I hate shopping. The whole experience is unpleasant for me starting with getting shoes and socks on and ending with putting groceries away. So I try to make sure when I go to the store I get everything I'll need for the week. If not longer.
In order to be successful, I use a few tools.
1. I always use a shopping list - and I make sure to bring a pen and cross things off.
2. I plan meals ahead and buy ingredients I don't already have on hand.
3. I buy extra of things I go through quickly and store them for a few weeks.
4. I check ads to see if there are items on sale that I frequently use.
The one I want to talk about is #3. In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, we are taught to gather our food storage and be prepared for anything that can test us. Natural disasters, economy crisis, loss of job, etc. A very easy way to gather food storage is to practice tool #3. For just a few dollars a shopping trip, I can get an extra can of crushed pineapple, cream of chicken soup, green beans, chili, and so on. Whatever you are buying to feed your family, buy an extra can or two and store it in the basement, an empty closet, the top shelf of your pantry, under your bed, whatever. And soon you'll have we lovingly like to call food storage.
But what about perishable items, like milk and bread?
Hold on to your hats kids.
Did you know you can freeze milk? Probably everyone in the world knew this except me, but that's ok. I just discovered a few months ago that you can, in fact, freeze milk and it comes out with the same flavor and consistency!
Are you ready for this? So does bread! If you freeze a loaf of bread, it will thaw light and fluffy, just like it was before you shoved it in that cold abyss.
The trick to having quality food come out of the freezer is all in how you thaw it.
First of all, the milk will expand in the freezer. It doesn't usually leak all over, so that's a good thing. But it will expand making it harder to get out of the freezer than it was to shove it in. But once you get it out, put it in the sink or in a large bowl and leave it there for a day. Seriously, a day. It takes a very long time to thaw, and if you don't wait until it's all the way done before you start using it, then it's going to be weird because you are taking out liquid when some of the fat is still frozen. Then it turns grainy and weird. So be patient. Let it thaw on it's own terms, and soon you'll have milk. The same with bread. If you pull two slices of bread out of the bag frozen and microwave them, they'll come out tough and crusty. Not fun or appetizing. If you are really in a hurry for bread though, you can always toast it, and then it will be crispy, not crusty.
The other part of this food storage equation is planning. If you go through a gallon of milk a day and you are down to half a cup left in the jug, you are not going to have time to get out your milk and thaw it before you run out of milk. So plan ahead and start defrosting your frozen milk a day before you think you'll need it.
I understand that freezer space can also be an issue. And if you live wicked close to a store, or you just sort of enjoy that situation - you know, the whole shopping thing - then you do what works best for your family. But, it's always good to know money and time saving tips.
4 comments:
We do the bread freezing thing now; with four people eating bread, we go through it pretty quickly. The frozen milk, however, we don't (and probably won't) do; my hubby isn't a fan.
We cannot WAIT to have a house so we can have a more substantial food storage; we do what we can, now in our little apartment :)
Like Kimi, we do the frozen bread thing. My DH is also not a fan of frozen milk. He swears that it changes the taste. But, because we have 2 fridges (an old one came with our house that we still use even after we got our new one when we remodeled our kitchen) we go to Costco and just stock up on milk for about 2 weeks.
Milk can actually pop the jug in the freezer when it expands. It's best to open it, pour a little out (into a cup to be drunk of course!) and then freeze it to avoid a mess when you defrost it. I've actually had good luck defrosting bread quickly in the microwave if you put the WHOLE loaf in- microwave for about 30 seconds to a minute and you can use a few slices to make sandwiches to send for lunches (they may be a little frozen in the middle still but defrost great by lunchtime). Just make sure to take the twist-tie off or you'll get some fun sparks!
I love freezing milk and bread...such a time and money saver!
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