freezing WITHOUT (new) plastics

[Mini Horses]

I like the beer case info Of course, summer is when I find an icey beer is the best thirst quencher after a long day of working in the sun.
My freezer is a small-med size top load. Uprights are easier to see what's there. But, this one works great & size is good for me so won't be buying another soon. (Hope I didn't jinx me!) With that, I like things that fit & I can lift out to see under.

I find that it helps if I list/log what's in there during summer fill. Not foolproof but, it does help. I've even used groc bags for holding bags of veggies -- can mark on outide of bag and handles make it easy to move. Plus, it's all pliable to make fit any area.

 

[tortoise]

@Mini Horses , I have a chest freezer and an upright. The upright is much better for managing food inventory, IMO. But, with my chest freezer, I use a dry erase marker and keep an inventory on the lid. I have a diagram where I can show the location, including layers, of where everything is. I have a dry erase inventory on my upright too, but it's not a diagram - just a list.

 

[baymule]

I have used various things in the freezer. I used to save paper milk cartons for freezing fish, they work pretty good and I always froze fish in water. But it's hard to beat vacuum sealed plastic bags. I love my FoodSaver and refuse to give it up! I have used white butcher paper for meats for years, and got the resulting freezer burn. I love zip lock bags, they get the job done.

While I understand the desire to not use plastic, I come from an era that didn't have those choices and I will choose plastic freezer bags hands down every time.

 

[Mini Horses]

Love my Food Saver! Have the jar lid attachment and bottle plug things (reseal wine, etc.) and a couple of the vac marinade containers. Got a 2nd FS unit from doing demos. Wish it had been before I bought one.

We have a few re-cycle bins at our dump & plastics are one...glass another, etc. We do not have curb pick-up here but community sites with big dump bins. They are picked up by trucks & empty ones left. It works. I am only a short distance over the county line and watch the darned truck pick theirs up!

 

[Britesea]

I my chest freezer, which is where I put mainly meats, I sewed up several cloth bags of different colors to make it easier to sort- yellow for chicken, brown for beef, red for pork, white for fish, and green for bacon/sausage etc. I have handles to lift them out if I need to rummage in the bag. I tried the paper bag idea but the paper eventually tore and became a problem. My cloth bags are about 2 years old now, and still going strong. I can always make more of them if I decide it's needed.

 

[milkmansdaughter]

Great idea @Britesea !

 

[Mini Horses]

Britesea -- love that idea! Basically that is what I do with the plastic bags...write on it & put pkgs in them. easy to lift out, adjust, etc. While the plastic bags do rip & such, they were free and here. LOL.
If I don't get my garden working I may not need a bag.

 

[wyoDreamer]

Growing up, my job during the deer butcher season was to wrap the meat in freezer paper. I was taught this technique:
-place the meat on the paper about 2" from an edge.
- grab the 2" edge and pull the paper and meat up and over, pressing the paper to the meat and kinda squeezing the meat into a solid mass as you turn it over.
- fold about 1/2" of the paper back so it is not on the meat - this prevents the edges from getting stuck to the meat when you try to unwrap it.
- fold the sides over it tightly.
- roll meat up in rest of paper and place it seam side down on another piece of freezer paper.
- wrap it tightly with the second piece of freezer paper, then tape it shut. My dad only uses a couple of pieces of tape to keep it wrapped, my uncle tapes all the loose edges of the paper.

Paper and tape was a lot cheaper than replacing freezer burned meat. Double wrapping is the key to preventing freezer burn, IMHO.

 

[wyoDreamer]

We froze fish fillets in ice blocks, then double wrapped them in freezer paper also. Make sure to unwrap from the paper before thawing, lol.

Not sure how about freezing vegetables... my mom canned any veggies that we were going to eat through the winter.

 

[Lazy Gardener]

We have a 6 cu chest freezer that is 40 years old. Works great. A year ago, we bought a 18 cu. ft. upright. I absolutely love that thing. It has most likely paid for it'self b/c of all the food I've been able to process, prepared meals frozen, and foods bought at discount/bulk prices. I was going to retire the chest. But, it still works great, and I can use it to freeze bulky items from the garden so I can then process them at my convenience (is it ever convenient?) instead of giving up the entire months of August and September to work in a hot kitchen.

As for using plastics: I do not feel the least bit guilty: I have a vac seal, and figure that it keeps foods from getting freezer burn, thus they last MUCH longer, and the flavor is better. I do recycle qt. yogurt containers.

I also continue to buy milk in gallon containers. We freeze it in qt size increments, so I'm not tossing sour milk. If I ever do have any milk that does not pass the nose test, it goes to the chickens.