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Food Preservation - Canning, Freezing, Dehydrating, and Meal Prep Must Haves
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items I'm the first to admit, I'm not just frugal, I'm cheap. One of your biggest monthly expenses is food. It's especially hard as a single woman living alone. Things go bad before you can eat them up, and buying that smaller size always costs more in the long run. So food preservation is a must because buying in bulk is always going to save you more money.
Sections
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Freezer Preseveration Tools and Supplies
Freezer Friendly Recipes
Canning
Vacuum Sealing
Freezer Preseveration Tools and Supplies
I have a chest freezer that I inherited from my mom. It's legitimately older than me., and I've already hit the big five-o birthday. Freezing is my go to method for preseveration because it's honestly the simplest. Its great for meal prep. Get your ingredients together in a quart or gallon freezer bag and then freeze. when you're ready to cook the meal, thaw in the fridge then cook.
I love these. I usually freeze jam, preserves, and chicken stock in them, but I've recently bought the ice maker attachment for my stand mixer so right now they're full of watermelon sherbet.
Ball Freezer Jars 8 oz Half Pint 3pk
The overflow when I make stock has sometimes gone into these, but usually it's veggies and casseroles that get frozen in these for me. The lids don't go on as tight so non-liquid works best here. I've also done freezer jam in these when I'm feeling nostalgic for the strawberry freezer jam mom and grandma used to make. When corn on the cob is super cheap in the summer, I'll sometimes freeze up some homemade nibblets and sauce in these as well.
Freezer & Storage Container, 1-Pt., 5-Pk.
I don't have this set, but this is a great set! I have similar 2 cup containers for casseroles and soup, but the smaller portions would be useful for sides, stock, and herbs.
Souper Cubes Silicone Freezer Molds Set - Blueberry
Reusable freezer bags are on my to try list. For now, I'm stocked up on freezer bags, but I'm considering buying some of these. Do you use them? What do you think?
8 Pack Gallon Reusable Silicone Freezer Bags
If I ever get myself more organized, I think I'll invest in these. I use a sharpie on my disposable freezer bags, but as I invest in more reusable storage, these will become more and more useful.
Chardime 1000pcs Freezer Labels 1x3 inch
Freezer Friendly Recipes
Here are some of my favorite freezer friendly recipes and techniques including that strawberry jam mom and grandma used to make.
If canning scares you or you're just wanting a lower sugar alternative, freezer jam may be for you. This recipe calls for strawberries, but you can experiment with other fruit.
How to Make No-Cook Freezer Jam
I always love a good cookbook. Bonus points for having a spiral binding so the book will lay flat while you're trying to read the recipe!
Seriously Good Freezer Meals: 150 Easy Recipes
This is the FULL sugar version of freezer jam. As they say in the video, there's a different recipe for low sugar jam.
Strawberry Freezer Jam - It’s a Fresh Taste of Summer That’s So Easy to Make!
This is how I freeze ground beef. I buy in bulk at Costco, then cook it all up at once. I add plenty of onion, garlic, salt and pepper when I cook it. I do it this way for many reasons.
1. I can cut the onions in bulk as well as cook the meat. Less clean up.
2. The cooked beef thaws much quicker than if I'd frozen the meat raw.
Bonus! With the last pan of ground beef, I go ahead and season it for tacos and portion it out for 1 or 2 meals then freeze. Quick easy meals for a work night!
1. I can cut the onions in bulk as well as cook the meat. Less clean up.
2. The cooked beef thaws much quicker than if I'd frozen the meat raw.
Bonus! With the last pan of ground beef, I go ahead and season it for tacos and portion it out for 1 or 2 meals then freeze. Quick easy meals for a work night!
How to Freeze Cooked Ground Beef
She's got some great advice here for freezer meal prep for real BUSY life.
Freezer Meal Prep For REAL LIFE | No More All-Day Prepping!
This is exactly how I make and freeze my chicken stock right down to using a silicone cupcake tray to form my stock into pucks.
Making, Freezing, and Storing Homemade Chicken Stock
Canning
My mom and both grandmothers used to can. The grandmothers more than mom. Mom was more likely to just shove it in the chest freezer so I never learned to can. But I've decided to learn something new this summer and learn to can.
Ball is the bible of home canning. So I'll probably be buying this and watching a lot of YouTube when I start canning this summer.
Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving
I've got a large enough pot for pint and half pint jars, so I think this set is what I'll need to get started.
Pisol 7-Piece Canning Tools Starter Kit
Vacuum Sealing
I've had a vacuum sealer for years, and I go hot and cold with it. Sometimes I'll use it for a lot, and sometimes I just want to get the good old freeze ziplocs out.
I want one of these as well! I've been sealing in the bags forever, but this would be so great for sealing things like dried rice, spices, etc.
Electric Mason Jar Vacuum Sealer Kit with Can Opener
Not the one I have because mine is more than 10 years old at this point. If you're going to buy in bulk, a vacuum sealer is a great buy. I mostly seal meat and some veggies.
NutriChef Food Vacuum Sealer - LED Touch, Bags & Hose
I've got one of the older FoodSaver vacuum sealers. It's a great idea to have multiple sizes of bags.
FoodSaver Vacuum Sealer Bags, 5 Rolls