There are certain foods that children love, that have a very short season (at least here in Israel). I try to buy them while they're cheap and freeze them to enjoy when they're not available anymore. Some examples: Corn on the cob -- simply take off the silk and leaves, and freeze them raw in plastic bags. Strawberries can be bought in large quantities, washed and frozen raw, with or without sugar, and even imperfect ones can be used if you cut off the soft parts. You can use these delicious strawberries later for ice cream, desserts, cakes, or with sour cream or yogurt. What a yummy treat! Here in Israel frozen strawberries are not commonly sold in the stores.
When your bananas are getting mushy, and no one is in the mood to be a martyr and eat them to prevent bal tashchis, just mash them up and freeze. You can now make banana cake whenever you want -- delicious!
A good summer idea when children want ices all the time, and you don't want them eating junk food, is to provide them with homemade "ices." (But don't tell the children they're healthy!). My children love frozen bananas, frozen grapes, frozen orange slices, frozen watermelon chunks. Of course you can make your own ices with natural fruit juices instead of Kool-aid.
Keep a large plastic container in your freezer and freeze liquid from canned vegetables, and cooking liquid that is tasty, gravies, etc. . . (keep track of course, if these are Milchig, Fleishig or Pareve!!) Many nutrients go into the liquid that the food is cooked in, so next time you want to make soup, start with your frozen liquid instead of water. You'll end up with a tastier, healthier soup.
Leftover side dishes such as farfel, spaghetti or macaroni can be frozen and later successfully reheated in a microwave. I have discovered I can make super-fast kugel by adding eggs and sweetener to the defrosted macaroni and spaghetti, which my children love. (This is a bigger treat than reheated spaghetti would be). Another idea is to add ketchup and pieces of hard cheese to the pasta, and heat in a microwave or oven. No one will know it's leftovers from three weeks ago!
Many nursing mothers know that mother's milk can be successfully frozen. I learned this from a nursing manual. Express the milk into a clean cup. Pour it into a plastic baby bottle which you have sterilized or poured boiling water into for a while. It doesn't matter if each time you only get an ounce. It adds up. When you have a full feeding, start on the next bottle. This trick has many advantages -- again from my personal experience. 1) It can be used as a relief bottle if you absolutely must be away for feeding; 2) It can be used as a supplement for those times when your supply is low; 3) It can be used for feedings while you are fasting -- Yom Kippur or Tisha B'Av -- and feel too weak to nurse; 4) It is an excellent way to increase your milk supply. Mother's milk works on a demand-and-supply principle. So if you consistently express milk after feedings (only for 5 minutes) your body will think that your baby needs more -- and after few days you will see you have more milk. Of course, keep eating a nutritious diet, drink a lot of water, and rest as much as you can. But this trick alone has helped me a lot through rough spots in my nursing career. In the first weeks after birth it is especially good. An electric pump is easier than hand-expressing, but not necessary. The nursing books say it takes two hours for the body to replenish a full feeding so if you'd like to express a large amount, make sure it's at least 2 hours before the baby's next feeding.
To defrost the milk, put it into the fridge the night before or let it stand at room temperature until defrosted. Slow defrosting is preferable, but if you're pressed, put the bottle in warm water. It defrosts pretty quickly. Shake well before feeding.
It is a very good idea to have a container of milk and a loaf of bread in the freezer for those emergencies when you can't get out to the store and need these staples. Check the night before, and if you're very low, leave the milk out to defrost overnight. Bread, of course, can easily be defrosted in the toaster or microwave. A slice of bread defrosts at room temperature in five minutes without any energy cost.
If you've ever made a recipe and ended up with some beaten egg (as when you're brushing pastries or Challah with egg, or dipping food into egg and Matzo Meal) you don't have to throw it away. Freeze it. You can later add it to any recipe which calls for beaten egg (like kugels, burgers, or even scrambled eggs). There is a custom not to let an egg stay overnight without the shell, so add a bit of salt or oil before freezing -- this solves the problem.
- Frozen food expands. When freezing in a container, always leave some empty room on top to allow for expansion, preventing your container from cracking.
- For the same reason choose soft plastic rather than the hard brittle type, which is more likely to crack.
- Exclude as much air as possible when wrapping foods in the freezer. The air dries out the food and lowers the quality.
- If you don't have as many containers as you would like for freezing, then when the food is solidly frozen, empty the container and put the block of frozen food in a plastic bag. Place a piece of paper which boldly states what the food is on top of the bag. Then slip the whole thing into a second plastic bag (transparent). You can stack the blocks of food wherever you have room, and your containers are now free for use again.
- A full freezer is more efficient and economical to operate than a half-empty one.
There are several methods of defrosting:
- Simply leave the food in the refrigerator or at room temperature until it defrosts. Advantage -- free of charge. Disadvantage -- takes longest amount of time.
- Immerse food in a larger container in lukewarm water. Advantage -- faster than the room temperature or refrigerator method. You can change the water occasionally because it will get very cold.
- Soups, or other liquid foods, can be put in a pot on a small flame and even a block of frozen food will defrost and heat in a few minutes. Advantage -- much quicker. Disadvantage -- using costly energy.
- Microwave method -- simply put container (make sure it's microwavable!!) into microwave for required amount of time on defrost. Obviously this is the most expensive method.
Some foods do not freeze well, so don't try them. Here are the most common ones. Lettuce, raw cabbage, celery, tomatoes, cucumbers -- in fact any raw vegetable that is commonly eaten raw will have its crispness and flavor altered by freezing. Better freeze these items after cooking -- or dice and freeze them for use in cooking, for example, green peppers and onions. Incidentally -- sauteed onions freeze excellently and since many recipes start with sauteed onions, you can prepare a large batch and then have them ready for several different uses. I found this helpful Erev Succos and Erev Pesach when one wishes to cook on the second day of Yom Tov but with one small flame it takes forever to saute onions for your potatoes or rice. It is easier if it's already prepared before in fridge or freezer. Mayonnaise, potato salad, salad dressing, hard boiled eggs, and cooked potatoes don't freeze well either. Carbonated drinks will explode if frozen in bottles. If your children are "freezer-creative," warn them about this!
This past Chanukah, I was invited to address the widows of Israel's wars on none other than the subject of freezing. This was part of the annual Chanukah event which Tzach (the Chabad Youth Organization) holds for the widows and orphans for one full day in Kfar Chabad. The program coordinator told me that one of the Shluchim would be speaking about Chanukah. He added that from past experience they had learned that the women need something "light" after the "religious part." I felt I could not speak about freezing (such a mundane subject!!) without somehow connecting it to Yiddishkeit. After all I am a Shlicha.
So I told the gathering of about 80 women that we're on the threshold of Mashiach, and related the Midrash that during the era of Mashiach delicacies will grow on trees, and radical changes could be anticipated in housework (since we are promised that every Jew will have servants). I ended this with a prayer that all my freezing ideas would be obsolete shortly.
Dear friends, may it be so bimheira biyameinu -- very speedily in our days! And until that long-awaited day, keep freezing -- but use your earned time and energy for activities that will bring Mashiach faster. Try to keep up your davening and Chitas and Sefer Hamitzvos, and listen to the Shiurim on your speakerphone while you're in the kitchen preparing stuff for the freezer.
Ess Gezunt!
Still More Secrets from my Yerushalmi Freezer -- Part III