket (Wagyu, I mention cause never had and am so excited to try )

Short Ribs

Roasting Chicken

Flat Iron Steak

Baby Back Ribs

Brownies

Lindsor Torte Cookies

Frozen Dinners (for the kiddies I promise)

Pizza

No Ice Cubes

Edited August 29, 2009 by Aloha Steve (log)

[SuzySushi]

My kitchen only has room for a normal size refrigerator with a top freezer. At present, what I have in it is:

(Door)

Frozen veggies--chopped spinach, petite peas, corn kernels, edamame, Brussels sprouts

Coffee

72% chocolate chips

Butter

Bag of kaffir lime leaves (oops--make that two bags??)

Costco's shredded Parmesan cheese

Large bag of frozen blueberries

Half a bag of leftover fresh cranberries that I froze

(Top shelf of main compartment)

Icemaker

Bread--far too much!--loaf of whole wheat, loaf of sliced French pan bread (i.e. it looks like toast bread but the texture is that of French bread) from a good local bakery, leftover ends of oat bread from ditto, half a dozen bagels, naan

Another large bag of frozen blueberries

Half gallon of no-sugar-added ice cream for my daughter (who has diabetes)

Pint of Ben & Jerry's Chunky Monkey for me

There's also usually a large bag of Dole frozen mango chunks, but we ran out

(Bottom shelf of main compartment)

Package of chicken breast fillets bought on sale

2-pound bag of shelled IQF shrimp

Small package (maybe 1/2 pound) with the last of a leg of lamb that I portioned and froze

Smoked salmon in 1/2 pound portions

Edited to add: Package of Trident frozen salmon burgers form Costco--they're tasty and take only minutes to grill for a quick meal

Leftover beet risotto, enough for 2

Homemade pesto, enough for 2 (it's the last I have left of the batch)

Large Ziploc bag of red seedless grapes that I washed and froze (to eat frozen--they taste like sorbet)

Soon to be a couple of bags of peeled fresh papaya pieces (they were all ripe at the same time--will use for smoothies)

Edited August 30, 2009 by SuzySushi (log)

[onrushpam]

My situation is testament to inability to resist...

Kitchen fridge freezer (it's a counter-depth so w/ ice maker, so not much room)... Costco potstickers, samosas and nan from the Indian grocery, two deboned chickens stuffed with rice and etoufee and 4 crawfish pies, 3 bags each flour and corn tortillas (from vacation), pecans, walnuts, almonds, bread flour, SR flour, two bags Mary B's biscuits (forgot I had some and bought another bag), bread starter, Meyer lemon juice, chipotles in adobo, bacon, pork tenderloin, crab/shrimp shells for stock, slicked country ham hocks, a ham bone, leftover ham pieces, ???? what else may be lurking in there.

2nd fridge freezer... MANY bags of butter beans, white acre peas, peaches, beef bones and at least one turkey carcass for future stock, a bag or two of seafood stock, pan of AWESOME enchiladas made last week.

I'm completely out of stock and need to make more, but can't until we eat some of this stuff!!!

White acre peas on the menu tonight. We'll eat the enchiladas and a couple of crawfish pies this week.

My mission is to use some of this bounty so I can make room for more goodies!

[MarkinHouston]

My situation is testament to inability to resist...

Kitchen fridge freezer (it's a counter-depth so w/ ice maker, so not much room)...  Costco potstickers,  samosas and nan from the Indian grocery, two deboned chickens stuffed with rice and etoufee and 4 crawfish pies, 3 bags each flour and corn tortillas (from vacation), pecans, walnuts, almonds, bread flour, SR flour, two bags Mary B's biscuits (forgot I had some and bought another bag), bread starter, Meyer lemon juice, chipotles in adobo, bacon, pork tenderloin, crab/shrimp shells for stock, slicked country ham hocks, a ham bone, leftover ham pieces, ???? what else may be lurking in there.

2nd fridge freezer...  MANY bags of butter beans, white acre peas, peaches, beef bones and at least one turkey carcass for future stock, a bag or two of seafood stock, pan of AWESOME enchiladas made last week.

White Acre Peas? Are they similar to lady cream peas?

I'm completely out of stock and need to make more, but can't until we eat some of this stuff!!!

White acre peas on the menu tonight.  We'll eat the enchiladas and a couple of crawfish pies this week.

My mission is to use some of this bounty so I can make room for more goodies!

←

Edited August 31, 2009 by MarkinHouston (log)