My Mom, who is 95, remembers what it was like without refrigeration. Growing up, her family had an icebox. She came from a family of nine and sometimes after dinner, one of her brothers would go to the neighborhood grocery store to buy a quart of ice cream that her father would then cut into nine equal pieces.
While I was growing up we had a large upright freezer and when my husband and I bought our home 36 years ago I was delighted to find that it came with a fairly new upright freezer. That freezer is still going strong and is my favorite appliance. With the kids now grown it's essential to preserving what we can't readily eat.
My key to using this freezer is to let it get almost empty in early summer when we defrost it. We carefully clean it at that time and then it's ready to stock again. We get a CSA share of produce and anything that we can't eat in a week gets processed in some way and frozen.
Sorry for the long reply, but your post about this struck a nerve!
These are wonderful memories, Karen. Thank you! My mom’s big ole chest freezer needed defrosting too. When they sold the house, the freezer stayed in it. I’ve often wondered if that freezer is still running.
Favorite late night summer memories: watching Johnny Carson, windows open, crickets cricketing, I'm the only one up, and I get frozen homemade cookies out of the freezer and eat MANY in a row. The crunchy cold sweetness of it, every crumb delicious in solitude, was the essence of a summer's night. Great post.
I’ve got a Meyer lemon tree and a key lime tree here in Florida and I freeze the juice in ice cube trays and then store the cubes in baggies for later use. I also include zest in some of the trays too.
Lucky you, Sara! I would love Key lime juice at the ready. Anytime citrus comes into season for the rest of us outside of FL, this is a great suggestion to squeeze extra juice and freeze it.
I could not live without my freezers. I buy at Costco and freeze ground chuck in 8 oz portions, but I also also buy at the store when meats are on sale and freeze individually as soon as I get home. I wrap in stretch-tite plastic wrap, then put in gallon ziplock freezer bags, label the date and what it is, and freeze. Summers are for freezing corn off the cob and beans and peas from my local farm stand. Lunchboxes—I freeze my homemade oatmeal bread in 2 slices per Ziplock sandwich bag, put these in gallon Ziplock freezer bags and I’m ready to grab out of the freezer when sending lunch. I do the same with homemade cookies, 2 per bag and then in gallon bags ready to send. Other cookies are in plastic containers ready to go when a friend has a need. I won’t even get into shrimp from beach trips, spaghetti sauce and other casseroles, leftovers—my freezers are a grocery store for me! Thank you for your tips.
I use my freezer for so much like you. I make 20 qts. of tomato sauce and portion it into tupperware in serving sizes. I do the same with 20 qts. of chicken and beef broth. I will spend a day making pasta and freeze ravioli on trays and then bag them and put them in large tupperware containers. I dry the noodles and then freeze them also.
I freeze large bags of nuts and use them as needed and all my flours.
When living in the north, I used to freeze a lot of my herbs with oil, in ice cube trays, some just chopped as parsley in small containers to take out what you need. I make a ton of compound herb butters, rolled into logs, labeled, dated. I then have them to take out as needed to serve on grilled fish etc, or use in other ways.
I also freeze pie crusts ahead in discs and even in pie pans if I am going to use them sooner. And I have frozen fruit pies also. Just a few of the ideas I can think of. Hope some of these ideas are new and useful for you. Thanks again.
Adele, you better be careful because we all want to move in with you! My word! You are the real Martha. Thank you for your tips and inspiration to get up off the sofa and get stocking the freezer! ❤️
Thanks Anne for your kind words. I grew up in an Italian family whom used the freezer for so much and I just continued the tradition. I could not live without a freezer. Thank God, my husband got a small generator after loosing a lot of food to an electric outage in Ohio once. This past month with the Beril outage in Houston, the generator saved everything. I no longer store as much, as I am near 80 and not much familly left, but still use it for the things I listed. Forgot to mention that when my kids were home, I always froze leftover pancakes, waffles and french toast, to make an easy breakfast before leaving for school. Sure hope my ideas help some with using this great appliance.
It’s a butter, sugar, egg pie with the addition of a little flour or cornmeal to thicken it, depending on where you live and what’s available. It was among the first desperation pies as they were called, using pantry ingredients. But nothing desperate about it. DELICIOUS! Our family makes a cake version of that pie. Much like a blondie. So good.
Such an interesting post! Freezer lockers are another fascinating thing to study. If you're interested in learning more, I have a podcast episode all about the use of freezer lockers during WWII which you can access on my Substack Victory Kitchen Podcast.
One thing for freezing I'd recommend are Dutch Freeze containers. They're made of a special plastic that doesn't have the risk of shattering. They're great for freezing soup stock or jam and lots of other things!
My Mom, who is 95, remembers what it was like without refrigeration. Growing up, her family had an icebox. She came from a family of nine and sometimes after dinner, one of her brothers would go to the neighborhood grocery store to buy a quart of ice cream that her father would then cut into nine equal pieces.
While I was growing up we had a large upright freezer and when my husband and I bought our home 36 years ago I was delighted to find that it came with a fairly new upright freezer. That freezer is still going strong and is my favorite appliance. With the kids now grown it's essential to preserving what we can't readily eat.
My key to using this freezer is to let it get almost empty in early summer when we defrost it. We carefully clean it at that time and then it's ready to stock again. We get a CSA share of produce and anything that we can't eat in a week gets processed in some way and frozen.
Sorry for the long reply, but your post about this struck a nerve!
These are wonderful memories, Karen. Thank you! My mom’s big ole chest freezer needed defrosting too. When they sold the house, the freezer stayed in it. I’ve often wondered if that freezer is still running.
Favorite late night summer memories: watching Johnny Carson, windows open, crickets cricketing, I'm the only one up, and I get frozen homemade cookies out of the freezer and eat MANY in a row. The crunchy cold sweetness of it, every crumb delicious in solitude, was the essence of a summer's night. Great post.
Mary, right there with you. Frozen homemade cookies are the best. They don’t stay frozen long. Your description is poetry. Thank you!
Welcome! 😄
I’ve got a Meyer lemon tree and a key lime tree here in Florida and I freeze the juice in ice cube trays and then store the cubes in baggies for later use. I also include zest in some of the trays too.
Lucky you, Sara! I would love Key lime juice at the ready. Anytime citrus comes into season for the rest of us outside of FL, this is a great suggestion to squeeze extra juice and freeze it.
I could not live without my freezers. I buy at Costco and freeze ground chuck in 8 oz portions, but I also also buy at the store when meats are on sale and freeze individually as soon as I get home. I wrap in stretch-tite plastic wrap, then put in gallon ziplock freezer bags, label the date and what it is, and freeze. Summers are for freezing corn off the cob and beans and peas from my local farm stand. Lunchboxes—I freeze my homemade oatmeal bread in 2 slices per Ziplock sandwich bag, put these in gallon Ziplock freezer bags and I’m ready to grab out of the freezer when sending lunch. I do the same with homemade cookies, 2 per bag and then in gallon bags ready to send. Other cookies are in plastic containers ready to go when a friend has a need. I won’t even get into shrimp from beach trips, spaghetti sauce and other casseroles, leftovers—my freezers are a grocery store for me! Thank you for your tips.
Thank you Nancy! Love how your organize for lunches with homemade bread! ❤️
Great and unexpected tip on bagged/boxed salad cool storage.
Side note: why do people refrigerate potatoes?? I can’t tell you how many times I had this conversation with my dad…
Thanks Amie! I think they stick them in the fridge to get them out of sight.
The Silk pie sounds great. Did you double the chocolate in the recipe, or do we add that tip ourselves?
I doubled it from the original!
Love the tips, French Silk Pie looks so good, Anne!
Thanks Jolene. It is so yummy. Love a pie that’s made and in the fridge.
Hi Anne, thank you for your many great ideas.
I use my freezer for so much like you. I make 20 qts. of tomato sauce and portion it into tupperware in serving sizes. I do the same with 20 qts. of chicken and beef broth. I will spend a day making pasta and freeze ravioli on trays and then bag them and put them in large tupperware containers. I dry the noodles and then freeze them also.
I freeze large bags of nuts and use them as needed and all my flours.
When living in the north, I used to freeze a lot of my herbs with oil, in ice cube trays, some just chopped as parsley in small containers to take out what you need. I make a ton of compound herb butters, rolled into logs, labeled, dated. I then have them to take out as needed to serve on grilled fish etc, or use in other ways.
I also freeze pie crusts ahead in discs and even in pie pans if I am going to use them sooner. And I have frozen fruit pies also. Just a few of the ideas I can think of. Hope some of these ideas are new and useful for you. Thanks again.
Adele
Adele, you better be careful because we all want to move in with you! My word! You are the real Martha. Thank you for your tips and inspiration to get up off the sofa and get stocking the freezer! ❤️
Thanks Anne for your kind words. I grew up in an Italian family whom used the freezer for so much and I just continued the tradition. I could not live without a freezer. Thank God, my husband got a small generator after loosing a lot of food to an electric outage in Ohio once. This past month with the Beril outage in Houston, the generator saved everything. I no longer store as much, as I am near 80 and not much familly left, but still use it for the things I listed. Forgot to mention that when my kids were home, I always froze leftover pancakes, waffles and french toast, to make an easy breakfast before leaving for school. Sure hope my ideas help some with using this great appliance.
Adele
Thank you for the helpful refrigerator and freezer tips.
I take them for granted. We’ve all got our tips and tricks. What about you?
Thanks I’ll have to try it one day
You will love it.
What’s a chess pie?
It’s a butter, sugar, egg pie with the addition of a little flour or cornmeal to thicken it, depending on where you live and what’s available. It was among the first desperation pies as they were called, using pantry ingredients. But nothing desperate about it. DELICIOUS! Our family makes a cake version of that pie. Much like a blondie. So good.
Such an interesting post! Freezer lockers are another fascinating thing to study. If you're interested in learning more, I have a podcast episode all about the use of freezer lockers during WWII which you can access on my Substack Victory Kitchen Podcast.
One thing for freezing I'd recommend are Dutch Freeze containers. They're made of a special plastic that doesn't have the risk of shattering. They're great for freezing soup stock or jam and lots of other things!