More uses for the freezer or how to think in the box.
More uses for the freezer. Freezers are an integral part of reducing the cost of food over a long period of time. The family freezer allows a family to buy when prices are low and store it until it is needed. It reduces our fuel consumption by allowing items that are used frequently to be stored in quantity reducing short trips to the store for a single item. Freezers, whether they are an upright or chest type are a handy item to have. But how can they be used in other ways to expand their usefulness.
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Tomatoes
The freezer can be used to prepare certain vegetables for storage during harvest times. Tomatoes can be taken 
straight from the garden to the freezer for later use in such things as chiles, stews, and sauces. An added bonus is that the skin of the tomato will slip off easily when it is thawed. All tomatoes processed in this way are for cooking only where the shape or texture is not important. Once frozen, tomatoes cannot be used the same as fresh. This is due to the texture change caused by freezing.
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The Bell Pepper
The bell pepper can also be frozen for later use but it will need some processing before freezing. Remove the stems, seeds, and any ribs before freezing. I usually cut them into large pieces after stem, seed and rib removal. Then I place them on cookie sheets or pizza pans whichever is at hand. They must be dry so that as they freeze they will not stick to the cookie sheet or pizza pan. Once the peppers are frozen I gather them into bags for long-term storage. Again peppers processed in this way are for cooking use where the texture or shape is not important in your recipe. It’s a pretty nice feeling to gather some of last summer’s peppers for a chile or casserole in late winter.
Cheeses, Butter, Coffees, and Nuts
Cheese is a good candidate for freezing, but only if you intend to use it for cooking. The texture will change from freezing. So I would not recommend eating it fresh after freezing. Cheese cooked after freezing has the same texture and taste as fresh. It will keep for later cooking for a very long time(store near the bottom of the freezer). I found an overlooked package in my freezer that was several years old. It cooked and tasted the same as my newer stash.
Butter and margarine(stick type) can be stored in the freezer for long periods of time. I purchase them in the holiday season when the prices seem the lowest and use them for the rest of the year.
Coffee is another good candidate for freezing. It will help keep it fresh much longer.
Nuts are always in my freezer. I purchase nuts in the fall harvest time and use them the rest of the year. Again these are for cooking only, not eating like fresh nuts.
Flours and Pasta
If you have ever bought milled products or pasta for long-term storage you may have run into this problem. After long-term storage, you start to use your product only to find that there has been a bloom of weevils inside your sealed container. 
An additional use that the freezer is especially good at is the removal of potential insect infestations in milled products or pasta. Freezing the product when you get it home will ensure that those little critters will not survive. You only need to freeze these products for about a week to remove any chance of survival.
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There are more things that can be added to your freezer. It just takes some thinking inside the box and getting more uses for the freezer.
For additional Info on Freezer safe practices.
Related Article: Defrosting the Chest freezer
“Congelatore” by Tiefkuehlfan – Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons.
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