I am a huge advocate of freezing food. I have saved a lot of money over the last 30 years doing this. I will try freezing anything and have found that almost anything will freeze. As you said, you can freeze full meals, side dishes or ingredients. One of my favorite things to freeze is chopped garlic. I chop up a dozen or so heads in my food processor and lay the chopped garlic flat in a freezer bag. I can then break off however much I need. It saves a ton of time when I am cooking. I have never seen the freezer block before - it's genius. I am going to click your link and order one today!!
Hi Sophie! I finally received some souper cubes about a year ago after you highly recommended them. I asked for them as a gift and got both sizes and the ceramic dishes! I love everything about them! Right now I have some chicken zucchini orzo freezing for storage! I am going to say my favorite freezer meal at the moment is lasagna! So yummy and so perfectly portioned when you use the souper cube! I have a fantastic idea for your shop… T-shirts or some thing with the saying “file don’t pile!“!! I think of you all the time when I am organizing shirts and really anything! 🤩 FILE DON’T PILE 🤩
So happy you love them too Marcie! Can't go wrong with a freezer lasagna (one of Jim's favorite's too!) Wow, that is a genius idea, I'm going to have to think about that!
As a single lady I like to make family sized meals but freeze the leftovers. This gives me a variety of meals to choose to eat later in the month instead of saying it 4 nights in a row!
Love this. I freeze everything. My husband works 12 hour days so I like for him to have a hot lunch to take. I don't recall seeing you use those 2 c Souper Cubes b4. Those will be a game changer for me. Thanks so much for sharing, Sophie.
Hi Sophie! Our favorite freezer meal is chili! Our favorite storage is the Food Saver vacuum seal bags. We use the reusable Food Saver bags and the hand-held rechargeable sealer that removes all the air. They come in gallon and quart sizes.
That sounds great! I am going to buy that too. I love meal prepping but Im trying to find reusable but also something that will reduce freezer burn. This is it. Thanks again
The freezer is a busy cook's best friend! I love to freeze soups and stews, but I mostly freeze 2-person portions of side dishes that take a bit of time or effort to prepare like cooked beans, mashed potatoes, rice dishes, quinoa, farro, even steel-cut oatmeal. I'm also a huge fan of freezing ingredients like chopped scallions, garlic, and bell peppers. I really love my Souper Cubes - the 2 tpsp size is great for freezing cubes of leftover pesto, guacamole, tomato paste, wine, etc, etc, etc.
my husband and i are “dink”s (double income, no kids) and i find that we eat out a lot less frequently if i take the time each week to meal plan and prep. freezer meals are a life-saver and so cost-effective! my favorite is making a big tray of enchiladas and eating it for dinner and then we have a couple of lunches for the week, too. i have not had much success with soups, though. i always end up putting too much of the solids in the first few and the rest have too much liquid. lol enjoyed the video! thanks 😊
Ooo freezer enchiladas are so yummy. When it comes to food we are also basically dinks since Owen doesn't eat much yet! Saves me a lot of effort when work/life gets busy and we want one of our home cooked favorites
I'm a widow, so freezing in small portions is key for me. I'm going to check out the super cubes. Thank you for your wide variety of practical and informative videos!
Chili, spaghetti with sauce or just the spaghetti sauce. Foodsaver bags is mostly what we use with my husband being a hunter we make our own bacon, deer burger with a little pork, Italian sausage with deer meat, we make a few different things with it for us and our boys if they help us make it or help us do something around the house then we will send some home with them so it will help out with there grocery bills every little bit helps. We don't buy much meat at the grocery store
I like the small non-disposable pans from Dollar Tree. They're 7.5*7.5, which is half the area of a 13*9, so it's easy to split a recipe that's meant for 13*9 between 2 pans. That lets us have it freshly baked twice per recipe. I usually parchment line for easy cleanup, and put plastic wrap first, then foil to have it keep well in the freezer.
Thank you so much for these great tips! I am a widow so I have been having to re-learn how to prepare meals. These ideas and tools are giving me tips I can use. I love your channel!❤
I am sure that isn't an easy process. Freezer meals can easily be adapted and made for one or a few people but most of the content online is around making huge freezer meals in giant casserole dishes!
I’m so grateful for this video and also for the informative comments. I’m using the souper cube trays now since seeing them on your channel, Sophie, what a game changer. I’m interested in the gallon vessel item - don’t recall the name, but will check after I post - for soups. I have a raised garden bed with good things coming together to harvest. These freezer items, pricey but very practical, make better use of my chest freezer space. Following your way to organize the freezer, Sophie, I doubt if my food preparation will become lost as before. Thank you so much for your amazing ideas, Sophie and community - these ideas inspire me so please keep them coming! (e.g., freezing vegetables for optimum flavour when reheated; ideas for side dishes)
YAY so happy you tried them and love them like I do! Yes, save all of those precious garden goodies! Thanks for the sweet comment and wishing you the best of the luck with the freezing 😊
You can file them in order of what expires first in the youcopia freezer bin that she linked. I freeze meals as flat as possible so that they unthaw quickly. Since they are thin and flat they should line up in the bin nicely and I'll just know to eat the one in the front. Just bought the bin. I've been stacking by expiration. You could also keep a running list in a note on your phone.
How do you keep the meals from getting frost on them? I have never had luck with that. Even when I have taken a straw and try to suck the air out of the freezer bag!
I think one thing is to make sure whatever you freeze is cooled completely. I learned that many years ago and haven't had problems with frost since I started doing this. Hope this helps.
Yes!! I have a lot of success with just washing them in the dishwasher but if they need an extra clean and to be deodorized try 1) boil in hot water, 2) scrub with baking soda, 3) soak in 50/50 water vinegar mixture, 4) bake in the oven (the owner of souper cubes taught me this one)
I’m having the same problem. Mine smell of a carne asada marinade I prepped. It seems like all the tips and tricks don’t work 100%. Maybe my nose is just too good 🥴 these didn’t work well for me: oven, dishwashing, baking soda, or vinegar. I think dishwashing worked the best and the baking soda/vinegar didn’t do a thing
I bought those souper cubes a few months back after seeing you make some pre baby meals to have ready. Such a great idea and freezer meals are such a time saver when you are in a pinch.
Great tips! Unfortunately I live in south Florida and we lose power when hurricanes come through so I don’t keep much in my freezer during hurricane season.
Smart not to keep too much in there then, we had one of our refrigerators shut down when we were out of town and it was devastating to loos all of my freezer food!!
I thought this video was so awesome I told my mom about it, and she called flat freezer meals that are in bags or taken out of the freezer block “freezer fritters”. 😆
2:22 Herb Bombs! I put an assortment of herbs for one recipe in each cube with evoo and freeze a whole tray. Then pop them out put them in a bag. I make several variations for different types of recipes and then put all the bags in a sealed container in the freezer. Ready when I need them, take however many I want.
Sophie, this is by far the best, most complete video on freezer techniques! I discovered some new devices like the gallon zip lock freezer block stand-up container and the plastic freezer device that stands up portions of food like books! I already have the blue blocks...such a great help! Thanks again for putting out great and professional usable content.
I froze hot sauce in mine and they smelled after coming out of the dishwasher. I baked the bottom in the oven according to the instructions on the souper cubes website and the smell was gone.
This video was AMAZING!!!!! You were so thorough and I really appreciate the details and reviews of helpful products I would probably never otherwise find out about!! ❤
Thank you for your recommendation of Super Cubes. I began batch cooking decades before it was even mentioned.Early silicone was a bust but now that it has been perfected and I want to lessen my plastic usage I'm looking forward to the change. This old dog must keep changing with the times but only when it is logical and this is.
I love these silicone soup containers. But the ceramic ramekins are smaller and the frozen meal won’t fit in them. Any suggestion of a ramekin that will accommodate the prepared meal? Thank you so much for all the information
I’m learning how to freeze meals to help out my elderly parents. I have been using plastic meal prep containers but maybe the freezer block would be a better option. Also I am wondering about freezing things like scrambled eggs and pancakes….is that recommended? What are your thoughts on those machines that remove the air?
They are a bit pricy. I have seen a few sales throughout the year, I think on their website they may have a pop up for 10% off or something for first time customers. Maybe black friday time they will have another sale.
It s an awful lot of resources to freeze food when it takes five to ten minutes to make a breakfast sandwich in the am....I never understand using two products no three to freeze a breakfast sandwich you can make fresh in the am....
