Saving In The Kitchen: Fill Your Freezer!

For many years, I was a "weekly grocery shopper".  That's all that went into my cart--just enough for the week.  If I came across a great deal on produce, just enough for one week went into my cart.  That rock bottom price on chicken?  I put one package in my cart and hoped for another sale the next week. 

After getting serious about finding ways to save money, I quickly learned that I was missing out on one of the easiest and most practical ways to save money...using my freezer!



What's in my freezer.....

• Chopped and sliced green peppers.  They were on sale for $.69/lb.  Since they are usually over $2 a pound in my area and I cook with these pretty often, I couldn't resist buying quite a few of these and freezing them.
• Chicken.  Lately I have been able to find chicken on sale for $.99 almost every week.  I usually buy an extra package or two and put it in the freezer.  It will be nice to have when there is a week with no meat sales.
• Bread.  We just went to the local Country Kitchen bread store during their 5 for $5 sale.  They are able to sell bread so low because it is about to expire, so I always put it right into the freezer.  And of course, I also have bread end-slices.
• Fruit.  I recently had grapes, strawberries and bananas that were getting a bit too ripe so I put them in the freezer.  The grapes and strawberries will make good smoothies and I will make banana bread or muffins with the bananas.
• Popsicles from last summer.  Yes, I have a few popsicles with freezer burn in my freezer.  It's good to remember that food doesn't last forever in the freezer! :)

If you have questions about freezing food, The National Center for Home Food Preservation has a very good guide.  Did you know that eggs can be frozen??  Hmmmm....eggs are on sale this week for $.69/dozen......