Having a freezer is one of those great money savers – so many possibilities!
One of the things we do is when we find cheese and butter on big sales we stock up and freeze it all – grated cheese works the best. If it’s a block it’s crumbly after, but still good!
It’s great for stockpiling staples, bread from McGavin’s, big sales on frozen veggies, meat etc.
You can also be creative, if you find clearance fruit or veg, or in the summer when people are begging you to take it, make jam, freeze it sliced or puree it to add to sauces. Big ones that people are wanting to get rid of are zuchini, tomatoes, apples and rhubarb – all freeze very well and you can make a huge variety of dishes with it. Making tomato sauce to freeze is great too. A lot of these are more summer produce, but you still find clearance in the winter. And if you freeze in the summer you can be well stocked for the whole winter – adding in pureed fruits and veg into all kinds of recipes!
Making extra when you cook a meal and freezing it is always nice too, perfect for nights you’d normally have takeout or delivery – big $ saver right there!
How do you use your freezer to save money? What are your favourite things to freeze?
Whenever I make chili….lasagna…or meatloaf I always make 2 or three extra at the same time & freeze either whole or in lunch containers for the hubby or kids to take to work. Saves time & money!!!
When it comes to cheese, When I am close to New Bothwell I stop in there to buy a bunch of Cheese. They often have end pieces for a cheaper price. So I stock up on different cheeses and grate them all together and freeze it. I find it much cheaper than in the stores in winnipeg.
I’ve never seen anybody here in Winnipeg who offer any veggie or fruits for free.
Check freecycle, i think that’s what it’s called. I saw people in my neighbourhood with an apple tree with a big free sign! I gave away tons of rhubarb, and saw a lot of people online doing the same for zuchini too. Has to be exact right time, when everyone gets overloaded.
Can you tell me Silvia where is the new Bothwell?
Thank you
New Bothwell is a town outside of winnipeg. Here is a map link for you.
http://www.mapquest.com/maps?city=New+Bothwell&state=MB&country=CA
The Bothwell Cheese factory is on your right hand side when you drive into town. I believe there is a school right across the street. I think they are only open until 3 or 4 pm. Here is the link to their website.
http://www.bothwellcheese.com/
If you have kids……I buy Freezies when they go on sale at the end of the summer. (especially at superstore) I get boxes or bags of them for almost nothing. They don’t actually need to go in the freezer right away and then when summer comes I put them in and I am all ready for the hot weather.
Whenever I make pancakes or waffles on weekends I make a double batch and freeze the rest for easy simple breakfasts during the week.
Another use of our freezer is to keep some important docs or money in there. Nobody will check in your freezer for that kind of stuff so it’s a great place to keep things.
We like ground beef, so on my days off, I will buy a “warehouse pack” and cook it all, then freeze it in freezer bags. When I get home from work, I don’t always feel like cooking, nice to be able to pull a bag of cooked hamburger out of the freezer and supper’s half made. It’s great for tacos, hamburger helper, spaghetti sauce. I even used it for a quiche once. I used to always want to order out when I didn’t feel like cooking, now we get delivery maybe once a month.
Great tip!
Jen L….
Be careful putting things like that in the freezer. I know of two families that had their houses broken in to and part of what they took is that they emptied the freezer. After I heard that one, I took my important documents out of the freezer.
Yes, sometimes people who break into homes steal food.
When I get local fruit in the summer I puree it and freeze it in 1cup bags, then when I got to make muffins, instead of trying to find over rip bananas, I just substitute whatever I have in the freeze for the bananas. Right now I have Apple Pear, Pumpkin and Rhubarb in the freezer. I also have a bag of over rip bananas in there too right now.
We are getting a 1/4 of a cow from a local farmer – I love knowing how my meat was handled and love supporting our local guys.
i like to have the ground meat cooked and ready to use. i also by ground bacon, cook it and freeze it so it is ready to use in anything. we also always have baking in in our freezer for lunches. when my kids were in school, i would bake 20 or 30 dozen cookies (three or four different types) that we could use in lunches, afterschool snacks, etc.