Cheerful Frugality Freezes On Top
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I've been eagerly watching the "30 Days of Nothing" experiments gathered by Mary at Owlhaven. I don't know about you, but my best work always comes within creative limits.
As part of her participation, Kim C. from Life In A Shoe shares a cheerfully frugal take on an unreliable chest freezer. By processing meats for the top freezer alone, she saves both time and space.
We've always made do with a refrigerator freezer, but it's never been as packed with convenience food as it has during this pregnancy. It's amazing how much room boxes and bags take up, compared to homemade frozen meals!
Even if you can't afford a stand-alone freezer, you can still save money with space planning. After all, there's no use cooling a second unit if half your existing freezer is wasted with "boxed air" and packaging.
A few frugal staples you'll always find in my freezer include:
- Kroger 10/$10 frozen bags of peas, gumbo vegetables, and mixed peppers and onions.
- Generic orange juice concentrate for flavorings and drinks.
- Pre-browned ground beef gets used 2x as often as frozen raw chunks.
For great links, peek inside the Momadvice freezer here.
Frugality Explored shares some efficiency tips, like how to freeze casseroles when you only have 2 pans.
The Common Room offers 2 takes on what to do with 10+ pounds of chicken.
What is your frugal freezer strategy? Do you pack it all above the refrigerator, or the extra energy worth a second unit to your family? Do you find it better to freeze single ingredients (beef, vegetables) or completed meals?
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6 Responses to “Cheerful Frugality Freezes On Top”
September 22nd, 2008 at 8:46 am
For us, a second freezer is non-negotable. My folks raise beef and we get it by the half or whole. Here at home we usually have a freezer full of beef or whole chickens or sometimes lamb. We actually have a second freezer 600 miles away at my folks. We bought it and pay for the electricty so we can store what we can’t make in the trip home.
I keep both single ingredients and whole meals. But it varies by season. Right now, it’s singles.
Hope you’re feeling well!
September 23rd, 2008 at 8:43 pm
Great post! I visited each and every one of those links.
We only have the freezer-on-top. I do some bulk-shopping and storage of meat and other items, and some bulk-cooking (double a recipe, put half in the freezer usually). With an additional freezer, we might do more. I’m thinking of digging an old chest freezer out of my parents’ garage.
September 24th, 2008 at 7:23 pm
I only have a top-of-the-fridge freezer. I have become pretty good at using every possible inch of space. We have four kids and only grocery shop once a month, so I haven’t had much choice but to learn to make everything fit. I also make as many freezer meals as possible during the first week of the month. I posted about this recently and you can see what I made, and how I squeezed it all in, here:
http://asimplewalk.blogspot.com/2008/09/five-days-for-freezer.html
September 25th, 2008 at 1:10 pm
We actually have 2 of the smaller freezers plus the fridge. We bought one of the small ones initally and then my MIL was getting rid of hers and we took it also. In my fridge(freezer) we have toster strudels, fast foods, things like that. In one freezer we have fruits and veggies, and in the other we have meats. I have a list on top of each freezer (in one of those protective sheets) that lists everything in the freezer and my hubby duct taped a pen to the freezer. That way we always know what we have on hand. We also have lists on the pantry too…….lol.
October 7th, 2008 at 9:12 am
Just want to point you to an easy way to brown up a lot of hamburger:
http://www.recipezaar.com/321884
I stole the idea from a friend of mine and posted it on ‘zaar. It’s come in handy when I find sale-priced hamburger.
Jora
May 4th, 2009 at 8:03 am
I bought 6 square nonstick cake pans on sale @ 50% off with some of my freezer savings years ago. Frozen entrees pop out easily, and they fit in a gallon ziplock, or in my square glass baking dish for microwaving.
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