Freeze everything

I've been freezing leftovers and pre-prepared food for 4 or 5 years and it's been a game changer for my work lunches. I don't have to spend my weekends meal prepping for the entire week or worry about leftovers going bad! And it turns out you can really freeze just about anything (with some caveats).

Table of contents

Main courses

I have a one-cup Souper Cube tray, which is like a big ice cube tray made of silicone. I use it to freeze pretty much anything that can be eaten with a fork or spoon. I like to cut corners on brands, but every knockoff tray I've seen has been made of hard plastic like an ice cube tray instead of silicone. The name brand wells are also sturdy enough to hold their shape when you put them on top of things or at an angle. Do with that information what you will.

I unmold the cubes and put them into ziplock bags, which makes them easier to stack in the freezer. I take them to work in a glass tupperware container and microwave them.

Foods I have frozen

This isn't an exhaustive list, just some noteworthy stuff that I frequently have frozen.

Foods of note

  • Cubed meat - Surprisingly, it will hold its shape. It helps to have a sauce to hold it together
  • Cream-based soup/sauce - Conventional wisdom says not to freeze anything with a dairy base, but freezer mac and cheese and other cream-based dishes have always reheated completely normally for me. I like to add a little more cream or milk before microwaving to rehydrate the sauce.
  • Potatoes - Pureed or mashed potatoes reheat fine. I freeze potato soup without issues. Intact potatoes in liquid/sauce do get a little mushier and grainier when reheated. You can still leave them out and freeze them separately (see ingredients below)

Rice and other grains

You can freeze rice in a Souper Cube, but the one cup cubes have too much volume and not enough portions to make that convenient (and I usually freeze rice alongside the dish I ate it with).

I came across some hexagonal freezer trays at the store. They don't deal with liquids well, and I don't know why the advertising says otherwise. Fortunately, they're great for rice, so I make rice hexagons now! The hexagons are a third cup each, so I can use one or two depending on how much rice I want.

Fun fact, you can freeze sushi rice too! I microwave it with a little bit of water so it still sticks together. One hexagon is enough rice for a half nori sheet of sushi.

Ingredients

Any vegetable that you plan on cooking can be frozen. Certain vegetables should be cooked first. This stuff can just be dumped into a freezer bag.

Foods I have frozen

  • Produce
    • Bananas - Gets them really mushy for banana bread
    • Beets - Pre-sliced to put in smoothies
    • Carrots - Peeled and diced for mirepoix
    • Celery - Diced for mirepoix
    • Corn - Can be scraped off the cob and frozen (raw or cooked)
    • Green beans - Washed and blanched
    • Onions - Diced for mirepoix and sauces
    • Potatoes - Cook or at least blanch them first (AllRecipes - How to freeze potatoes)
    • Spinach - For smoothies
  • Proteins
    • Chicken - Marinate a large quantity of chicken and freeze what you don't need for later. Defrost in the fridge the day before
    • Chorizo/soyrizo/sausage - Crumble and brown in a pan first
    • Hot dogs - Since hot dogs are already cooked, you just need to get them hot enough to eat
    • Smoked salmon - Only freeze to extend the shelf life of the package before you open it. Once it's defrosted you need to eat it within a few days
  • Cheese
    • Paneer - Pre-cut frozen paneer already exists and I buy it sometimes, but it's technically cheaper to buy a big block, cut it up, and freeze it yourself. Defrost in the fridge before using so you don't introduce water into your curry.
    • Shredded cheese - I've done cheddar and low-moisture mozzarella. I advise against freezing wet or crumbly cheese.
  • Grains
    • Bread - Sliced, defrosts in like a minute
    • Tortillas - Freeze as soon as possible before they start sticking together. Some tortillas are already packed separated with parchment, which helps. Defrosts really fast

Foods I buy frozen

  • Produce
    • Broccoli - Steams very fast in the microwave. Don't buy if you don't like steamed broccoli though
    • Corn - When fresh corn isn't in season
    • Fruit - I prefer fresh fruit, but frozen fruits are nice with yogurt, ice cream, or in a smoothie
      • Pineapple - For pizza! Surprisingly, Colorado is not known for high-quality fresh pineapples
    • Peas
  • Meat
    • Chicken - Great if you live alone and can't eat an entire package of chicken fast enough. You can get individually frozen chicken so you can take what you need. Defrost in the fridge in advance or cook from frozen in the oven/air fryer
    • Fish - Cooks very fast from frozen in the oven/air fryer
  • Grains
    • Ramen - Significantly better than dried

Convenience foods

Burritos

Frozen burritos were about 50% of my diet in grad school. (The other half was frozen lentils.) Make your burritos normally, then wrap them in foil, butcher paper, or parchment paper to freeze.

Curry blocks

I make my own Japanese curry blocks (recipe on Just One Cookbook) and keep them in the freezer since they don't have the same shelf life as store-bought blocks.

Dumplings

Dumplings require a few hours of investment but will last you a long time afterwards. You can skip pleating them to speed up the folding process. Once they're done, put them in a single layer on a parchment-lined baking sheet in the freezer overnight. This keeps them from sticking together. After that you can just put them all into a freezer bag.

Sauces

I freeze sauces or sauce bases in small glass mason jars. They just need to be defrosted a day or two in the fridge before you use them. Souper Cubes also work.

Waffles and pancakes

I got a $20 mini waffle maker from Target, which has given me the ability to make my own Eggo-sized waffles. Any size waffle can freeze though, and so can pancakes! I freeze them in layers separated by parchment paper in a freezer bag.