Freezers and Apologies-Favorite Freezer Foods Ezine, Issue #0078

Welcome to the Favorite Freezer Foods Ezine Issue #8: Freezers and Apologies

March 4, 2010

What’s New This Month?
My Apologies to Those Who's Tried to Contact Me
Ideal Freezer Size
Freezer Storage Times

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What‘s New This Month?

On the home front:My kitchen has walls, kinda. The framing is done and there is insulation but no drywall yet. I'll be buying a dishwasher this month because I'm sick of washing everything in the bathtub!

My new favorite food to cook with is ground chicken and I'll be posting a chicken meatball recipe soon.

On www.FavoriteFreezerFoods.com: I've been on a bit of coconut kick for some reason and recently added two coconut recipe: Macaroons aka Coconut Cookies and Coconut French Toast. While we're talking about breakfast I also posted a Ham and Cheddar Breakfast Burrito recipe

My Apologies to Those Who's Tried to Contact Me

I thought I was easy to get a hold of and approachable but I realized I've had a teeny tiny little problem with returning emails for the last 3 or 4 months.

Admittedly I'm not the fastest at returning emails or calls, you can ask my Mom or my best friend Susan for proof of that. But I did think I was returning emails from those who've used the Contact Me form on my site. That form forwards your message to my personal email address.

I replied to the SBI forwarded email and apparently I've never whitelisted my own email on the SBI web mail, so I sent the reply to myself and it got lost in a blackhole. I thought it was being sent to the right person.

So for those of you who have written to me and thought I didn't write back I offer my apologies.

That goes for everyone exceptthe person in the UK who wanted my 'local address' to deliver me two 20 cubic foot freezers. I have a family of two and thus no need for that much freezer space plus your message seemed to imply a bill would follow. P.S. I live in Canada.

Now that I know the folly of my ways you can rest assured that if you do use the Contact Me form I'll be editing the return address so I'm replying to you and not to myself.

Ideal Freezer Size

Since I've been thinking about freezer size I realize that I haven't shared how to choose the right size freezer with you all.

It's pretty simple math with a little bit of estimation based on your habits and preferences.

One cubic foot of freezer space holds 30-35 pounds of food. Most manufacturers recommend 1.5 cubic foot of freezer space per person in your family. Thus Trent and I would need about 3 cubic foot. Plus Trent loves to shop in bulk even more than I do and we're always eating and cooking from scratch at home.

We have a 14.3 cubic foot upright plus the freezer on top of our fridge equaling close to 17 cubic feet for two people. I won't lie- it's a lot of freezer space and it's not always full. My constant struggle to fill it is actually the reason I started this website, you can read the whole story on my intro page.

So unless you’re the type to drop hundreds at the farmers market and thousands at Costco, grow more veggies than your family, friends and neighbors can eat in a year, hunt or buy sides of meat from the butcher, you don't need 4-5 times the recommended size.

On average people buy too large a freezer and run it at about half full instead of three quarters full or more.

Learn to be Goldilocks and choose the ideal freeze size.

Freezer Storage Times

While your considering how much space you really need factor in freezer storage times for different foods. I know this can be really confusing so instead of long boring charts I like to think of three rules.

The One Year Rule
Don't buy or keep more than you can use in a year. It's uneconomical, a waste of space and electricity, and an unnecessary risk that the food will be freezer burn or forgotten.

Despite the ‘fresh’ food available in the grocery store daily I still believe food has seasons.

When food is in season and at it’s peak is the ideal time to stock up and freeze some and there is nothing wrong with freezing a year supply, but no reason to assume you won’t or can’t stock up again next year.

The Three Month Rule
Meals have their seasons too. Salads just taste better in summertime when the produce is ripe, abundant, local and the weather is hot. Casseroles warm the soul and the stomach on freezing cold winter days.

So only make enough of any freezer meal to last to the end of the season or about three months.

The Inspection Rule
You've heard the saying "When in doubt throw it out." This is the same principle. Freezer burn won't make you sick but it is unappetizing.

We have a natural instinct to not eat bad stuff. However, we’ve learned that we shouldn’t waste food and that wasting food is like throwing money away. But getting sick is a waste too.

So if your not sure something is good use your nose and your eyes and don't be afraid to throw it away.