Food Storage Hacks You Will Actually Use
I hate to say this, but I have never had to deal with a ton of leftovers. We don’t really do leftovers at our house. I’ve tried, but nobody eats them.
I try to just buy what we will need, and hope it works out. Doing it that way, I spend about every other day at the store.
NOW, obviously, things have changed just a bit — read that as A LOT. I am trying to limited our grocery shopping, and therefore I need to make the food I have last.
I have spent quite a bit of time this week, researching how to save foods, so I’m about to drop all my wisdom on you. You’re welcome.
Food Storage Hacks You Will Actually Use
Fresh Herbs: These are SO good to add flavor to most foods! You can easily grow herb plants outdoors, and then just snip off the leaves when you need to use them.
Another option is to place whole herbs in a glass of water on your counter — like cut flowers.
You can also chop these herbs up, and freeze them in ice cube trays filled about 1/2 way with olive oil or water. You just take them out, and pop them into soups, stews, or whatever you want to use them on.
Eggs: Did you know you can freeze eggs? Yeah, I didn’t either. But, you totally can. You can scramble them up (leave them raw) and put them in ice cube trays. OR you can separate the yolk from the whites, and freeze them in ice cube trays. You can also just crack a whole egg into the ice cube trays, and freeze it that way.
After they freeze, take them out of the trays, and put them in Ziploc-style baggies to keep in the freezer. They will last up to a year.
Apples: You can peel and core the apple, and then slice them or cube them up. Throw the apple slices in a lemon juice bath for five minutes. Make this bath with 2 or 3 cups of water and 2 tablespoons of lemon juice.
Lay the slices out in a single layer on a cookie sheet, and “flash freeze”. Once the slices are frozen, transfer them to a Ziploc-style bag.
These apples are great to use as applesauce, in smoothies, in pies, in muffins, and any other way you would use an apple in a recipe.
Peaches: You just wash these, and then take out the seed. Cut them up into about one-inch pieces (or just slice them), and lay them out in a single layer on a cookie sheet to “flash freeze”. Once frozen, scoop them into a Ziploc-style bag, and throw them back in the freezer.
These peaches are good plain, in smoothies, on cereal, in pies, or just about any other way you would normally use a peach.
Other Fruit: You do this pretty much the same was as the peach. No need to peel things like grapes, and blueberries.
Avocado: You can totally freeze avocado! DO NOT stick a whole avocado in the freezer. Peel and pit that bad boy. Like with the apple, slice up your avocado, and “flash freeze” in a single layer on a cookie sheet. Once frozen, place in a Ziploc-style bag, and put them back in the freezer.
I’d use all my frozen avocado for tasty guacamole! You could eat it with chip, tortillas, or with any mexican dish.
You can also throw them in smoothie, eat them thawed out with eggs, or even try them on sandwiches.
Milk: I was skeptical, but you can freeze milk. It is one of those things that expands when you freeze it, so be careful to not fill your container too full! It can also separate a bit when frozen, so you may have to shake it some.
Green Onions: Put these in a mason jar filled with about 1/2 cup of water. Don’t put a lid on the mason jar! Ha! Just keep them on your counter.
Pasta and Dry Beans: This might be obvious, but you want to put these in an airtight container. If you buy them in a bag, just keep them in that until you open them.
Tortillas: Throw those bad boys in the freezer. You can thaw them out in the fridge when you’re ready to enjoy them.
Bread: I’ll admit. I won’t eat bread that’s been frozen. But, that’s because I was traumatized by frozen bread when I was little. You can totally freeze bread, but be careful of moisture.
You also should NOT store your bread in the fridge, because of this moisture issue.
