what's in your freezer?

[ulysses]

We're getting a dedicated freezer and I'm curious about what our DU gourmands have on ice.

[arcadian]

1. ice cubes

[ulysses]

9. adventurous.

;-)

[arcadian]

30. I'm livin on the edge, baby!

[MajorChode]

2. Coffee, vodka, ice cubes, various meats, fruits and veggies

I never felt the need for a dedicated freezer. I figure once mine fills up it's time to stop buying new stuff at the grocery store.

[pokerfan]

72. Coffee?!

Oh noes!

[MajorChode]

75. I buy coffee 2 lbs at a time. One lb goes into the freezer

It takes me about 2 weeks to go through a lb of coffee. Sometimes less.

[pokerfan]

76. oh

I guess that's your only alternative if you can't buy fresh roast more frequently. Has its http://coffeegeek.com/forums/coffee/questions/399961">downside though.

[MajorChode]

77. The jury is still out on that one

Many people have many different theories. I believe freezing coffee is not a bad thing if done correctly.

The reason why is because the biggest enemy to roasted coffee is oxidation over time. As this is simply a chemical process, freezing slows down that process. When I buy coffee from a roaster, I buy it in two separate 1 lb bags. One bag goes into the freezer still sealed immediately when I receive it. The other bag I may use right away or I may let it degas for a day or two depending on when it was roasted and what my left over coffee supplies are like. After I use the first bag, the 2nd bag comes out of the freezer never to return. Now is the 2nd bag as good as the first? No, but it's better than if I had left it in the cupboard for 2 weeks (which I have verified through trial and error). All of this is pretty easy to verify because I use almost all of my coffee for espresso which is pretty unforgiving of coffee which is less than optimum.

So while I won't buy 10 lbs of coffee and put 9 of them in the freezer, I will buy 2 and put one in the freezer. This cuts my shipping costs nearly in half.

Sometimes I will avoid these problems altogether and roast my own, but I prefer professionally roasted coffee.

[NMDemDist2]

3. what's left of a side of beef (locally raised and range fed)

veggies
bread/buns/rolls
butter
20 pounds of flour in 5# sacks from a sale
yeast
Tombstone Pizza
Stoffers Lasagna
three quarts of assorted homemade soup
two homemade meatloafs (I make 4 at a time and freeze em)
and ice cream :evilgrin:


oh, and a box of assorted batteries

[old mark]

4. We have a small half size freezer, and we go to a farmer/butcher

and buy a large order of various kinds of meat every few months. It saves us a lot and we know the meat is very good quality.
The other freezer above the fridge has various kinds of popsicles, frozen bread dough and pie shells,plant and flower seeds and several kinds of batteries in it.

mark

[ulysses]

10. I'm thinking about doing that re: the meat.

Hoping for a good garden year, too.

[old mark]

51. Yeah! We are ordering some kind of boxes to grow vegies on our patio

where they won't get eaten by groundhogs.

Buying the meat works well for us - lasts a long time, and we find we plan meals more (because of thaw out time) and have better meals and eat less junk.

We don't buy ANY processed frozed food/pre made meals at all.

mark

[Left Is Write]

5. In the chest freezer in the garage -

we have a bunch of meat (pork roast, beef roast, several steaks, ground sausage, ground beef, chicken, turkey, and at least one ham), pizza, ice cream, veggies, homemade stock, chicken nuggets, canned orange juice, hash browns, and probably some other stuff.

In the freezer section of the beer fridge in the garage is nothing. The beer fridge contains beer (duh!), pop, wine that needs to be cold, a couple extra cartons of eggs, the extra cartons of milk, and some margarita mix.

In the freezer section of the indoor fridge are some hot dogs, several packages of cranberries, ice, and various planned leftovers (chili, spaghetti sauce, sloppy joe meat, soup, that sort of thing).

[kimmerspixelated]

6. Hopefully not a dead squirrel.

[RagAss]

7. Vodka and Frozen Pizza !

[Jamastiene]

74. I want to move in with you.

Your freezer has the best goods so far. :thumbsup:

[trof]

8. I have no idea. Stuff.

Miz t. would rather I not go there.

Typical exchange:
"Where's the ground beef?"
"In the freezer."
"Where in the freezer?"
"I'll get it."

My observations:
There is no 'filing system'.
Meat is on top of veggies underneath pizza dough on the same shelf.
And if it's not in its original package it's just in a white and frosty baggie and you can't tell what the hell it is.
But Miz t. knows.
I guess she keeps it in her head.

And...the stuff is NEVER stacked level.
There's always something in the back that makes the whole pile off kilter and slanted toward the front.
So that if you break the whole frozen glacier and move one thing, all the stuff in that pile comes spilling out on the floor.

She's right.
I don't go there.

Good luck, buddy.
;-)

[ulysses]

11. heh! that's our side freezer now.

:D

[crimsonblue]

12. A couple of cats, parts of a dead hooker..

You have to throw them away in pieces... it's less noticeable that way... Although, it's a little awkward when guests get ice and see a femur in the icebox.

[ulysses]

14. see, everyone here has a more interesting life than I do.

x(

[trof]

29. Which 'parts'?

Just curious about which ones you save.
;-)

[texanwitch]

34. You are right about the pieces.

My neighbor was a large guy, he wouldn't fit any other way.

[kedrys]

13. Vodka, wings, and flour

Vodka that pours like syrup, NOT ice, when used. :P

Wings because sometimes I need a snack.

Flour because why not? Bugs can't get to it there.

Maybe ice cubes, but I'd have to check.

[crimsonblue]

15. Flour???

Why not just get a tight sealing container? A freezer seems like overkill.

[kedrys]

50. Um, yeah, but I'm lazy.

:rofl: My tupperware objects seem to have thinned out greatly over the years, for some inexplicable reason.

[Zomby Woof]

16. Don't tell Nini

But I went to the store just now and purchased 2 pints of Ben & Jerry's for us.

Chubby Hubby for her, and Willie Nelson's Country Peach Cobbler for me. :D

[ulysses]

19. wouldn't dream of it.

:D :hi:

[grace0418]

17. I've been buying stuff on sale and freezing it.

Turkey italian sausage was BOGO so I bought a bunch. I made a bunch of mini meatballs that I can drop in soup or pasta sauce. The rest I left as whole sausages but wrapped up in portion sizes so we don't have to thaw a whole package for one meal.

One thing I've learned... Take stuff out of packages and wrap it up tight in parchment and plastic wrap. It takes up far less room and doesn't get freezer burned. I just cut out the label and wrap it up with the item, then recycle the packaging.

[GoneOffShore]

18. Here you go

Lamb steaks, lamb cubes, ground lamb, duck fat, duck breasts, spaghetti sauce, Trader Joe's Puff Pastry, Trader Joe's Tarte Alsacienne, Bols Hollands gin, limoncello, a couple of flavored vodkas, a couple of frozen soups, some black peppercorns and six shot glasses. And frozen peas.

[KitchenWitch]

20. We have a gigundo chest freezer

We have a lot of things in there.

Pre made meatloafs (several)
Pre made Chili (several meals worth)
Pre made Bean Soup (three meals worth)
Pre made Pea Soup (three meals worth)
Frozen pizzas (several - they do not fit in our side by side in the kitchen)
Frozen vegetables
Frozen peaches
Frozen strawberries
Frozen grocery store entrees
plastic milk jugs full of water (to use as ice in the cooler)
Frozen chicken
Frozen pork roast
Frozen beef foast
Ice cream

[MrPerson]

21. Ann Coulter's head.

OK Just kidding.

[ulysses]

23. the best part of this reply

is that you edited it to reassure me that you really didn't have Coulter's head in the freezer. :D

[SalmonChantedEvening]

25. Delete - dupe

Meant to post this to the OP :hide:

[TK421]

40. That should keep the freezer pretty cold on its own

and when you have an obnoxious guest over, whip out her head and turn them to stone with it

[texanwitch]

22. We have two freezers.

One is really big and the other is much smaller.

I find it at Sears for a really cheap price, right now it is empty.

The big one has meat, stuff from garden, dewberry juice for jelly, and parts of a neighbor.

[ulysses]

26. it's the frozen neighbors and hookers

that restore my faith in DU. :D

[texanwitch]

31. This neighbor wasn't really very nice,

He always yelling at the kids and animals to get off his lawn.

His wife is very nice.

[ulysses]

32. probably freezer-burned.

Try gravy.

[texanwitch]

38. I am thinking a long slow smoking would do it.

Got the idea from that movie, Fried Green tomatoes.

[KitchenWitch]

41. The secret's in the sauce!

:P

[texanwitch]

42. You are so right.

I make a mean bbq sauce.

[mitchum]

24. Walt Disney

the rumors are true

[SalmonChantedEvening]

27. The secret recipe for Coca-Cola

Oh for the love of. Dammit dammit dammit.

They're gonna have my ass for this.

[Dystopian]

28. 2 large marrow bones for my son's dog.

That's it.

He lives next door. Rescue dog.:D


peace~

[Roon]

33. about 25lbs. of elk meat eom

[ulysses]

36. no neighbors?

Girly man. :7

[Roon]

39. lol. too funny.

[Midlodemocrat]

35. Remains of my first and second husbands.

[ulysses]

37. how much remained?

[texanwitch]

44. Just cook them and invite your Republican neighbors over.

That is what we do.

Cook something else for your Democratic friends.

[deoxyribonuclease]

43. shrimp, muffins, mixed veggies, chicken gizzards

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

45. VODKA AND ICE CUBES

Oh, I suppose you mean food...

Frozen halibut steaks
An absurd quantity of organic chicken breasts
An even more absurd quantity of oatmeal
steam in the bag vegetables
spanikopita
Trader Joe's Mac & Cheese
Individual quiches
Frozen organic blueberries
Frozen Organic strawberries (ick)
Wild salmon
Jalapeno poppers

[Taverner]

46. Vodka is good food

:shrug:

[GOPisEvil]

47. The heads and hearts of those I have vanquished.

:)

[ulysses]

52. hey, it's valentine's.

Thaw those suckers out! :D

[SacredCow]

48. Jagermeister (not mine), Vodka (mine).....

martini glasses, ice cubes, harvest burgers of various flavors, and misc. frozen entrees...

[ulysses]

53. heh, Jager.

:hangover:

[KamaAina]

49. About half of a pint of Haagen-Dazs and three Zippy's frozen chilis

the ice cream is dulce de leche; Zippy's is a local chain of diner-like places known island-wide for its chili, generally served over rice.

[fizzgig]

54. not a whole lot

a few pork chops, some catfish, a bit of chicken and a few bags of veggies. we're not terribly exciting here.

[hippywife]

55. I only have the one atop my fridge but

I have crammed in there still lots of fresh blackberries that I picked last summer and sliced fresh strawberries and corn that I blanched and cut from the cob. Also lots of cranberries (I stock up during the holidays so I can have them all year to bake with.) I still have a chunk of the Christmas ham, a couple of salmon patties, chicken backs to make stock with, bananas that went soft so I can use them for banana cakes, assorted frozen veggies, the stale ends of homemade bread to make bread crumbs with. That's about the majority of what's in there at the moment. When I get my coop order next week, it will have a whole large chicken, two pounds of ground beef, and a rib-eye steak in it, too. :9

[ifuseekamy]

56. Trader Joe's mango chunks and organic wild blueberries!

For soy mylk smoothies...mmm...

[prolesunited]

57. Still have some produce

from the summer. Best investment ever in cutting down the food bill.

Spend a little extra every month for awhile and then just shop the best sales every week and use coupons. We cut our food bill by about 40% without getting too crazy and anal about it. Also, make double batches of stuff so you'll always have something quick and easy when you're feeling lazy. It's much cheaper and you don't have all the salt and additives of the prepackaged crap.

[ulysses]

58. that's what I'm hoping to do.

re: the food bill. That plus I already tend to make too much when I cook.

[prolesunited]

59. I'm lucky in that I have a lot of competing

grocery stores within 10 to 15 miles of my house. I sit down with the ads, make lists and organize my coupons and then just make the rounds. It's not that much work when you get used to it and like I said, it's made a huge difference.

You might want to start a price book for your most common items so you get an idea of what's a good deal and what's a really good deal. You'll also get an idea of the cycles of the stores so you know how much you need before the next sale.

Also, do you have a garden? Even if you just do a few patio plants, nothing beats it for taste.

[datasuspect]

60. mom

[Lars39]

61. Hope you're getting an upright freezer...those chest type freezers

are way to easy to lose stuff. Sure they may be a little easier on the electric bill, but I think the savings are lost because of forgotten food that has to be chucked.

[ulysses]

63. it is an upright.

8.5 cubic feet - not the mother of all freezers, but I suspect it'll be about right.

[Lars39]

That's a good size.

I use plastic baskets from Dollar General to help organize mine.:hi:

[whistler162]

62. What or Who?

Lots of marked down meat and half filled bottles of frozen water to keep the cold up and electric bill down.

[ulysses]

65. who - I'm detecting a theme here.

:D Why I didn't expect that asking this crowd this question, I don't know.

Do bottles of frozen water actually work to help keep it cold?

[whistler162]

69. They seem to and if they don't it is a source for

emergency water if needed.

[Turbineguy]

64. Dove bars

and a few other basics.

[sakabatou]

66. Frozen fruit and fake beef

And ice packs.

[Phentex]

67. veggies, meats, soups, easter candy, sauce...

butter, beef broth, a snowball from years ago... :)

[ulysses]

68. love the snowball.

:D

[Phentex]

70. you're in Ga, too...

It's so rare my kids SAVE the darn snow! :)

[ulysses]

71. heh - my son thought the snow we got a year ago last month

was cheese. :D

[pokerfan]

73. venison and other meats

frozen pizza, frozen waffles, frozen egg rolls and some sea bass I caught last summer.

[ulysses]

79. that guy doesn't look too fresh.

Puts me in mind of this guy.

http://www.smh.com.au/ffximage/2007/11/07/mummy_wideweb__470x359,0.jpg

[La Lioness Priyanka]

78. mostly meat. some fish and seafood. some veggies