You may have been thinking and planning about freezing food lately. What a great time to start, with summer veggies going out and fall veggies coming on strong it is time to stock up that freezer!
So far I have frozen tomato sauce, peaches, blueberries, applesauce, and lasagna; and have canned 80+ jars of pickles and 12 pints of peach jam.
The National Center for Home Food Preservation website will help you with the details. But here are some quick tips for freezing and storing food:
· Use proper packaging: containers or freezer bags
· Leave appropriate headspace, some foods need space to expand when frozen
· Labeling: portion size, ingredients, date frozen
· Know what foods freeze well and what foods do not
· Clean out your freezer and if you have space get a chest freezer
· Freeze foods as soon as they are cooled, packed and sealed
· Eat in rotation: “first in, first out”
· Thaw in refrigerator for best results
I have used the NCHFP website for freezing, canning, and recipes and have never been disappointed! It is so nice during the winter to pull out a tomato sauce and have a nice meal that brings back summer time memories. What is your favorite food to freeze or can?
I wish you enough!
My pickles were a bust!!! soft and soggy. Bart thinks I processed them too long, but I think you need to process them. I'll check out the NCHFP website to see what they say! I used better homes and garden's cook book.
ReplyDeleteWith the move this year, I haven't canned or froze as much as I like, but I did a great tomato sauce that I froze this year. I halved the tomatoes placed cut side up on baking pans, processed basil, onion, and garlic in processor, spread that on top of the tomato then drizzled with olive oil and baked until it smelled good!
Thanks for your great blog!