7 Essential Freezer Items You Should Stock in Your Deep Freeze

Not that we snoop (much) but open any freezer and chances are you will find the same thing: Meat, fish and poultry, breakfast foods such as waffles, a sad, half-filled bag of peas, corn, or mixed veggie, and of course (hopefully) ice cream. However if you fancy yourself a chef of sorts we recommend stashing these seven game-changing essential freezer item in your deep freeze to raise the bar of your readily available ingredients…

7 Essential Freezer Items

1. Ripe Bananas:

Most families buy bananas only to find at least one of the bunch doesn’t get eaten because it becomes too ripe. Considering it takes two or three ripe bananas to make a killer banana bread, cake, cupcakes, or muffins, that lone banana should never be tossed. Take that ripe banana, peel it, and stash it in the freezer in a freezer bag. Once you have enough for baking take them out and allow them to defrost. You can then use them to treat the family to something yummy.

They are also perfect when thrown into a blender while still frozen to create scrumptious smoothies and delish ice cream in an instant. Plus?! Two words: chocolate dipped. You get the picture.

→ Love banana bread? Check out our killer banana bread chocolate chip muffins recipe here!

2. Fresh Herbs:

On wintry days when you want fresh green flavour in your soups and stews how easy is it to just reach into your freezer? Roughly chop fresh herbs and place them in the smallest ice cube trays you can find and drizzle with olive oil. Freeze them and then pop them out and switch them over to a small freezer bag. You can then enjoy the fresh taste of summer all year long.

3. Ginger:

Ginger is one of those things that is always better fresh, but not necessarily used as frequently as something such as garlic. If you want to always have some on hand keep some peeled ginger chunks in a freezer baggie and grate it frozen directly into the pan when you need it.

4. Nuts:

Nothing is worse than biting into a rancid nut in a fresh batch of fudgy brownies. Nuts can go bad quicker than you can use them. Store nuts you use in cooking, such as cashews, peanuts, walnuts, and almonds, as well as seeds such as pumpkin and sesame, so you always have them when you need them.

Storing in the freezer will help keep them fresh for the next time you want to whip up your world famous banana nut loaf or your killer pecan stuffing for Cornish hens.

5. Butter:

Is it just us or does it seem like butter costs more than meat? When it goes on sale, everyone on our team buys it in bulk and freezes it. What we love about frozen butter is you can cut it into sticks and then use it like a big glue stick to butter the pan just right when making pancakes and flap jacks. You will get the perfect amount of butter on the griddle to avoid burning and then you can rewrap the butter and place it in the freezer for your next pancake breakfast (if it has started to defrost keep it out for toast).

As well, it just takes a quick zap in the microwave to get it to room temperature or just take a stick out each night.

6. Buttermilk:

We have never seen a half or quarter litre of buttermilk. Instead you have to buy the full litre when most recipes call for just a cup or cup and a half at most. This means you either have to seek out recipes to use it up or find it at the back of the fridge where it has given way to a hard-to-dispose-of cheese-like substance. Fear not. You can actually freeze buttermilk either in a plastic container or in trusty ice cube trays that you can than transfer to a freezer bag once frozen. Waste not, want not.

7. Flavoured Ice Cubes:

While you’re getting so much work out of those ice cube trays, put them to better use and create flavoured ice cubes. Flavoured ice cubes are always good as they do not water down your drinks. Get creative and try using up leftover coffee, fruit juices, and even chocolate milk. You will have a nice assortment of flavoured ice stored in separate freezer bags ready to use when entertaining or for that next big batch of margaritas or sangria. Ole.

These seven essential freezer items will take your deep freeze to the next level and put those bags of unused frozen hamburger patties to shame.

Tip:

Always remove as much air as possible from freezer bags when storing foods. Date anything you put into the freezer and use the restaurant rule “first in first out” to avoid waste.

→ Love getting kitchen tips? Check out our article on the 10 Pantry Staples You Really Need here!