I suspect there is a dedicated national holiday for everyone and everything. How about a National Clean Out Your Freezer Day? I just did an informal survey of our freezer – and I am leaving out some of the more hideous details here – and what I found was a little daunting. We do not keep a tidy or timely freezer – is it too late to resolve to live a better and cleaner life?
A couple of weeks ago we had a houseful of company, and my daughter was helping me put mountains of groceries away. With great glee she catalogued the number of bags of shredded cheese she found in the deli bin of the refrigerator – ten. Some open, some unopened, and some of each which were way past their sell by dates. Mortification! I had become a cheese hoarder! I can understand collecting New Yorker magazines, or seashells, or snow globes because each has charm and beauty. But if you stopped me on the street, and grabbed me by the lapels, and asked me earnestly what I thought about shredded cheese, I would coolly respond, shaking off your sweaty paws, that I do not believe in buying shredded cheese. It is for lazy damn gits, who don’t mind that their nachos have dry, gritty cheese, or that the freshness of their pizza ingredients is unimportant. Holy smokes – I am such a hypocrite!
And with the arrival of the annual National Frozen Foods Month, I thought it was about time to face up to the circle of hell that must be our freezer. What carbon dated relics clutter it up? What should stay, and what should go? And what should responsible adults have in their freezers? My mind is boggled, Gentle Reader, with the amount of stuff I uncovered. The freezer can tell tales.
Here is the initial list, starting at the top and working my way down. I did not dig past the permafrost.
Vanilla ice cream (half a tub)
Raspberry gelato (5 teaspoons left)
French fries, Tater Tots and Sweet Potato Tots (half bags, all from before Christmas)
Hot Dogs (2 weeks old)
Hamburger (meat and patties, uncooked, vague recollection of purchasing in January)
Pork chops (boneless)
Jimmy Dean sausage (recent purchase)
Italian sausages (1 pound, sweet and hot, fennel free, from the butcher last week)
Chicken cutlets (8 in the packet – forgot to separate them before freezing – too much for one meal for two people)
Shrimp (5, from Christmas?)
Leftovers: taco meat, chicken pot stickers, pizza, good steak from last Sunday night
Tomato sauce (plain)
Spaghetti sauce (from a jar)
Spaghetti sauce (homemade, from Christmas?)
Chili
Chicken stock
Broccoli florets
Peas
Corn
Suffering succotash
French bread
Italian bread
Hamburger rolls
Hot dog rolls
Ancient, drying up popsicles
Vodka (enough for 2 martinis because you never know how the day will go)
So, I suppose if the revolution comes, we can eat for a couple of days. But doing a little research has led me to believe that I can straighten up the mess in the freezer, and learn how to label proper containers (I tend to toss leftovers into Baggies, and trust that I will remember what the blasted thing is when I next encounter it. I am sorry to say that my days as a girl detective are long over, and I cannot tell the difference between a Baggie of tomato sauce and a Baggie of spaghetti sauce, and which might be homemade or Paul Newman’s, at least not without some reliable DNA testing.)
Here is a more helpful list of suggestions of what you should have on hand in your freezer. It will make life easier for you when, like me, you are surprised when dinner time rolls around yet again, and that you need to get something hot on the table without running out into the snow to the grocery store. Take notes:
Breads
Butter
Chicken stock/beef stock/vegetable stock (inevitably there is a vegetarian coming to call)
Sausage, bacon
Shrimp
Peas (helpful for livening up an impromptu Fettucine Alfredo, or for icing down an unexpected bump or scrape)
Cooked rice (What a time saver! Next time, make some extra to have on hand!)
Soups, stews, chilis, sauces
Broccoli, spinach, fresh herbs
Frozen fruit – for smoothies or dessert
Small containers of ice cream – portion control!
Meatballs
Tortillas
Cooked chicken slices, cooked ground beef
Ground turkey
Chicken breasts
Nuts
Vodka!
Here are three more helpful freezing hints:
1. Spread meatballs, cookie dough or pigs-in-blankets on a cookie sheet and freeze them before moving them to a container. Keep the recipe handy for the cookies so you remember baking time and temperature.
2. Freeze liquids flat in Baggies, then stand them up sideways for storage. They’ll take up less space. Get out a Sharpie and label the Baggies before you fill with the nice sauce that will be your dinner in a couple of weeks.
3. Keep a list handy of what is in the freezer – put it on your iPhone – or take a photo so you have a visual record of what is on hand. Life is fraught with peril – make it easy for yourself. There might even be an Instagram group that peers into each others’ freezers…
So if Kate and William happen to stop by, you can throw together a decent spread to have with cocktails. Much better than the stale Doritos and cheap white wine they would get here! But now that I am going to be grown up and organized, I’ll be able to whip up some nachos with the tortillas and the taco meat – if only we hadn’t gotten rid of all the shredded cheese bags!
And seriously, food waste is sinful, and it is also hard on the landfill. Here’s a timely piece from The New York Times, with even more ideas of how to avoid waste. Use it up, wear it out, make it do, do without.
“Beware of little expenses; a small leak will sink a great ship.”
~Benjamin Franklin
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