The Well-Stocked Freezer

A huge part of home keeping consists of keeping a well-stocked and efficiently-run kitchen. I have seen so many articles discussing the pantry and what you should have on hand, meals made exclusively from it's contents and how to organize it, so I thought it would be fun to focus on another area of storage; the freezer.

The following list chronicles the contents of mine when it is well-stocked, and affords me many wonderful things to eat no matter what the situation.

1. A stash of breakfast foods.

When making pancakes, I normally take the leftovers, spread them out on a cooling rack, and when frozen solid I put them all into a gallon-sized freezer bag. Remember, they must be frozen individually or they'll turn into one giant pancake slab! To reheat, I put a couple into my toaster oven and "toast" until thawed and warm. If I'm short on time, about 20 seconds in the microwave brings them back to life. **This works wonderfully with the banana pancake recipe I posted previously **

I also like to make & store French toast this way. I'll normally make an entire loaf's worth, again freezing the slices individually on a cooling rack. Then, I stack the pieces together and put them back into the original bread bag. Essentially I am left with a "loaf" of French toast. Again, a couple of minutes in the toaster oven is all it takes to thaw and warm any number of slices my hungry family needs.

Smoothie ingredients are also nice to have on hand. You can buy bags of frozen berries in the store to have them available always. Those, coupled with some frozen sliced bananas (the ones that got too over-ripe in your fruit bowl) and some yogurt in ice cube trays (the stuff you bought on sale absolutely sure that you would eat a dozen cartons before they went bad) make a delicious breakfast beverage. Simply toss some fruit, the banana slices, and a couple of yogurt cubes into a blender with a splash of milk, and you have a smoothie!

Muffins also freeze extremely well. Just pop a few in a baggie and put them in. Another quick defrost in the microwave and a hot, homemade breakfast is on the table in 30 seconds.

2. Low Maintenance Lunches

I have so many recipes for soup that I absolutely adore! Creamy potato-cheese and cream of tomato are my favorites and I always make an entire stock pot full each time I cook them. I put what I think I'll eat in the fridge, and the rest I freeze for easy lunches throughout the week. Simply make your soup, then pour into quart-sized baggies, stack, and freeze.

What goes with soup? Bread, of course!

Bread freezes beautifully. I almost always have a giant loaf, or "miche" of French bread on hand. I also normally keep a loaf of our regular sandwich loaf, some hamburger buns, and dinner rolls ready to reheat at a moment's notice.

3. Dinner in a hurry

I love to keep a few of my favorite casseroles on hand for nights when I don't have a lot of time to make dinner. To do this, first take your Pyrex dish, or whatever you're using, and line it well with plastic wrap. you may need to use a couple of pieces depending on the size of your dish. Assemble your casserole inside, but don't wrap it up--just leave the plastic hanging over the sides. Pop it in the freezer, and when it's solid wrap it in the plastic. Then pull the casserole out of the dish so you essentially have a "casserole cube" Wrap it in another layer of plastic, then in foil, then take a permanent marker and write the contents on it. Stack several of them neatly on a shelf. When it's time to eat, simply unwrap your casserole cube, put back in it's original dish, and cook until piping hot. You'll never have an casserole dish "out of commission" because it's in the freezer.

4. Miscellaneous things that are nice to have

Cookie dough rolls; take a drop cookie recipe and lay all the dough in a line on a piece of parchment paper. (For the longest time I had no idea where to get parchment--I buy mine at Wal-Mart, right by all the other foils and baggies). Roll the dough up in the parchment forming a nice solid log. Twist the ends like a candy wrapper. When you're ready to bake, let the dough sit at room temperature for about 10 minutes, slice with a serrated knife, and bake as normal.

Frozen juice in cans; great to use in a pinch

Fresh herbs in a baggie

Mashed potatoes; they're such a pain to make from scratch, so when you do, make a ton and then freeze the rest. They are kind of watery when defrosted, so after you thaw them, heat them up in a sauce pan right before you serve.

And of course, ICE CREAM! My favorite flavor ever is Coldstone's "Sweet Cream." It tastes uncannily like ummm....sweetened cream (ha ha!). It's perfect for eating on its own, or for topping with just about anything from crumbled cookies to fruit syrup.

I'd love to hear what you keep on hand--what are your "musts?"