Freezer Sessions 2018...

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AuntJamelle

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Oct 22, 2007
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Mary - Yes, the foil lined dishes - frozen and then the foil part popped out and put in a bag are SUCH a nice option! If you don't like using alum foil this method would also work with parchment paper - you just have to work with the paper a bit more than foil to get a pan lined just so.

piratemama - cracking me up with the "Uumm and honestly something else but i forgot what." LOL

Cindylouwho - A freezer full of grass fed beef is a happy thing!!! Maybe you just squeeze in some dishes as each bag of beef comes out! Or take a bag and make some cooked meatballs and put them right back in the freezer?

I shaped the cookie dough last night - both the Lemon and the Lime snowballs.

I had an epiphany ladies. When making cookies that call for shaping the dough into nice neat little balls I can make the dough up and put it in a ziplock bag. Then kind of spread the dough around in the bag until it is a thinner layer - not just one big glob.

After chilling I can peel the bag off and use by pastry cutter to cut the dough into squares - then roll each square into between my palms to make the little circles of dough I want to flash freeze. Worked like a charm!!!
 

Myron's Mom

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AuntJamelle I like the idea about the cookie dough.

I have chili and stuffed peppers done. Waiting to catch some whole chickens on sale for soup and Boston butt that I'll grind to make stuffed cabbage. I already have the sauerkraut for that.

My cookie baking will be done in October. I don't make very many so it doesnt take that long. Good thing because my freezer is getting full.
 
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Minta

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I envy you ladies that can make cookie dough and freeze cause I never have enough room in either freezer for that LOL. I do freeze assorted breads like banana, pumpkin, etc.
 
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sweetpumkinpye

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I have saved a whole lot of recipes to various places. I think that next year one of my big projects will be to condense recipes to one place. Do you all still use hand written recipe books or do most of you store your recipes digitally now a days?
 
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Myron's Mom

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I have a handwritten book I use. I'm going to need a new book soon as this one is falling apart. There are no dividers so there are no catagories and no particular order. I like that I can just pull it out of the drawer when I need it.

Today I made a sour cream coffee cake. It was a new recipe for me. It made a 10x 14 pan so I cut it in quarters and froze. Will be good for a quick dessert.
 
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Minta

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I have saved a whole lot of recipes to various places. I think that next year one of my big projects will be to condense recipes to one place. Do you all still use hand written recipe books or do most of you store your recipes digitally now a days?

I have most either in one of the many recipe books I have, printed out and in folders or written in a notebook. I only have a few saved/book marked on my phone or laptop.
 

Miss JoDee

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I have saved a whole lot of recipes to various places. I think that next year one of my big projects will be to condense recipes to one place. Do you all still use hand written recipe books or do most of you store your recipes digitally now a days?
I have hand written recipes on 4x6 index card that are inside a single pages photo album. I have a dark green one that holds my Christmas recipes and a pink one that holds the others. I have hand written ones from my mom that I cherish, knowing that she made them with love. I can be sappy with semitmentality.:rolleyes:
 
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MinnieCo

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Cindylou I did several pioneer woman recipes last year. Let me go find some recipe links for some of my favorites...

https://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/sour-cream-noodle-bake/

https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ree-drummond/chicken-spaghetti-recipe-2108829

I also made one up of my own using the concept of the chicken spaghetti. It was basically a Tuna Tettrazini. I used the same sauce as the chicken spaghetti, but added some pimentos, Parmesan and Tuna. I just played with it a bit and it was super yummy.

Those are the three that come to mind. Here's how I would whip out 3 meals at one time. I'd basically double each recipe. Have one for dinner when I prepped it and then I'd use two 8x8 pans to fill up the rest. Each recipe calls for a 9x13 pan, but baking a double batch I get 3 pretty full 8x8 pans or 9x13 pans. I hope that all makes sense..if not let me know and I'll clarify.
 
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MinnieCo

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Now for my planning, we are low on beef this year. We usually have a half a cow already purchases, but that hasn't happened. Soooooo I'm not sure how much ground beef I'll prep, but here is what I usually make for the holiday freezer prep with ground beef. Last year my husband was like...You want THAT many pounds of ground beef brought home?? I said yep...TRUST ME on this one!

Precooked Ground Beef
Hamburger Patties
Meatloaf already prepped and ready too cook
Taco Meat
Sloppy Joes https://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/sloppy-joes/ (this is the best sloppy joes ever)
Meatballs - Italian and plain (I will cook these so I just have to reheat)
Shepards Pie
 

AuntJamelle

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Oct 22, 2007
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My recipes are primarily digital - although I do have tried and true printed and in page protectors in a binder that stays in the pantry. I still pull some cookbooks out for certain recipes. Rest is Google cloud drive.

This weekend I was able to bake all of the cookie dough I had pre shaped and frozen.

Two batches of Lemon Snowballs - Tossed in powdered sugar after cooling then froze
One batch of Lime Snowballs - Same
Finished baking Chocolate Gobs and Mocha Caramel and Dbl Dark PB cookies too

All are flash frozen then transferred to storage bags!

Also this weekend I made up batch of PB Reese's Cookies for Halloween - they turned out beautifully! All baked and frozen now. Also did a pan of Milky Way Blondies - cut after baking and froze.

All the cookies baked perfectly for once -no issues!
 

MinnieCo

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I probably know the answer since you do so much backing and freezing, but do your cookies really taste that good when you cook them so far in advance? And how many freezers do you own???
 

AuntJamelle

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Three to four months is what most people say works best for freezing cookies. I've had them in as long as 6 months or more and they still taste good to me! (Those are the stragglers that don't end up being gifted at Christmas time!)

I've started baking the cookies instead of freezing the dough because it just makes it that much easier when it's time to hand them out. But I went the frozen dough route for years and it is nice to have the fresh baked warm cookies :)

I do use Ziplock brand freezer bags and make sure as much air is squeezed out of each bag as possible. I flash freeze the cookies first to get them hard and them they go in the bags. To get extra air out of the bags you can close the bag except for where you have a small straw inserted - suck the air out through the straw then quickly slip straw out and close the last bit of the bag seal.

In total we now have 4 freezers. One chest, one upright, and then the two small freezers that are part of both refrigerators. For a long time I just had fridge freezer, then we finally got the chest freezer which helped a lot.

If you are concerned about taste after freezing, maybe just try freezing one or 2 batches and just see what you think? I swear by it now!
 
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MinnieCo

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I may try it out. I'm just not much of a cookie baker because it's so time consuming during the holidays, but I'd like to try more recipes. One of our freezers is empty right now because we've used up all of our meat, so I actually have the room this year.
 

AuntJamelle

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Oct 22, 2007
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Did quite a bit this weekend!

Baked, cut and froze another batch of Milky Way Blondies

Froze dough for:

Gingersnaps
Sea Salt Butterscotch Pretzel Cookies
Another batch of Chocolate Gobs

Will go back later to bake then freeze!

Roasted a chicken and a bunch of chicken thighs - stripped the meat, chopped and froze. Saved the bones in another freezer bag for making stock later. Got two big freezer bags worth!

Did a beef roast in the crockpot, shredded the meat and made two batches of Cheesy Beef Taquito Filling and froze that. Froze the extra shredded beef as well.

Also still have a batch of Cocoa Kiss Cookie dough in the fridge still. Just ran out of time! I will put those together tonight. Have to wrap dough around Hershey's Kisses. I unwrapped all the candies last night and have them waiting in a container on the counter.

I also defrosted a box of puff pastry that I didn't get to using so I have to make Puff Pastry Bacon Twists tonight as well!
 

sweetpumkinpye

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Apr 23, 2008
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This is really something that I must concentrate on in the future. As I said to DH yesterday, our freezers are full but there are really no ready to go meals in there. Bits and pieces of meals but nothing that we can just grab and go. A major project for next year for sure.
 

luludou

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Dec 28, 2007
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This weekend I added more spaghetti sauce in the freezer. Also added 1 Tupperware of cooked and cut chicken pièces.
 
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AuntJamelle

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Last night I finished shaping the Cocoa Kiss Cookie dough and have them flash freezing in the chest freezer.

I also did a batch of Puff Pastry Twists - this is a new one and I can't wait to try them! You brush the pastry with beaten egg, sprinkle with green chiles and sharp cheddar, fold and cut into strips. Then each strip gets wrapped in bacon, dredged in a brown sugar/coriander/cumin mix and twisted before flash freezing.

YUM!
 

Holiday_Mom

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Question - Has anyone frozen lemon zest or lemon juice before? I was given three lovely looking lemons. Typically, I'd slice them up and place in a pitcher of water. However, I got to thinking about freezing the zest. I always skip the lemon zest in a recipe because I never have any on hand in the house. But if it can freeze... well, then I might add zest more often.