I use the "can or freeze" glass jars a lot in my kitchen for freezing stuff. They are pretty tough and I try to limit food storage in plastic where I can. (And the new two-piece lids from Jarden, aka Ball and Kerr, are supposedly BP-A free. Still I store them upright so food doesn't touch the lid undersurface.)

The can or freeze jars come in sizes from 1/4 c up to a pint and half, and possibly even a quart. They are straight sided so stuff just slides out easily.

I use a stick blender stuck down in them for purreeeing food for my oldest cats, so I think you could easily make baby food or smoothies in them and freeze in the same container, saving a clean-up step.

You fill them, but leave 1/2 to 3/4 inch headspace to allow for expansion during freezing. I guess I'd leave a whole inch on very liquid stuff in larger sizes of the jars, at least for the first go 'rounds to test the recipe. You can precool things in your fridge for a few hours if you don't want to put them all in the freezer at once.

I sometimes nuke the food right in the jars (not direct from freezer, but after defrosting overnight in fridge). I think you're not supposed to do nuke the jars, but I do it to warm up the smush-food for the kitties.

BTW, the Tractor Supply chain has the best prices on canning jars around in my area. Even better than W-M, and way better than grocery or hardware stores.

I live on a farm and we run two to as many as four freezers over the course of a year, rearranging them and consolidating the stored items as we use stuff up over time. I keep at least one freezer for long-term stuff and try to open it only once a month. I usually have another freezer that I open almost daily to extract stuff for meals, and of course there's the freezer in my fridge.

When I make meals intended for storage I'll freeze them in my "daily" freezer, but then move them into the long-term freezer the next time I open it to extract long-stored items. Kind of a circular travel from one freezer to another and back again

When I'm processing veg or fruit from the garden in the summer in large batches, or when we've bought a large quantity of meat, I usually put those items directly into a smaller freezer that I use specifically for quick freezing in order not to raise the temps in the other freezers.. Once the items are frozen, they mostly go into the long-term freezer(s.) And sometimes late in the fall after we've bought meat for the year, and all the produce is done, the quick freezer becomes a short-term version of the long-term freezer until we've eaten enough of it to get it consolidated down into just one long-term freezer. And some years at the very end of the season, we've eaten enough that the big long-term freezer is too empty so I fire up the smaller one again and move stuff over to it.

One of the reasons your food may not have tasted the same after you defrosted it is that often vegetables need to be blanched before freezing. The Ball Blue Book (of canning and freezing) or Putting Food By are both excellent references on what and how to freeze.

I have used a (consumer grade) vacuum sealeramd when my kitch is fully set-up I plan to get an upgraded one. The bags are obviously plastic and not really reuseable, but for many things it works very well. I don't store much of anything in freezer zip-lock bags as I don't think much of the seal on those. I store a fair amount in regular freezer bags that are molded into shape by being stuck down into 1 lb butter cartons or (empty) quart milk cartons, etc. and a variety of other oddball things. After the stuff is frozen I pop it out of the mold and stow the bricks elsewhere in the freezer.

I like frozen stuff better than canned in many cases, but the plastic container issue is still not solved to my satisfaction. We have photovoltaic solar panels so my electricty comes directly from the sun. The energy cost is less for freezing than for canning which requires gas, YMMV..

There is also a National Center for Food Preservation with a top-notch website. Google will find it.

Right now food preservation is very much in vogue and there many blogs and websites devoted to it.

HTH

L.

L.

Now that the kids are gone I am freezing more. I love it when I don't have to cook and can take home made soup or stew out of the freezer.

My unmarried son works long hours and although he can cook he doesn't have the energy when he gets home from a long work day. So I enjoy making dinner and freezing individual meals for him - and he appreciates having a good, home cooked dinner that he can just reheat.

Sometimes I freeze them in BPA free plastic containers. Or else I freeze them in Pyrex containers without the lid and then when solid I put them in my Food Saver vacuum bags.

I freeze all the time. For individual meals for my daughter I use the small pyrex glass ones, and for me to take to work I use some other glass type I got from the container store. For use at home and multiple portions I use zip locks. I won't use them to heat in, but it leaves me much more space in the freezer, since it is easy to remove extra air and there is no empty space like in a container to take up space.

I make mystery loaf for my 2 year old grandchild (liver & beef or chicken)
I just slice up the loaf and store in individual freezer zip lock bags.

I freeze a lot of stuff. Soups, chili, pasta dishes, sauces, and cookie doughs are the main ones. I enjoy cooking but at times don't want to do it every day.

I freeze individual servings of soup in soup mugs, thaw during the day, and then pop in the micro for dinner. Same with chili.

When I make pasta as a main dish most times I freeze a serving for each of us right on the dinner plate well wrapped with saran. Thaw during the day then add a side for dinner. That I would use within a week or so - wouldn't do that for long term storage.

I freeze sauces like BBQ and cheddar/cheese sauces in canning jars.

I like to keep cookie dough on hand too. Make the dough then form the dough as you would for baking. Crowd them on a cookie sheet and freeze for a few hours. Then throw them in a labeled freezer bag. Place them on a cookie sheet to thaw while warming up the oven.

I freeze stuff all the time. I live alone, so I'll cook a recipe that serves 4 or 6 and eat one portion, put one in the fridge for the next day, and freeze the rest. Same with cookies and quick breads--bake a normal size batch and keep a little out for immediate consumption and freeze the rest.

For meals I use Tupperware that is designed for freezing and reheating. I frequently take these to work for lunch, and glass is just too heavy and too prone to leaks and too breakable for a subway commute.

For cookies, I'll either freeze some of the raw dough, or bake them and then freeze in zip-lock baggies. Quick breads get wrapped in wax paper and then foil, or waxed paper and a large zip-lock baggie.

For your baby's portions, you could just keep using the ice cube trays--just more of them, and more than one cube per meal.

For your green stuff--as a PP said, most veggies and fruits need to be blanch or par-cooked before freezing. And some just don't freeze well at all. I've linked to an informative site with instructions for a variety of vegetables.

Here is a link that might be useful: freezing veggies

I apologize I'm just now getting back to this.

Liriodendron - Thanks for the info about the Jarden jars. I'm going to look into them. I'll also check out Tractor Supply. I didn't realize they carried some of the things they do.

When I first saw read how the girl on that blog froze the ingredients without blanching I figured it wouldn't taste right but she never mentioned it so I thought I'd give it a try.

We have a Food Saver and seem to use it in spurts. I do like how fresh it keeps the food though. I also much prefer fresh or frozen and can is used as a last resort for us.

I just realized I have a copy of the Ball canning book someone gave me the other year. I was planning to can tomato sauce but we didn't have enough tomatoes at the same time and I never got around to it. I'm going to have to flip through it.

I'll also check out that website. Thanks!

Marie - "I love it when I don't have to cook and can take home made soup or stew out of the freezer."
Me too! Especially now that DS is here. It's just so much easier for me to have things already made.

Lyfia - I noticed while out that there are a variety of smaller glass containers with lids available. I have a set of Pyrex ones that came in a set but I use them often enough that I need to pick up others for the freezer.

Lyban - Good idea about the individual slices!

Deedee - I haven't done cookie dough yet. I love the idea of freezing them on the tray and putting them in bags to bake later. I would like to have some desserts in the freezer at times for guests. We typically don't have junk food in the house (because we eat it, lol) There's a store close by when we're in a crunch but I'd prefer to whip out something home made vs. a bag of chips.

Camlan - I'll have to try the cookies baked too. I've cooked pancakes and froze for later and they were good. I'd like to get into making my own bread but haven't done it yet.
I'm still using the ice cube trays a lot but he's a toddler now so really go through the cubes. I should pick up more trays so I don't run out as often. Ever since we stopped mashing, not much fits in those tiny cubes! I'm thinking we'll start doing a combo of ice cube trays and other containers.

This post was edited by sheesharee on Mon, Aug 5, 13 at 23:55

I bought a dozen small Pyrex containers with plastic lids and have been using them for years for individual soup portions and other stuff. I should buy more but they weren't dirt cheap. Otherwise, I use freezer slide generic Ziplocs (I rewash them if it only held rice or something similar) to freeze things and also glass jars.
I save all glass jars in all sizes ( salsa, jelly, jam, pickle, mayo, olives, tomato sauce....) and have never had a jar break. I use them all the time for homemade chicken broth and all sorts of other things. For liquids, fill 2/3's full and put the lid on before freezing. Label and Date! Most important.

I store the jars on a shelf without lids on and have a basket of lids nearby. When I want a jar, I dig around for a lid that fits. Keeping the lids off the jars while unused prevents unwanted odors.

I do not use plastic much other than freezer bags as I don't like the way they discolor and hold odors (and I don't like the potential heath risks from China made plastic) but I do have a dozen plastic rectangular containers for Christmas cookies.

You can purchase trays that make larger cubes. I googled "large ice cube trays" and found some at Crate and Barrel and Macy's and some other places.

One of my favorite items to freeze is meat balls. I bake mine in the oven rather than browning in oil on the cook top. I make about 3 dozen at a time, put them on a cookie sheet and place in the freezer until frozen. Then I put them into a zip lock bag.

Then if I decide to make spaghetti or meatball sandwiches I have them on hand. They defrost fairly quickly or you can even microwave them if necessary.

In my fantasy of being the organized perfect little housewife and career woman, I make these nice meals/dishes/desserts and freeze them for convenience of having nice hot meals a the end of the work day.

In reality I do well to prepare a decent meal 2-3 times a week :).

Also in reality, when I make an extra large batch of soup or chilie, etc., we just end up eating left overs for several days - love left-overs.

We typically don't have junk food in the house (because we eat it, lol)

I don't keep much junk food on hand either, but if you like cookie dough, this can be dangerous. Don't ask me how I know ... :)