11. Freeze Foods You Would Never Consider Freezing
My mother recently told me she eats half an avocado every day for lunch and freezes the other half. “It thaws out beautifully,” she said. If brushed with lemon/lime juice, wrapped tightly, and frozen, browning is minimized, though texture softens. Her tip got me thinking about other foods we should freeze to save money. Amy Keating, a registered dietitian at CR, advises freezing the following foods.
• Cheese: “If you have a lot of extra hard cheeses like cheddar or parmesan, you can grate them and freeze and use them for cooking or topping dishes (pull out as you need and they will thaw very quickly on a plate),” Keating says. “I find that because the structure can change a bit, it is best to freeze hard cheese for future use in cooking, where I’ll be melting the cheese (mac and cheese or on top of chili).” Keating says you can freeze a block of hard cheese, but it might not look as good or have the same texture as fresh cheese for something like a cheese board. According to FoodKeeper, from the Department of Agriculture, hard cheese frozen from the date of purchase can last six months.
• Cooked rice and grains: According to Keating, you can flash freeze cooked rice and other grains in a single layer on a plate or tray prior to putting them in a zip-top bag, and they will be easier to portion out frozen. The USDA recommends keeping cooked rice and grains in the freezer for three to four months for best quality.
• Day-old pizza: “A single slice heats up really well and gets nice and crispy heated in a frying pan on low-medium heat with a cover on top,” Keating says.
• Nuts and seeds: If it takes you a while to get through a whole package of nuts or seeds, Keating says they can start to taste rancid (stale) from exposure to oxygen. Freezing them (for up to six months, although USDA FoodKeeper doesn’t specify) helps maintain their fresh taste.
• Garlic: Since we can never have too much minced garlic, another great tip is to buy whole cloves of garlic, peel them, break them down in a food processor, and then put them in zip-top freezer bags. Roll the bags and use a rolling pin if needed to flatten them. Freeze the bags flat.
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