A few weeks ago, I bought one of those jumbo tubs of Red Vines for a girls night movie date at my house. I'm not sure what came over me, but that night after I'd consummed way too much licorice, I sat in my kitchen trying to decide what to do with the rest of the tub.
These were the options as I saw them:
1. Eat it all as fast as possible before it hardens, even if I gain 10 pounds in the process. Hard licorice is of the devil, IMHO.
OR
2. Avoid making myself sick on licorice and let it get stale, hard and then throw $5 of licorice away within 3 days.
Neither of these options was very good....
Then I wondered... does this stuff freeze? I've been experimenting with freezing different foods lately, and this was definately worthy of a freezer experiment.
So I bagged up the remaining licorice into 4 different quart size bags, sucked as much air out of them as possible (using a straw), and popped them into the freezer. Yesterday I rented movies from Redbox and had a licorice craving. Time to see if my experiment worked. I grabbed out one of the four bags of licorice and put it out on the counter to thaw. Guess what....
It tasted just as fresh as it did the day I bought it!!!! Success!!!
In a tribute to my freezer, here is a list of varying foods that I've successfully frozen... you'd be suprised what can be frozen and still taste great.
1. licorice (and all manner of halloween/easter candy)
2. cheese (all types, sliced, block and shredded)
3. milk (this is not something I like to do because thawing out is a pain.)
4. fresh tortellini (uncooked)
5. Cooked spaghetti
6. butter, margarine (cubes and tubs)
7. cinnamon rolls
8. deli meat or pepperoni (bought in 5 lb. bags at Sam's Club)
9. tortillas (discovered this one by accident....)
10. sauces (put them in ziploc bags, lay them flat and freeze!)
11. soups (put leftover soup in ziploc bag, lay flat... you get the idea....)
12. and Taylor's personal favorite - frozen cookie dough balls (ready to bake)And here's one tip I have to share for the freezer... I've been doing this for a while and it works great. When you buy ground beef, chicken tenders or whatever in bulk and you separate them into zip loc bags for the freezer, squish all the meat to lay as flat as possible in the bag. Then get out as much air as possible when you zip them shut. Ideally, when you put them in the freezer, they should be flat and can be stacked several bags high. This cuts wasted space in your freezer and also it cuts freezer burn inside the bag.
As you can imagine, we go through a lot of quart freezer bags around here. What great and unique things have you kept in the freezer??? Inquiring Minds Want to KNOW!
8 comments:
I can't live without Red Vines, so I am definitely going to try this!!! And thank for the great freezing ideas!
Red Vines? who knew??? This is exciting news for me...they're my favorite.
I don't have anything special in my freezer except for homemade chocolate chip cookies. But I don't thaw them - I love them frozen!
I love to freeze nuts. I think I like frozen almonds better than room temp. ones. And of course the infamous cookies!
I found the secret of freezing liquid type food (spagetti, soup, sauces, etc.) and stacking them flat for trips in the rig. When a trip is coming up, I'll cook extra portions & freeze dinner servings for later use on the trip. I love it as I don't have to do a lot of cooking on the road.
It works for Dad & I with meals we love but hard to cook for two. Quart size bags are perfect for extra meals!
I so want to get a freezer for the garage. I love the freezing milk idea, but glad to hear you are not such a fan, I have not tried it yet. Thanks for all the helpfull ideas. I also never thought of freezing cheese, but have been doing tortillas, butter and bread like crazy!
be careful with the milk, you have to shake it before using it after it thaws or else you get watery milk.
I'm just impressed with your nice, neat, clean, and organized freezer!
Mandi, that is soooo NOT my freezer!!! I have two freezers and both are in dire need of a clean out and wipe down! I stole this picture of a clean, neat and organized freezer from the internet. ;-)
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