These are items to stock in the freezer. Most will keep 6 months to a year or more and are a great source of last minute meals or an add-on to a meal in progress.
Freezer Items to Stock 6-10
1. orange juice concentrate
2. corn
3. green beans
4. spinach
5. peas
6. mixed vegetables
7. ground beef
8. chicken breasts
9. shrimp
10. dinner rolls or bread
11. ice cream
12. pie crust
13. nuts
14. peppers
6. mixed vegetables – These are usually peas carrots and maybe onions. Not a bad thing to have around in a food or health emergency. You can either eat it or use the cold package as a compress for a bruise or sprain.
7. ground beef – Frozen ground beef is something I would have always had on hand. But with the E. coli and salmonella scares, and my preferrance of a med rare burger, I recommend that we all grind our own fresh ground beef or chuck. One thing you can do is find the specials on chuck roast or cheap cuts of beef and freeze them. Then when you need ground beef, defrost and grind.
8. chicken breasts – To save money I highly recommend that you look for a special on whole fryers or baking hens and buy whole birds to butcher at home. We usually get our chicken at Cosco or Sam’s club for under a $1.00 per lb. I buy 4 to six birds and freeze 2 whole and butcher the others into parts for the freezer. Very efficient.
9. shrimp – I rarely buy shrimp because I think that it is a waste of money for what you get to eat. But there are people out there that love the little things. Frozen shrimp will keep for 3 or 4 months and are good snacks when people drop by unexpectedly.
10. dinner rolls or bread – Frozen dinner rolls are a must to have on hand. It is a quick and easy way to put bread on the table inexpensively. Yeast rolls that are ready for the oven are exceptionally good.
Ok, Farmers, we’ll finish this category off tomorrow that start cooking soon after.- later, Jug