# Thaw-and-Eat only. What's in your freezer?



## charito (Oct 12, 2013)

What thaw-and-eat food is in your freezer? The kind that doesn't have to be heated or cooked and yet there's hardly any change to its taste or texture. 

Looking at the amount of sodium in canned foods, I figure hubby and I wouldn't last long if we eat only those.
If the disaster don't get us, the sodium will. 
As much as possible, if we can eat mostly home-made, and save the canned stuffs for later when there are no longer any other options.

I'm just starting to plan what to store up....need ideas.

Mung Bean Soup, fully-cooked meatballs (home-made) 

I'm also going stock up on carrot muffins, banana muffins, corn bread and regular bread.
With the preservatives they use on store-bought bread it should last for more than a week at room temperature.

I want to test if tahina (sesame butter) with yogurt and garlic will be good to freeze. If so, I'll also stock up on Pita bread.


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## retired guard (Mar 7, 2013)

The burglar that suddenly ceased activity in my neighborhood.


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## charito (Oct 12, 2013)

retired guard said:


> The burglar that suddenly ceased activity in my neighborhood.


:mrgreen:


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## indie (Sep 7, 2013)

That's a good question. I'm thinking of what's in my freezer and there isn't much that can be eaten straight out like that. Muffins and things don't last long in the freezer, but if you kept up an aggressive rotation they'd be alright. 

Berries, we have lots of those. In fact, I'm going through the 5# left from a smoothie phase and making them into jam so they store better. We don't eat that many carbs in one go now so all those berries are just sitting around waiting for a job.

*Some* precooked sausages taste okay cold. Oh! Cheese can be frozen, so that's another one.

I think you're right about the breads and muffins...most ready to eat freezer foods are going to be the carby type foods.

If you have a way to heat though, soups can be frozen. I inevitably make a crockpot full every time I try to make a soup so the extra (after eating it two days) goes in containers in the freezer for later.


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## indie (Sep 7, 2013)

^^That was my 100th post. I was going to come up with something good for that one, ha!

I wanted to add that you could backwards engineer and think of foods you normally prepare to eat unheated and find ones that freeze well. What about cooked chicken to put into cold salads? One of our favorites is brown rice with apples, bell peppers, cooked chicken, green onions, vinegar, lemon juice, walnuts, salt and pepper. It goes great cold so it's one we take when we're doing a day trip into the city.


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## tirednurse (Oct 2, 2013)

charito said:


> What thaw-and-eat food is in your freezer? The kind that doesn't have to be heated or cooked and yet there's hardly any change to its taste or texture.
> 
> Looking at the amount of sodium in canned foods, I figure hubby and I wouldn't last long if we eat only those.
> If the disaster don't get us, the sodium will.
> ...


Is the freezer the only option for you? if so what if you loose electricity? you will have to eat fast...... You don't can your own foods?

As for the frozen muffins ....I actually "can" muffins, brownies, cake, zucchini, banana and pumkin bread in jars. Lasts forever and comes out of the jar tasting moist and fresh like you just baked it.


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## jimb1972 (Nov 12, 2012)

retired guard said:


> The burglar that suddenly ceased activity in my neighborhood.


You better cook that, they are known to carry disease. Maybe BBQ? I have gallons of apple sauce, ham and bean soup and usually some BBQ chicken or pork. It was a good year for apples around here, I have a bunch of applesauce and apple butter canned as well.


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## wesley762 (Oct 23, 2012)

We are about to get 150 lbs of Beef in our's we just cooked our last roast from the freezer. We have been doing this for several years now ordering half a cow in the spring and its all paid for by oct. and last's us almost the whole year. I am pretty sure we are paying more than what we would pay for it over the year in the store but these are non drug'ed up cows. all natural grass fed beef. works for us.


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## roy (May 25, 2013)

Haven't you heard, sodium ain't a problem for most folks.


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## charito (Oct 12, 2013)

indie said:


> That's a good question. I'm thinking of what's in my freezer and there isn't much that can be eaten straight out like that. Muffins and things don't last long in the freezer, but if you kept up an aggressive rotation they'd be alright.
> 
> Berries, we have lots of those. In fact, I'm going through the 5# left from a smoothie phase and making them into jam so they store better. We don't eat that many carbs in one go now so all those berries are just sitting around waiting for a job.
> 
> ...


With muffins, I individually wrap them in saran wrap before putting them in a freezer bag. They've lasted for more than 6 months.

Next time, I'll wrap them in saran wrap and put 4 or 6 in each freezer bag (vacuum-sealed). The way I vacuum seal it: Fill a pot with cold water. Place the freezer bag (with the stuff already inside the bag) in the water and submerge it all the way to the top where you can zip it close (careful not to let any water in the bag). The water releases all the air from the bag. This should give the frozen food longer life.
I'll be doing that too with breads. I re-use those freezer bags, too - don't throw them away.


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## charito (Oct 12, 2013)

tirednurse said:


> Is the freezer the only option for you? if so what if you loose electricity? you will have to eat fast...... You don't can your own foods?
> 
> As for the frozen muffins ....I actually "can" muffins, brownies, cake, zucchini, banana and pumkin bread in jars. Lasts forever and comes out of the jar tasting moist and fresh like you just baked it.


I'm not confident enough. This is just my second year in making jam. I worry that I might not do it right and we end up with food that we can't eat.

Oh boy....I'd love to learn how to do that with muffins and breads.


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## charito (Oct 12, 2013)

indie said:


> If you have a way to heat though, soups can be frozen. I inevitably make a crockpot full every time I try to make a soup so the extra (after eating it two days) goes in containers in the freezer for later.


Yes, I guess we can heat them in our barbeque - it runs on natural gas. Our stove/oven though is still on electric. Also, have to come up with camping stove. There's just so many expenses this days and our finances are really limited.


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## dannydefense (Oct 9, 2013)

Toaster Streudels.

I will happily wait out the apocalypse on thawed Toaster Streudels.


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## charito (Oct 12, 2013)

roy said:


> Haven't you heard, sodium ain't a problem for most folks.


I know. It's not a problem for us either....but I looked at the nutritional label and saw how much salt there is in 1 cup of soup, and that's just for one meal, multiply that by 3 per day. It all adds up. But of course, if there's no other alternative, we eat what we have. 
There's a way to counter the heavy sodium (aside from drinking lots of water) - eating something that's high in potassium.


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## charito (Oct 12, 2013)

dannydefense said:


> Toaster Streudels.
> 
> I will happily wait out the apocalypse on thawed Toaster Streudels.


Never had those. Will have to try now that you recommended them.


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## dannydefense (Oct 9, 2013)

charito said:


> Never had those. Will have to try now that you recommended them.


Oh I recommend them. I've never met a streudel I didn't like.

I guess in all seriousness though, I have also got a lot of frozen veggies that would be easily edible once thawed. My meat would be edible too, in the sense that I could start a firefairly easily in the yard fairly easily to cook it... not sure if that's against the rules.


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## indie (Sep 7, 2013)

charito said:


> Yes, I guess we can heat them in our barbeque - it runs on natural gas. Our stove/oven though is still on electric. Also, have to come up with camping stove. There's just so many expenses this days and our finances are really limited.


If you have your own yard, you could make a fire pit for cheap or free. You can look on Youtube for making rocket stoves out of #10 cans too. I know what you mean about too many expenses - my Amazon wish list is a mile long and plans to stay that way awhile.


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## alterego (Jan 27, 2013)

If my electric goes out, we are going to half to eat a lot of this guy's brother.

We have been raising steers for some time now and the freezer has T-Bones galore,


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## charito (Oct 12, 2013)

alterego said:


> View attachment 3051
> 
> 
> If my electric goes out, we are going to half to eat a lot of this guy's brother.
> ...


Can we move in with you? :grin:


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## PaulS (Mar 11, 2013)

Moving in requires that fair trade rules apply. That means you will be doing a lot of work for your meals and room.


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## tirednurse (Oct 2, 2013)

charito said:


> I'm not confident enough. This is just my second year in making jam. I worry that I might not do it right and we end up with food that we can't eat.
> 
> Oh boy....I'd love to learn how to do that with muffins and breads.


It is actually very easy to do this even if you don't can much. Any one can do it if they have jars. Basically all you do it make your batter for what ever it is you are making (muffins, brownies, cake, or breads like zuchinni, pumpkin, and banana). Yeast breads I think would need a different process. Then you will bake it in the jar instead of a pan.

what I do is take either a pint or half pint wide mouth jars line them up on a cookie pan (12 fit great). spray the inside with cooking spray like "Pam". Fill the jars about 1/3 full and put in the oven and bake at the temp for your recipe until a fork comes out clean when you check just like normal. You will want to boil your lids for a minute right before taking the jars out of the oven. As soon as the you take the jars out of the oven wipe the top of the jars off with a paper towel to make sure there will be nothing to prevent a seal. (carefull they are hot!) then put on your lid and ring. As they cool they wll seal just like when you can stuff.

The cakes and breads will stay good at least a year and be moist and fresh like you just baked them. open them up and they should slide right out. If not a knife around the edge to loosen.

I do this as a time saver as well as a way to add variety to your prep foods. Make up a bunch and you will always have something to snack on when you get those cravings and don't have time to bake. Works good for home make recipes as well as boxed mixes. So pretty much anyone can do it.


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## Deebo (Oct 27, 2012)

I never thought about ready to eat food, I usually have at least one jar of peanut butter opened, and one as a backup.
Now im wondering about the fajita mix I buy, Its ready prepped chicken or beef with vegatables, I usually cook before eating, Now I wopnder if i could cook then freeze? 
My last question is eggs, I am always throwing away eggs, becouse I cook spontaniously, never having a day off, I might go home and bake brownies, Or an omlette, or i might not cook for three weeks,and half the time that I do have eggs, they are rank. I guess I will boil some, freeze them with and without peel and see if I like them, Also, would a raw egg burst when frozen? Only one way to find out...


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## indie (Sep 7, 2013)

Eggs last FORever in the fridge. Mother Earth News did a test and of all the methods of "preserving" eggs, basic refrigeration kept them for something like 9 months, which was far better than the other methods tested. You can test an egg by dropping it in water. If it stays flat, it's fresh. If it stands up, it needs to be used soon and if it floats, it's bad and should be tossed out.


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## Deebo (Oct 27, 2012)

Indie, last time I had some that were almost like "soft boiled", they were congealed, and looked pretty scary. but, then again, I found a bottle of lemon juice that expired in 2007, in my fridge. I will try the water test. thank you.


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## indie (Sep 7, 2013)

Ew.  That might be enough to turn someone off of eggs! We go through them so quickly here that they never get a chance to go bad, but I always use the water test when I find a hidden nest. Sure wish I could speak Chicken and tell them where to lay!

How was the lemon juice? I didn't think it really went bad.


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## Smitty901 (Nov 16, 2012)

1 large cow 1 hog some odds and ends . Problem with freezer is once power goes that won't last long.
There are was to reduce stored foods and salt


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## charito (Oct 12, 2013)

Deebo said:


> I never thought about ready to eat food, I usually have at least one jar of peanut butter opened, and one as a backup.
> Now im wondering about the fajita mix I buy, Its ready prepped chicken or beef with vegatables, I usually cook before eating, Now I wopnder if i could cook then freeze?
> My last question is eggs, I am always throwing away eggs, becouse I cook spontaniously, never having a day off, I might go home and bake brownies, Or an omlette, or i might not cook for three weeks,and half the time that I do have eggs, they are rank. I guess I will boil some, freeze them with and without peel and see if I like them, Also, would a raw egg burst when frozen? Only one way to find out...


Good question about the eggs. Good source of protein. I know that we can freeze cooked pancakes/waffles....but what about cooked French toast, I wonder? Anybody done that?


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## roy (May 25, 2013)

Anything is safe to eat after freeze/thaw. Some foods may not be as apatitizing.


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## charito (Oct 12, 2013)

PaulS said:


> Moving in requires that fair trade rules apply. That means you will be doing a lot of work for your meals and room.


Did I forget to mention we bring our own plates and cutlery? And A1 sauce. :grin:


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## Kidzthinkimahoarder (Feb 11, 2013)

Whew...y'all don't wanna know whats in my freezer...lmao

Besides your basic meat, bread and some frozen dinners and pie crusts, there is a full bobcat that need mounted, along with a full duck, a full feathered turkey, and one other critter I can't remember what it is at the moment...LOL

Can we say needs to get in touch with a taxidermist? My B.I.L....decided he wasn't going to do them anymore, and I am not doing birds....lol


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## indie (Sep 7, 2013)

^^^ Well, at least you won't have much food in there to go bad!


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## charito (Oct 12, 2013)

Kidzthinkimahoarder said:


> Whew...y'all don't wanna know whats in my freezer...lmao
> 
> Besides your basic meat, bread and some frozen dinners and pie crusts, there is a full bobcat that need mounted, along with a full duck, a full feathered turkey, and one other critter I can't remember what it is at the moment...LOL
> 
> Can we say needs to get in touch with a taxidermist? My B.I.L....decided he wasn't going to do them anymore, and I am not doing birds....lol


I got a dead cat at the bottom of the freezer! Waiting for burial! :grin:


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## PaulS (Mar 11, 2013)

If you freeze bread make sure you can use it up within a few days to a week after it thaws. Freezing won't stop the growth of some molds - just slow them down - so they reproduce rapidly once they thaw. If you kitchen is warm (like mine gets) then bread that has been frozen doesn't last long.


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