Sanitizing groceries has been a new routine for me nowadays .
Before I do that today, I am going to have a cup of coffee first.
Just a little break for me...
because I am finally going to clean and organize my freezer today
Freezer - the place for wise consuming, not for stocki ng up.
Let’s start with meat.
I am going to use freezer paper (I sometimes use parchment paper too)
I don’t buy bacon often but I use it for fried rice or brunch.
As I go out for groceries not as often as before, I grabbed two packs of bacon today.
Let’s pack it for individual use.
Roll them together.
It would be easier to roll individual slice one by one,
but then you would have to use more freezer papers, so I prefer rolling 3 or 4 slices together
I am going to refrigerate a few slices as I will be cooking them tomorrow.
Next is beef that I cut into small pieces for making soup or stew.
Let’s pack them by individual uses.
Try to wrap them by pressing out any air as you seal them.
Put the wrapped beef into a freezer container.
I am going to put frozen shrimps into a freezer container too.
I often buy bananas as my daughter loves them.
I usually wait for bananas to have black spots which means the banana is at the peak of its sweetness and nutrition.
But soon, they become too mushy and ripe.
I am going to freeze some before they are too ripe so I can make banana smoothies instead.
Let’s cut lemons after baking soda and vinegar wash.
I am going to squeeze lemons.
Then transfer the squeezed lemon juice into an ice cube tray.
Freeze it for a day.
I like to put a frozen lemon cube in sparkling water.
I also like to freeze strawberries and blueberries into an ice cube tray
When you freeze them in an ice cube tray, they are not sticking together as a big chunk.
I found a bag of rice cake that was at the bottom of my freezer drawer.
I didn’t know it was there. I just found that the packaging was even ripped =P
If I organized my freezer more neatly, I would have known that it was there, and consumed earlier.
My husband went grocery shopping during quarantines, and I didn’t even realize he had bought Dduk-bok-ee rice cakes.
It is not just me who opened the freezer grabbing the chaotic mess of various bags without knowing what is inside…..right? =P
In order to not buy what I already have in the freezer,
I gotta remember that my freezer is a place for wise consuming, not stocking up in chaos.
I used to buy a small stalk of broccoli.
This time, as I shopped at Costco, it is a huge bulk of broccoli.
I blanched the broccoli florets and froze them.
As I bought a bulk, I had to use more vinyl bags to store them.
Nowadays I tend to buy in bulk as I can't go out for grocery shopping as often as before.
But at least I am trying to use reusable containers and avoid using vinyl bags to freeze and store them.
Let’s put anchovy for broth into a freezer container too.
I use crumbs of dried shrimps for broth.
Let’s put jujube into a freezer container too.
I pre-cut kelp into small pieces so it is easier to take out one individual piece when making a broth.
My husband bought a variety of hot peppers when he went for grocery shopping =P
Let’s put them in a freezer container altogether.
I washed green onions (scallions) and removed water completely before cutting.
It would be best to buy a small amount of fresh ones and consume quickly.
But at least freezing would be the best option to store them longer in our new normal life.
I try not to throw away
I found that frozen green onions are actually not too bad when making soup or stew.
Let’s combine all dumplings from several opened bags into one freezer container.
I am going to prepare black beans for rice.
My daughter does not like undercooked black beans in rice.
So I always try to soak them in water as much as I can.
When cooking in rush, I often leave out black beans since they need to be soaked for few hours
When I prep and freeze fully soaked black beans in a freezer tray, I don't get to leave out black beans
Let’s freeze soaked black beans.
This silicone freezer tray, which I used to use when making baby food, is the perfect size for freezing black beans.
I froze quinoa and red lentils in the same way (soak and freeze)
Let’s put one cube of each.
Sometimes it can be time-consuming to do all these preps,
but I am trying to make healthy rice for my family.
A cup of coffee became a must nowadays for me.
I am going to make coffee cubes for ice coffee.
Let’s freeze it for a day.
Ta-da!
I am going to make a label for each freezer container.
Don’t forget to write the prep date too.
The freezer that was all emptied….
There are things you can see only after emptying it.
I always thought that my freezer has a tiny space.
I somehow found it to be soothing to see a nicely organized freezer with a blank space.
Now I see that I used to use so many vinyls, ziplocs, and plastic bags in my freezer.
I am going to reuse them in other places.