The Benefits of a Large Freezer

When we were on vacation last week we went out and bought ourselves a chest freezer.  I've been wanting one for a while, but like everything else you 'want' there always seemed to be a need that had to be purchased first.  Plus you need a spot to put it, you can read about that fun project here.  I'm so glad we bought the freezer when we did since we had car repairs a couple of weeks later.  My freezer would have been put off - again!

I had a few reasons for wanting a freezer.

• Freezer cooking is easier if you have somewhere to put your food
• Freezers in the garages don't work during winter in cold climates.  The food spoils and all your hard work needs to be thrown out
• The bananas are hidden from your husband so he won't throw them out before you make banana bread
• The husband won't complain about the vast amount of frozen tomatoes sitting in cold storage

So far I've been stocking my freezer with freebies.  I've received tomatoes, zucchini and apples from friends and co-workers that I have processed and stuck in the freezer.  This is on top of all the strawberries I purchased earlier in the summer . 

Now that I have the space, instead of throwing away items as they reach their peak freshness I'll be able to freeze them for future use.  Some of my ideas (that need to be taken care of this weekend) are:

• Carrots - I bought these a few weeks ago for a carrot cake and they're starting to look a little sad.  I'm going to make homemade glazed carrot and freeze them for family dinners
• Mushrooms - We have some mushrooms that are starting to look a little sad too.  Since I love mushrooms and put them in a lot of different things (stuffing, meatloaf, etc) I thought I'd cut them up and freeze them for future use.  I'm not quite sure how that will work but since they're going into cooked items I would think they should be fine.  I'll let you know!
• Potatoes - I rarely make mashed potatoes from scratch (my friend Betty - Crocker that would be) does it so well.  However, I got a little overzealous in my purchase of potatoes a couple weeks ago and will need to do something with them.  I plan on making mashed potatoes and freezing those in dinner size portions too.

Before we bought the freezer I would just throw this food out.  I wouldn't recommend going out and buying a freezer just to try and save money (it will probably be a while before it pays for itself) however if put to good use I think the freezer will save us quite a bit of money and help us to stop being so wasteful.

I know I'm repeating myself, but please bear with me.  We have 19 more days of this :)  One of my kind readers nominated me for the top 25 home management blogs at Circle of Moms.  If you go to the top of this post, to the right is a button that would take you to the Circle of Moms voting site.  My blog is about halfway down the page.  I'd appreciate your votes!

What sorts of items do you put in your large freezer?

I'll be linking this up over at Life as Mom

You might also like:

Freezing Strawberries Plus Strawberry Shortcake Recipe
Freezing Tomatoes
Banana Bread Recipe