M. Suzanne Terry

One of the hideous, glorious things that come from having a well-stocked freezer. Getting good pictures for this series has been more difficult than I imagined it would be. It turns out that my favorite foods – the ones that are most nourishing and most tasty – are usually not much to look at.

Freezer space is a saving grace all on its own. Food lasts so much longer in the freezer than anywhere else. The freezer can help you plan months in advance. For example, I’m certain my mom already has some dessert we’ll see at Christmas already made and in the deep freeze.

I also like to freeze things like bread or cookie dough. One of the biggest deterrents to baking for me is getting all the stuff out and clearing a spot on the counter in the kitchen to put it all together. It seems like such a chore. So while I have all the stuff out already, I just make extra. It freezes beautifully (wrap tightly in plastic – store in something air-tight for extra protection), and then I have ready-made dough that I can thaw and bake without rearranging my whole tiny kitchen.

Freezing can also help you when plans go awry.

Sometimes, I go a little nuts with the meals. Maybe that’s not you. Maybe you always make the perfect amount of food and nothing goes to waste. Good work! I aspire to your level of self-control, but I’m not there yet.

Soup is my storage downfall. I start chopping vegetables, and I can’t seem to make myself stop. Then I have more soup than one person can possibly eat before it goes bad. I have to either find fourteen people to come over to eat with very little notice or I have to freeze the soup.

Freezing soup (or sauce…or lasagna…or whatever…) turns bad planning into good planning. Instead of having too much soup, I have a whole other future meal. Instead of wasting food, I have expanded it.

I meant to do that. Of course.

Having an extra freezer is even more wonderful. You can stock up on frozen staples when they’re on sale, saving you so much money in the long run. Although I don’t have an extra freezer yet, I like to practice for my future freezer with things like the locally-raised, pasture-fed ground beef that I buy. I don’t have a lot of freezer space, but I save some of it so that I don’t have to sacrifice quality for price.

How could you use your freezer space more efficiently?

I’m sharing my Epic Meal Planning strategies for Write 31 days – click to see the master list.