A Love Letter to the Freezer

Save yourself some money and reduce food waste

Over the weekend, I was at a brunch, and there were a ton of pastries left over. The host invited us to take the extras home, so I grabbed a gigantic chocolate muffin. I didn’t want to eat it right away, so I put it into a plastic bag and then into the freezer. It might be there for a few weeks, maybe even a few months. But some day, I will be craving carbohydrates, and it will be waiting for me.

There was a time when we had an adolescent swimmer in the household, so there were rarely any leftovers. The swimmer moved out, and now, we have leftovers, and so we use the freezer a lot.

A few weeks ago, I made macaroni and cheese. It was way too much for us, so I cut it into single-serving pieces and froze them. Now, I have a stash of macaroni and cheese for when I don’t feel like cooking. I think of how much better and cheaper I would have eaten when I was young, single, and living off Lean Cuisines. I could have cooked and frozen tasty and really healthy food instead.

The freezer is also great for taking advantage of bargains. Whenever the sandwich bread I like is half-price, about once every three months or so, I buy extra loaves and freeze them. (The secret to freezing bread is to put the entire unopened package in the freezer, then taking the entire unopened package out to thaw. If you do it slice-by-slice, you’ll end up with nasty freezer burn.) Why should I pay extra when it’s easy to stock up?

For more advanced cheapskates:

• Freeze old bananas for banana bread. Peel them first, because peeling frozen bananas is a big old hassle.

• Freeze bread heels and other leftover bits of bread to make into a bread-and-butter pudding. You can make it sweet or savory, depending on your needs.

• Throw vegetable trimmings in a plastic bag kept in the freezer. When it’s full, use them to make vegetable stock.

• Make a lot of tomato sauce and pesto with your garden produce, then freeze it to enjoy in the winter.

Food waste is a huge environmental problem, and using your freezer better can help you reduce your personal food waste while saving you a ton of money and reducing your reliance on heavily processed convenience food. It’s a triple win!

Plus, it’s such a nice surprise to find a delicious muffin or a slice of cake hidden in the freezer on a bad day.

Do you have any freezer tricks?