Estimated reading time: 25 minutes
Discover the convenience of freezer foods for unexpected guests or quick family meals. Find out what foods you can freeze, reheat, and cook to save time and money.
Freezer Food Ideas Fit For Savers Of Time And Money
I thought sharing a list of freezer foods we freeze and reheat when you have unexpected guests or need a fast family meal would be essential.
My wife and I were making our homemade macaroni and cheese bake tonight when we pulled a pesto basil cube from the freezer to add to the cheese sauce.
At that point, I knew I had to look at our freezer inventory list to find out what foods we had in our freezer that people wouldn’t think to freeze.
Keep Your Freezer Full
You can save money if you freeze food, but one important tip I was told to keep the savings flowing is to keep the freezer full.
The reason is that once the freezer is complete, it requires less energy to run, which makes sense.
We borrowed a kill-a-watt electricity usage meter from the local library for two years for free.
When the smart meter was installed in our home, we discovered that our 1970s freezer cost us approximately $11 monthly.
Some people forget to factor electricity costs into the overall savings costs of freezing food, but it’s a significant number.
From what I remember, that’s off the top of my head, and since then, we keep saying we will buy a more efficient freezer.
The plan is to get rid of the big freezer and buy something half the size, as it’s hard for us to fill it to the top with food.
I might buy one when it goes on offer and be done with it.
Freezer Food Rules
Just because you can toss food products in the freezer doesn’t mean you shouldn’t follow some simple freezer food rules.
Critical tips include not refreezing something you’ve defrosted or ensuring you label everything that requires a label and date.
One thing we like to do is portion control our meats, so when we buy meat in bulk, we take the package apart and portion it into freezer bags.
Frozen Food In Our Freezer
So what’s in our freezer?
Below is a list of what we found in our freezer and what other foods can quickly become freezer food you can use when you are in a time pinch, bulk shop, or have a vast garden.
I’m no freezer scientist or Alton Brown, but my theory is to try to use up the food you put in the freezer for over one year.
We have never had any issues with food going off if eaten that same year.
You don’t want to start keeping food in the freezer for years on end, so make sure you have your freezer inventory list up to date so you know exactly what you have and when you froze it.
Types of Cheese You Can Freeze
I’d be lying if I said we hated cheese because we LOVE IT!
We go through so much cheese that we will stockpile this product when it goes on sale or if we find reduced-priced cheese at the grocery store.
You can quickly put whole blocks of cheese in the freezer, although I find it doesn’t grate as well, so we grate the cheese before we freeze it.
If you are like me and enjoy taking a slice or two of cheese from the block to eat it, you might find it’s not the same once it comes from the freezer.
I like to use frozen cheese in casseroles or other recipes with cheese as an ingredient.
We don’t store block cheese bars in the freezer often, as they are kept in our refrigerator for at least a couple of months without any problems.
In the worst case, you just slice off some mold and keep eating!
The same goes for Parmigiano and Romano cheese.
We scoop out what we need from the freezer bag when we need some.
We’ve also put cream cheese in the freezer, especially if I make a cheesecake.
Then, all I need to do is defrost and add to the recipe.
Vegetables You Can Freeze
We keep just about every vegetable you can think packed away in our freezer, such as;
- rapini
- spinach
- asparagus
- red peppers
- green peppers
- whole tomatoes
- corn
- peas
- celery
- chopped onions
- mushrooms
You name it, and we freeze it if we have it on hand or get a load from the relatives in their massive garden.
If you can’t finish up what you have in your refrigerator, don’t let it waste; clean it, dry it, and freeze it for later use.
I find vegetables can last in the freezer for up to a year without issues.
Fruits You Can Freeze
Almost everyone I know ends up with brown bananas that they don’t have time to eat.
Yes, you are nodding your head. (I know these things).
We peel them, put them in a plastic freezer bag, and keep them until we make banana oatmeal cookies or bread.
Our freezer is full of raspberries from our bush two years ago, and they are perfectly fine.
We use them in smoothies and other baked goods like muffins, strudel, and sometimes jam if we feel up to it.
If you like freezer jam, you can make any jam you want with abundant fruits.
We also have boatloads of rhubarb in our freezer, waiting for me to figure out what to do with it all.
Now that we have baby CBB, we might make some apple cherry rhubarb puree for him.
Baby Food
We started making baby food, such as carrot puree, for our son the other day.
I didn’t want to peel carrots, cook, mash, and freeze them every other day, so I made enough for the week and froze them in muffin tins.
We like to use the muffin tins, but I’ve heard that parents fill their ice-cube trays with the baby food, which works equally.
Now, anytime we want to mix carrot puree with our son’s rice cereal, we pull a carrot puree disk from the freezer and microwave for 15 seconds.
However, you can take it out in the morning and defrost it in the refrigerator until needed.
You can freeze just about any baby food puree that you make, so don’t be shy. Cook and mash foods for your baby, and save money by not buying those pre-made jars at the grocery store.
Milk and Cream: You Can Freeze
It’s no secret that we buy milk in bulk if we can score a great deal or stockpile enough milk for a week or two and store it in the freezer.
We have had the odd bag break, but other than that, our milk is lovely in the freezer, and when we defrost it, the flavor tastes like we had never frozen it.
I like to defrost the milk entirely before using it; otherwise, it gets too watery near the end.
If you let the milk defrost appropriately from start to finish, you should have no problems.
If we ever buy a container of cream or whipping cream that we don’t get a chance to use up before the expiry date, we pour the cream into our empty muffin tin and freeze.
Once frozen, we pop them out and store them in the freezer. If we ever need to add cream or whipping cream to a recipe,wes r weve what we need and defrost it. Simple!
Chocolate You Can Freeze
We store chocolate all the time, especially if we find it on sale, as we love to bake lots of chocolate treats throughout the year.
Mrs.CBB also suggested years ago that we buy Halloween candy for up to 75% off when it goes on offer and store it in the freezer.
The goal is to make it last until next Halloween, and it does for the most part, and it’s perfectly fine.
We mentioned that to a lady at Metro this past Halloween, and she loaded up her cart.
Instead of paying $13.99 a box she paid $3.99 a box, you can’t beat that savings.
If you buy chocolate chips in the bags, you can easily store them and any other types of chocolate bars you love.
These mini Halloween bars are great treats for school lunches and when our son’s friends come around to visit.
We also make keto sugar-free chocolate bars and keep them in the freezer.
They are perfect for anyone following the keto diet or a sugar-free diet.
Bread and Baked Goods You Can Freeze
I’ve made cheesecake and all sorts of loaves of bread and pastries and kept them in the freezer until I needed to use them.
At Christmas, we make ahead all of our peanut butter balls, snowballs, and coconut balls, and they stay perfectly fine for months until they come out at Christmas.
You can even freeze pies and cakes if you like to make them in advance.
We enjoy making banana bread and bundt cakes, which are easy to defrost and serve to guests.
When I find the time, I like to make pita bread, tortillas, and olive bread, all of which I store in the freezer and take out as we need them.
If I don’t have time to make bread, we buy loaves of bread and tortillas and toss them in the freezer for later use.
It’s great when we find a pink sticker 50% off bread on the reduced rack because it saves us a lot of money when we have the space to freeze the bread.
Freeze Cookie Dough
Everyone knows I’m a big fan of cookies, brownies, muffins, and donuts, but you might not know that you can make these products and freeze them until you want to bake them.
Since our nephew loves fresh hot cookies from the oven, we try to keep at least one bag of my Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cowboy quickie cookie dough balls ready when he visits.
If you only want to make a handful of cookies, it’s great because you can pop out a few of your cookie dough balls and bake them fresh.
Using an ice cream scoop helps us to get uniform-sized balls, and we freeze them on a tray first, then put them into freezer bags and label them.
Mashed Potatoes
I’m British, and we love mashed potatoes, but I always seem to make too much.
I have a few recipes requiring mashed potatoes, like our zeppole potato donuts or potato torpedos.
Whenever I want to whip up a batch, I only need to take out the frozen mashed potatoes, defrost them, and use them as I need them.
It does cut down on time, having to peel and boil the potatoes and wait until they cool before using them in a recipe.
I also mash squash, sweet potato, and other root vegetables and store them in the freezer.
Flour Stores Well In The Freezer
We have one bag of flour in the freezer, which we put in last year because it’s cake and pastry flour, which we don’t use as much as the all-purpose flour.
If you read last week’s GGC post, I talked about protecting your flour and other food products from nasty flour mites and other pantry pests that can invade your kitchen.
I learned that keeping your flour in the freezer and a couple of bay leaves is wise to ward off any nasty critters.
Basil Pesto Cubes and Herbs
In the summer, our garden is overflowing with basil, chives, parsley, and green onions.
I like to pick all of our herbs and make basil pesto cubes.
Now, we have a standard recipe that we created, but we waste nothing. ‘
Sometimes, we pulse up all the herbs with some garlic, salt, pepper, and olive oil and freeze the mix into muffin tins.
Once the muffin basil pesto disks are frozen, I remove them and put them in a freezer bag.
The great thing about this is that when we are cooking and want a fresh herb taste, we only have to pull a disk or two from the freezer to use in the meal.
We also store herbs dry in freezer bags and put them in the freezer to use throughout the year.
Another bright tip is if you like to use fresh ginger in your meals, don’t wait until it’s gone off in your refrigerator drawer. Toss it in the freezer.
You can take it out, grate it as needed, or slice bits for recipes without defrosting it.
Freeze Butter/Margarine
If you love to bake and cook as we do in our house, you should stock up on butter whenever it goes on sale.
This week, it’s $2.88lb and a great time to buy 3 or 4 pounds for the freezer.
I put the butter in one giant freezer bag to protect it from freezer burn, which can happen over time.
We had that happen once when we bought butter from the grocery store that must have been frozen and then defrosted while kept in the refrigeration bunker.
Eggs Freeze Perfectly
Sometimes, we find eggs on sale and stock up while we can.
If we can’t eat the eggs before expiry, we boil them and make egg salad, hard-boiled eggs, or crack them up and store them in the freezer.
We have some liquid egg product in our freezer, which is ready to use if we make French toast with cinnamon.
You can buy pre-made cartons of egg whites or whole eggs, so don’t think you can’t freeze them because you can, and when you defrost your eggs, they taste just as delicious.
We’ve kept our eggs in the freezer for up to 6 months without any problems once we defrosted them.
Casseroles/Soups/Chili/Broths/Meatballs
If you batch cook or prep dinners, you can freeze them, which makes coming home from work more accessible in the kitchen.
The best part of having full meals ready in the freezer is that it keeps you away from eating unhealthy meals.
You will always find homemade frozen meatballs in our freezer, and we make them in batches once a month.
We always make broth when we have leftover turkey or chicken bones.
That way, we permanently have frozen Chicken or Beef broth ready for soups in the freezer.
Mrs. CBB uses plastic containers to freeze the broth but always leaves room at the top for expansion as it freezes.
It also helps the container avoid cracking because if you over-fill it, the product needs to go somewhere when it freezes.
Hopefully, it’s not all over your freezer.
Recently, we made ricotta balls that we put in the freezer for the next time we want to make ricotta ball soup in an instant.
Marinated Meat
My father-in-law does this, so I thought mentioning it would be significant.
As a food saver junkie, he loves to vacuum seal everything, including meat that he has marinated.
He seasons the meat, adds chunks of garlic, and seals it shut.
The premise is that when the BBQ season is here, he must defrost and put it on the grill.
He doesn’t have to worry about marinating the meat for optimal flavor because he’s prepared beforehand. Smart thinking!
If you think the bags are too expensive to buy, remember how much meat you toss out because of freezer burn.
That being said, the cost of the vacuum bags might be a significant investment, especially when you find them on sale.
Freeze Fresh Dough
If you’re like me and love to bake bread and make pizza, you should always double or triple your dough recipe.
Any extra fresh dough you make, freeze it for the next time you need dough.
Smart thinking!!
Cooked Pasta and Rice
You know you can buy those frozen entrees at the grocery store, which consists of rice and pasta meals, so why not freeze extra pasta or rice you make for a later meal?
All you have to do is buy some containers from the dollar store and fill them with food that you can put in the oven to warm up or put on a plate to heat up in the microwave oven.
Fresh Pasta
You can 100% freeze fresh pasta if you make extra. My wife’s grandmother always made her fresh pasta and would store it in the freezer on parchment paper until she wanted to make pasta.
Mrs. CBB says her pasta was always tender and delicious, and the freezer kept the same texture and deep yellow color as if it were made fresh that day.
Yogurt Freezes Well
If you have yogurt near expiry, you can use it to bake if you don’t fancy eating it, or you can freeze yogurt to use in smoothies.
It’s a great way to thicken up your beverage without using lots of ice, which can take away from the fresh flavors of a homemade smoothie.
Homemade Pizza
This is a no-brainer, and when we make our homemade pizza, we make extra so we can wrap it and put it in the freezer for another night.
We are in the mood for pizza and beer.
If you follow a keto diet or are gluten-free, you can make your fat-head pizza dough in batches and bake the crust.
Once it cools, you can freeze your keto pizza crust, and next time you want to make a pizza, it will be super easy.
Your grocery store is loaded with frozen pizzas, which cost a fortune to buy, so make them at home and freeze them because nothing is better than homemade.
Breakfast Foods For The Freezer
If you like waffles, pancakes, french toast, or even muffins, you can easily make them ahead of time, freeze them on a tray flat, and then put them into freezer bags.
Breakfast will be ready in a flash.
If you have a microwave or stove oven, you can reheat these frozen foods to make a delicious meal.
Now you can’t say you didn’t eat breakfast!
We don’t store much in breakfast foods, but you can easily do this.
When Mrs. CBB makes her Keto Chaffles, she batch-make and freeze them to save time.
Just look down the frozen food section of your grocery store to get an idea of what you can make at home and freeze.
Freeze Your Bread Crumbs
We always have end pieces of bread we don’t want to waste, so they go into the freezer.
The end piece of bread is also known as the below but many other names.
- Butt
- Knobbly
- Noggie
- Nogin
- Ender
- Bumper
- Bum end
When I have enough, I whiz them up in the food processor and store the bread crumbs in a freezer bag.
You Can Freeze Yeast
I read a while back that you could store yeast in the freezer, whether you buy the packets or the jar, and use it as needed.
The reason is that keeping it in the freezer allows you to use it past its expiry date because there’s nothing worse than yeast that doesn’t proof.
Freezing protects the yeast from oxygen and humidity and puts the yeast to sleep until you need it.
You will also find a mish-mash of baconBaconsages, beef, and other bits and bobs in our freezer, but you already know you can freeze that!
WOW, I didn’t think I would find that much in the freezer or think of this many products, for that matter, but I’m sure you can all help me add to this list.
Discussion: What other foods do you freeze in your freezer for later use?
Comment below with any other suggestions you may have.
January Grocery Game Challenge Posts
- Join The Grocery Game Challenge 2015: 2014 Overview and Final Shop Dec 29- Jan 4, 2015
- Why having a stockpile budget will save you money: #1 Jan 5-11, 2015
- How to select fresh food at the grocery store: #2 Jan 12-18, 2015
- How to control pantry pests in your kitchen: #3 Jan 19-25, 2015
Grocery Saving Tips
Free Money Saving Downloads are awesome lists created to get us on track to reach our budgeting goals, and we are sharing them with you now.
Get organized with a FREE freezer inventory, meal plan, shopping list, price comparison list, and much more, all for FREE.
You can now download the FREE Canadian Budget Binder Budget Spreadsheet in Excel.
Ultimate Grocery Shopping Guide
If you missed a Grocery Game Challenge post, some of the most popular posts are listed below, or you can now find the posts listed on their page called The Ultimate Grocery Shopping Guide.
Grocery Shop Results
If you are a foodie like I am, you will enjoy going through my Free Recipe Index, where recipes from CBB Home Chef Nicola Don and myself are shared every Sunday on the blog.
Yearly grocery budget for two 2015: $2820
(The above total does not include the $240 per year stockpile budget or $25 monthly.
Food Basics
- Primo Pasta $0.88
- Triscuit $1.88
- Egg Noodles $0.88
- Smoked BaconBacon8
- Reduced red peppers $1.09
- Strawberries $1.88
- Carrots $1.47
- Washed White Potatoes $3.47
- Bananas $1.72
- Avocado $4.40
- Ginger $1.60
- Green Peppers $5.84
- Red onions $1.88
- Pesto Garlic and Sun-dried tomato tortillas $3.00 each
Total-out-pocket $35.97
No Frills
- Extra Virgin Olive Oil $ 15.52 4 x $3.88 Sale
- 2 x sesame oil $3.99 (great price for the good stuff… normally almost $5.00 at Walmart)
- 3 x Coconut Astro Yogurt (forgot my coupons.. darn) $1.88 each
- 2x cucumbers $0.88
- Pineapple $1.88
- Savoy cabbage $1.66
- Roma tomatoes $1.15
Total-out-pocket $35.59
Points Overview (add any other sections you need to show us your savings)
- Total Grocery Budget for the Month: $235.00
- Total Grocery Budget with any carry-overs: $235.00
- Total Gift Cards used to date: $0
- Total Rewards Points redeemed this week: $20.00
- Total Rewards Points used to date: $20.00
- PC Points Plus Earned to date: 9474
- Scanning Code of Practice (SCOP) to date $0
Coupon Apps (add any other apps you use to save money)
I reset this for 2015 to see earning potential.
- Snap Groupon to date: $ 0
- Zweet to date: $0.50
- Cart Smart to date: $0
- Checkout51 to date: $0
Grocery Shop This Week
- Stockpile budget 2015 ($25.00): $25.00
- Stockpile budget used to date: $25.00
- Total coupons used this week: $0
- Total coupons used to date: $3.00
- Total in-store discounts this week: $0
- Total in-store discounts to date: $26.04
- Total spent this week: $71.56
- Total spent so far this month: $166.49
- Total over/Under spend this shop: $12.81 over budget.
- Total over/Under spend for the month: $65.51 under
- Total left to spend for the month: $65.51
- Total Spent To Date 2015: (does not include stockpile budget) Jan $166.49
Weekly Overview:
We were sick for over a week and didn’t buy too much this month.
This month, we’ve tried very hard to buy only what we need and to control our portions so we don’t spend more on food that hangs around the house.
We also stocked up on oils because they were a great price, and we were out of stock.
We don’t mind stockpiling oil as we will use it up. I forgot my yogurt coupons this week, which was a bummer, but what can you do?
I’ll have to figure out a system to ensure I don’t forget them next shop.
We are under for our first month of the GGC, which was expected since we also redeemed $20 in PC Optimum points.
Get your shops posted!!
Happy Shopping Everyone.
-Mr.CBB
JANUARY – Week #4 of 4- Jan 26-Feb 1, 2015
2015 GROCERY BUDGET / STOCKPILE BUDGET AND US RESERVE:
•Total Grocery Budgeted For Year: $190 x 12 = $2,280.00 for 2 adults
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REMARKS FOR THE WEEK:
It would have been better if this had been completely a “No Shop” week but I did actually need some multigrain rolls for hubby to have with the homemade soups/stews leftovers that we’ll are enjoying this week. It also happened that his Garlic Bread went on sale this week almost 50% off…can’t pass that up!
Here’s my completely unimpressive grocery list for this week:
GGC #4 (Jan 26-Feb 1): 8 multigrain rolls, 2 loaves 100% WW Garlic Bread @ 2 for $4
Check out what we actually ended up buying this week to see if we stayed on track! We did manage to get a lean ground pork rain check, but I still have hubby on the hunt for a garlic bread rain check as well before the sale ends on Thursday. 🙂
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OUR “CANADIAN” SHOPPING THIS WEEK:
Extra Foods– Maple Ridge
8 multigrain rolls $2.08
•Total OOP: $2.08
• Grocery Budget OOP: $2.08
** Earned 0 PC.Plus Points on this shop **
** USED $0.00 in Rain Check Coupons **
** SAVED $0.00 Loyalty Savings on this shop **
————————————————————————————————–
Safeway– Maple Ridge
2 Loaves WW Garlic French Bread (2 @ $3.79 – $3.58 Loy. Svgs) = $4.00
4 bananas $1.43 << My little splurge!! 🙁 2 are for my lunches with cottage cheese + 2 for baking a treat for hubby
•Total OOP: $5.43
• Grocery Budget OOP: $5.43
** Earned 0 Air Miles on this shop **
** USED $0.00 in Rain Check Coupons **
** SAVED $3.58 Loyalty Savings on this shop **
================================================================================================
OUR “US RESERVE” SHOPPING THIS WEEK:
NO USA SHOPS UNTIL Feb 9th!
================================================================================================
2015 Y-T-D GROCERY SAVINGS:
•Total Loyalty Card Price Reductions This Year:
Jan $3.58= $3.58
•Total Coupons/Rain Checks Used This Year:
Jan $0.00 = 0.00
•Total Price Match Savings Used This Year:
Jan $0.00= $0.00
•Total More Points Earned This Year:
Jan 22= 22 Points
•Total Air Miles Earned This Year:
Jan 0= 0 Air Miles
•Total PC PLUS Points Earned This Year:
Jan 1200= 1200 Points
•Total Optimum Points Earned This Year:
Jan 30= 30 Points
================================================================================================
2015 Y-T-D GROCERY SPENDING:
•Total OOP Year-To-Date:
Jan ($12.50 trf to borscht+$22.50 to Re-Stocking+$10.00 Xmas Reserve+$10.00 to Summer+$60.00 trf to US Reserve+$18.35+$3.88+$3.88+$3.98+$17.98+$2.79+$25.94+$2.08+$5.43)= $199.31
•Total Year-To-Date Grocery Budget:
Jan $190.00= $190.00
•Total Over/Under on Year-To-Date Grocery Budget: ($9.31) OVER << Oh rats! 🙁
================================================================================================
2015 RE-STOCKING RESERVE:
2014 Fwd $325.00+Jan $22.50= $347.50 AVAILABLE
================================================================================================
2015 Y-T-D BORSCHT RESERVE:
2014 Fwd $412.50+Jan $12.50= $425.00 AVAILABLE
================================================================================================
2015 Y-T-D HOLIDAY SEASON RESERVE:
2014 Fwd $110.00+Jan $10.00= $120.00 AVAILABLE
================================================================================================
2015 Y-T-D SUMMER RESERVE:
2014 Fwd $90.00+Jan $10.00= $100.00 AVAILABLE
================================================================================================
• TOTAL CASH SPENT Y-T-D:
$185.84 Grocery Budget
$ 0.02 Hiding Spot Cash
$ 13.45 2014 Costco Rebate Chq
$199.31
• VALUE POINTS REDEEMED Y-T-D:
$ 4.98 Skim Milk- 3,100 MORE Points
$190.00 has been budgeted Y-T-D for ‘2015 but we have recorded these funds as “spent” but in fact they have been “saved”:
$347.50 Freezer Re-Stocking Fund
$425.00 Borscht Fund
$120.00 Holiday Season Fund
$100.00 Summer Season Fund
TOTAL UNUSED RESERVES $992.50 … that is a $937.50 carry-forward from 2013 & 2014 and $55.00 in NEW 2015 savings Y-T-D.
This means that with $190.00 to start the month less $55.00 transferred to the various reserves, & an additional $60.00 for US grocery reserve, we opened the month of JANUARY with $75 available for Canadian groceries, then we actually spent $84.31 and created an overage of $9.31 in our CANADIAN budgeted grocery funds to carry forward into February. I suppose it could have been worse but only a lot of self-restraint kept the overage as low as it is.
We also have groceries that were purchased using points redemption(s), rather than the budgeted cash, in the amount of $4.98. If our budget is truly sufficient, when we reach December 31st, those funds should still be available in the form of unused cash. It’ll be interesting to see if they actually are.
Note: Our US Grocery reserve has $173.07 AVAILABLE for our next shop south of the line – currently scheduled for February 9th!
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REMAINING GROCERY FUNDS AVAILABLE FOR JANUARY:
CANADIAN $’s
Groceries: ($9.31)
—————————————————
US $’s
Our Reserve: $79.07
US Cash Hiding Spot: $94.00
Total US Grocery Available $173.07
================================================================================================
The valid rain checks I hold are as follows:
Safeway
Broccoli Florets @ $1.99/lb – Good until Apr 7/15
4 Lean Ground Pork @3.49/lb-Good ‘til Apr 26/15 << New this week! 🙂
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Hi Mary,
Yes I’d say that this was one of your least exciting posts apart from a no-shop week BUT the good thing is the savings of $3.58. Considering what you bought, I’d say you nailed it. Here comes Feb already.. wow. I can’t believe it! You get ballot 24. Mr.CBB
Thanks MrCBB.
I always wondered if I could freeze cream cheese. Last year, there was a clearance price of $1, but I didn’t want to buy too many, because I wasn’t sure if I could freeze them.
The same with clearance $1 on cartons of egg whites. I never bought them before, but I was making a pavlova, and it was cheaper than eggs. I would have bought more if I knew they froze too.
Whipping cream, I usually pour over fresh strawberries, or use in my coffee. If I freeze it, will it still whip, when thawed?
I can’t think of anything else and in fact learned a few things. I look forward to see what other people add to your listing.
I’m going to have to whip my butt into shape and start creating freezer meals so that I’m not trying to think of something to have when I get home. So far, we have stuck to this week’s supper meal plan.
I have noticed that if we have leftovers, I automatically put a dish away for me so that I have lunch the next day. This has kept me out of Tim Hortons or the variety stores on my way to work. I just need to get eating breakfast down pat, and all will be good 🙂
Hey Dee,
Yes you are pretty busy so having those freezer meals ready would be a saviour for you. Easy! We try to portion control but we also make extras depending on the day and if I am taking a lunch to work. I don’t normally buy food. I’d rather buy coffee but I have my allowance for that.
I just started freezing cooked parboiled rice. What a time and energy saver. I am lazy and hate dishes.
I buy a case of water at Costco occasionally to fill my fridge because it is so frequently near empty. I eat more from the freezer and so there is often just a bag of milk, condiments and a bit of lettuce in there. If I could just keep guests from drinking the bottled water it would be more frugal.
We bought a water purifier from Home Depot that was reduced and so were the filters. I have enough filters for a few years although we are remodelling the kitchen in the next year or so. Freezing the rice is a great idea especially for stir frys or even making rice balls filled with mozzarella and dipped in marinara mmm. I will make them for the blog soon.
A great list! It’s always neat to see what other people freeze.
We have a stand up freezer, but we found we weren’t really using it, so it’s out in the garage unplugged. I think it’s time to put it up on kijiji. Now we just have to figure out how to use our fridge/freezer efficiently, it’s got oddly shaped drawers which I find really weird! Oh, and we freeze our yeast, but it’s never seemed to work, my bread is always pretty flat.
Oh, so you like being nosy in others freezers haha!! I would be too! I’m not interested in the stand up but some people just love them. Ya if you aren’t using it get rid of it. No point collecting dust and it will sell fast. Is it a new refrigerator? I make bread as often as I can and have never had any issues. Hmm.
I freeze a lot of what is on the list. Leftovers like spaghetti sauce get tossed in there too so I can use it to make another meal. Usually when I thaw the sauce out it is for something besides the spaghetti. It is nice on cooked penne and then I toss in the oven for a half hour or so, on top of tortellini works too. It is nice that it makes a completely different meal. Leftovers from dinner used to go into hubby’s lunch for work as he worked nights for many years. If I have leftovers like diced tomatoes, peppers or grated cheese that goes into the freezer to be used for a different meal down the road. Butter has been on sale the last few days so I have some of that in my freezer, set up and rotated in there so it isn’t in there long. I make stock so there is turkey stock made up and chicken bones to be cooked up later.
Some of the other things you mentioned like mashed potatoes just don’t last long enough here to get as far as the freezer!! I hide baking at Christmas in metal tins so it lasts as long as then!!! Back when the kids were in school I had muffins in the freezer for lunches. I would buy ahead meat for sandwiches and the buns for those too to keep in the freezer until I needed them especially if they were on sale.
Baby food was always in the freezer and my daughter used the ice cube trays to freeze food for the grandson. Once frozen she popped it out into freezer bags so she had quite the selection there for him. Once you little fellow gets into eating more foods it will be handy having lots of selection for him to eat. You can puree and freeze any little amounts of your leftovers for him as well as he gets used to more foods, including meats so long as things are not too spicey…work him into that gradually…
My wife just laughed and said her grandmother did the same thing with the metal tins and hiding the cookies in the freezer. She said she used coffee tins lol. We don’t normally have mash left either as I try to portion control what we make. He’s eating sweet potatoes and carrots now but we only cook one up and use that for a few days of feeding. Once he gets into it more we will freeze it in the muffin tins. We haven’t given him meat yet as we are going to wait until the 6 month mark for that. No spice.. just cinnamon so far and he loves it.
Mr. CBB, nice list of food to freeze! I stockpile cheese, bacon and ham spread, egg and potato salad, and chocolates! I can always rely on these especially when my kids’ friends are in our house. And, it is inexpensive and very easy to prepare.
Thanks, I’m sure there are other things we toss in the freezer but this is all I could think of and could see when I looked inside. I’ve never froze potato salad before. Does it thaw well then?
Loved this post! I too learned some great ideas. Thanks! Saving money on groceries is great but then the question is how to prepare them into economical, tasty & healthy meals as quickly as possible AND prevent food from going bad once you bought it. Of course if you know what to freeze (& how), you can stockpile more stuff when sales come up & save even more money. I just love deals that save me money & time in the kitchen–& help us eat amazing, healthy stuff!
I freeze egg whites also–great for us to buy the smaller containers with coupons when on sale, freeze them, then just pull one out to thaw & use as needed. I find they’re a great quick Paleo breakfast tossed with some diced green onions in a frying pan (& other leftover veggies if you like) & tossed with cheese when it hits our plates. Yum! Other items I freeze are nuts (keeps them from going rancid & can buy more on sale), coffee, raw beets (sliced up into thicker slices or larger cubes), kale (cut up), leftover canned coconut milk, goat cheese (buy it & break it up into little pieces in containers–much cheaper than buying it this way & doesn’t go bad before we can use it all), and croissants (definitely not Paleo). My husband finds croissants a must for his sandwiches but they always went dry too soon & lost their buttery smell/taste by day 3 or 4. So I experimented & froze 1 croissant each in a freeze bag, take it out the day before we need it (or microwave it) & it’s just as tender & buttery as the day I bought them (wish I could still eat bread some days…).
In terms of remembering your coupons, I put mine in an envelope & put it in the glove box in the car. When I get out of the car to shop, I have my routine where I grab my coupons, my grocery bags from the trunk, & off I go–even if I don’t think I’ll need any of my coupons ’cause you never know when you’ll stumble on a great deal.
Hi,
Thanks for sharing your tips. I forgot about coffee~~We have some in our cold room. Maybe I will put the freezer. Great idea with the coconut milk. You know what you did was smart, experiment as that’s the only way you will know. I don’t normally forget coupons but with me working so many hours now my heads in a million places. I have 4 more weeks of this and hopefully I will be back to some sort of a normal work week. My wife used to come shopping all the time with me and she is more organized than I am with coupons but since having baby CBB it’s mostly me. Have you ever made your own croissants?
No, I haven’t made our own croissants. I try bake as little bread & sweet stuff as possible now that I’m trying to get us eating healthier & losing some weight. I use to bake yeast buns–I could just eat warm/hot buns slathered in butter all day, everyday & nothing else! Lol! I know my weaknesses & try not to sabotage my diet goals.
We know how easy that can be if we bake at home too much.
I freeze everything I can!!! This is an awesome post and list! Thanks for taking the time to do it.
Thanks it took me ages to put together but it was worth it.
Yes, I agree Juanita. 🙂 This was a very helpful post that I’ll be referring back to. In fact, I wanna do some more hunting on the internet & talking to friends to see what else can be frozen & how specifically. It would be great to keep adding to Mr. CBB’s list here & sharing this info. with others because I know I’ll be referring back to it throughout the year.
This month our budget is $500 breaking down to $100 a week.
Target
$2.29×2-$2.50C&CO51$2 old spice deo (just too good of a deal not to buy)
$7.30-$1CO51 pepto stomach
$9.38 total oop
$2.50 total coupons
Superstore
$2.48 biggest bottle of sweet chilli sauce
$1.49×2 pc ginger ale 2L pop
$5.60 total oop
Co-op
$4.99-free product from their app 3pk Viva paper towel
$1.25 chocolate bar
$2.50×2 1lb frozen ground chicken – amazing price!!
$6.99-$2C&$2CO51 Nyquil
$3.33×3-$1coupgonx3 siwin sizzlers stir fry
$18.60 total oop
$9.99 total coupons/app
H&W Produce
.37 tomato
$3.65 butternut squash
$4.75 spaghetti squash
.63 bananas
$1.92 pink lady apples
$2.18 ambrosia apples
.99 2lb blackberries
$14.50 total oop
Shoppers
$1.99×2 dzn eggs
$4 total oop
Sobeys
$2.99×4-$2.50Cx2&$2.50x2CO51 olay/ivory body wash – I bought on wed and thurs to get both co51 deals
$2×10 alfredo sauce
$2.29×2 four cheese tortelloni -clearance
$32.18 total oop
$5 total coupons
$80.26 weekly total oop
$17.49 weekly total coupons
$417.72 monthly total oop
$184.94 monthly total coupons
Another good week!
awe blerg this is my Jan 19-25 post!
I like that sneaky chocolate bar haha~ Your coupon usage was great this week~ My goodness look at your monthly use of them. I’m in awe. Ya the ground chicken is a good price. What do you make with it? Great deal on the tortellini as well.. heck ya. Too bad there wasn’t more!! Great shop… and just think it’s only the first month of 12~ Mr.CBB You get ballot 25
Hey Mr.CBB
I felt bad about getting free paper towel so I thought a late night snack of chocolate would be good 😉
It has been a great month using coupons and I and thankful for those I trade with and being able to sometimes find a pile of inserts.
Tonight I used one pack of ground chicken and made teriyaki chicken meatballs, I used crushed up special k cereal and vegetable thins, pepper, 3 onion dip seasoning(from epicure) and teriyaki vh sauce mixed everything and then used my scooper to make them the same size and baked them.
The tortellinis were an instore special and tasted okay.
Name Your Store: i.e. Food Barn (Australia)
Total Coupons Used: $0
Total Out Of Pocket: $.0
Week 3- Jan 26-1 Feb, 2015
Do the above for each receipt you have then copy the template below and paste it to the bottom of your shop so we can see your results.
Points Overview (add any other sections you need to show us your savings)
Total Grocery Budget for the Month: $216.67
Total Grocery Budget with any carry-overs $0
Total Gift Cards used to date: $0
Total Rewards Points redeemed this week: $0
Total Rewards Points used to date: $0
PC Points Plus Earned to date:0
Scanning Code of Practice (SCOP) to date $0
Coupon Apps (add any other apps you use to save money)
Snap Groupon to date: $0
Zweet to date: $0
Cart Smart to date: $0
Checkout51 to date: $0
GROCERY SHOP THIS WEEK (add any other sections you need to show expenses and savings)
Stockpile budget 2015 ($0.00): $0
Stockpile budget used to date: $0
Total coupons used this week: $0
Total coupons used to date: $0
Total in-store discounts this week: $0
Total in-store discounts to date: $0
Total spent this week: $0
Total spent so far this month: $98.75
Total over/Under spend this shop: $
Total over/Under spend for the month: $117.92(under)
Total left to spend for the month: $117.92
Total Spent To Date 2015: (does not include stockpile budget) Jan $98.75
Weekly Overview (your final thoughts):
The grocery store didn’t have any oranges…so we didn’t buy anything. Still have healthy snack treats. This is the last buy, for this month. Do I get a ballot?
Hi Kathryn,
I think you officially get the OMG you can go in a grocery store and buy nothing award lol. This is so hard for me to do so well done. You get ballot 26. Mr.CBB P.S any tips for those of us who struggle to leave without buying something?
Thanks 🙂
But with the prices in this store….it’s not hard, to buy nothing…I will be very happy to leave this town in 3 weeks .
Name Your Store: Foodland
1 baking cups -1.29
2 pasta sauce @1.49
Bananas -1.34
2 bagels @1.99
1 soya sauce -2.48
1 icing sugar -2.79
4lbs butter @3.33
2 Cheerios @3.50
10 lbs potatoes -3.99
1 Royale TP -4.44
2 4l milk @4.88
1 jug water -5.49
1 case pop -5.99
Tax -1.52
Total Coupons Used: $0.00
Total Out Of Pocket: $66.37
Foodland
1 lemon -.99
Bananas -1.24
1 Apple sauce -1.79
2 W/W bread @2/5.00
2 cider mix @2.79
1 cranberry cocktail -2.98
1 raisin bread -2.99
2 cases pop @3.33
1 yogurt -3.49
1 stir fry veggies -3.49
2 Gain laundry soap @3.99
1 Franks hot sauce -3.99
2 4l milk @4.88
1 jug water -5.49
1 pack sausage -6.07, 50% off
1 Whiskas cat food -8.99
Tax -3.80
Total coupons -$0.00, Discounts -$3.04
Total OOP a -$80.58
Points Overview (add any other sections you need to show us your savings)
Total Grocery Budget for the Month: $650.00
Total Grocery Budget with any carry-overs $650.00
Total Gift Cards used to date: $0.00
Total Rewards Points redeemed this week: $0.00
Total Rewards Points used to date: $0.00
PC Points Plus Earned to date:0
Scanning Code of Practice (SCOP) to date $0.00
Coupon Apps (add any other apps you use to save money)
Snap Groupon to date: $3.00
Zweet to date: $12.75
Cart Smart to date: $0.00
Checkout51 to date: $5.50
GROCERY SHOP THIS WEEK (add any other sections you need to show expenses and savings)
Stockpile budget 2015 ($25.00): $0.00
Stockpile budget used to date: $22.20
Total coupons used this week: $0.00
Total coupons used to date: $5.29
Total in-store discounts this week: $3.04
Total in-store discounts to date: $19.60
Total spent this week: $146.95
Total spent so far this month: $640.13
Total over/Under spend this shop: $15.55 under
Total over/Under spend for the month: $9.87 under
Total left to spend for the month: $9.87
Total Spent To Date 2015: (does not include stockpile budget) Jan $22.20
Weekly Overview (your final thoughts): I came in under for the month!!! Even with that funky little half week at the start I did it!! This is a good start to the new year… I got the posting done for the month too!! My iPad even behaved so I could use that to post. The cut and paste can be very fussy on the iPad as I don’t have a keyboard for it. Tonight it behaved!! I am going to be trying very hard to keep posting under for the months. That will take planning especially in June (strawberries) and in December for Christmas…
Hi Christine,
You scored some 50% off sausages.. good for you. It’s too bad they don’t ring you up when they put deals on the meat so you get first pick since you are so close to the shop lol. Wouldn’t that be nice. I’m proud of you coming under for the first month you’re starting off on the right food good for you. Posting is not easy but if you set aside time like the budget you WILL succeed. If only people did the grocery game as the one part of their budget they would see a savings. Not everyone likes to budget like we do keeping every receipt but groceries is worth it. I’ve never used an IPAD before but I have an IPOD and it’s a bit odd doing the cut and paste so it’s probably the same. I don’t use it often at all. I have all the faith that you will post under the months and have your strawberries and December sorted out too. The more you post the better you understand your shopping habits, pricing and how much you can spend. It gets easier.. it’s just the patience that is hard for us. You get ballot 28… great month.
A couple of days late, but here goes!
4 – January 26 to 31
• Grocery budget to work with in January: $320
• Total coupons used this week: $0
• Total coupons used to date: $5
• Total RCSS gas coupons used this week: $0
• Total RCSS gas coupons used to date: $2.29
• Total value PC Plus points redeemed this week: $0
• Total value PC Plus points redeemed to date: $40
• Total gift cards used this week: $0
• Total gift cards used to date: $0
• Total student discounts this week: $4.01
• Total student discounts to date: $21.69
• Total tax savings RCSS this week: 0
• Total tax savings RCSS to date: $1.95
• Total spent this week: $74.85
• Total spent so far this month: $234.10
• Total left to spend for the month: $85.90
• Total Spent To Date 2015: $234.10
RCSS: Nesquik syrup 3.00 (PM), NN white vinegar 1.77, NN Ranch 1.49, Hellmans 2.97 (PM), Lactose free margarine 1.00, 1% milk 3.97 x 2, Amooza twists 3.98, IOGOraspberry/banana yogurt tub 1.88 (PM), Raspberry KIK yogurt 2.00, cucumber .88 (PM), 10lb potatoes 1.88 (PM), Cauliflower 1.88 (PM), bananas .77, grapes 4.70 (PM), broccoli 1.6, celery 1.47 (PM) grape tomatoes 1.97 x 2, snap peas 1.50, organic romaine hearts 2.98, less student discount 4.01: Total 43. 70
Target: Artificial vanilla large jar 3.99, clearance gum 1.97 x 3, tax .77: Total 10.65 rounded down 2 cent
Walmart: Oil of olay bar soap 8 pack 5.97 x 2, great value chips 1.44 and 1.00, roasted peanuts 3.86, tax 2.37:Total 20.61 rounded down 1 cent
Your Independent Grocer: Quaker Oat Square cereal 2.88 x 3, IOGO yogurt drink .89, open stock pop .29, tax .08:Total 9.90
It ended off a pretty good month, a surplus left over that I am setting aside for emergency grocery money for the summer. It could be another very tight summer for us. I can’t say I’m disappointed, but I do wish I had done a bit better. Meat has been the big draw. But, I am doing my best to offset the costs elsewhere. This week was our most expensive of the month. I usually have a stock of the soap we use, but after 6 months, I was out. Fortunately they were on sale at Walmart, so I snagged two boxes, sadly our RCSS doesn’t stock that specific 8 pack so I couldn’t PM it and get my student discount. That’s ok though. Target shop was a stop in to have a look around before they close while I was in our nearest one. The regular price on the vanilla was better than any I pay in our city, so happy to have it, the gum was clearance and my hubby chews it daily. Good stock up. Walmart was snack for hubby and son to have while watching the Super Bowl. Also, YIG was unadvertised cereal, so no PM, but I grabbed each of us a drink rather than an expensive one at the convenience store. I did grab the flyer to PM next week since it was Saturday for that stop. Pleased, but we can do better. I am tracking everything on a spreadsheet now, exactly what we buy and how much. At the end of 2015 I want to see how much went to junk, or if we aren’t too bad at all.
Hi Angela
Did you redeem $40 in PC points already in 2015? WOW.. .that’s great. Good for you putting the money aside for emergency money during the summer. That usually is the case when we are dealing with higher priced products like meat. We have to save in other areas in order to stick to the budget. I’m glad to read that you can do better. That is what I love about the GGC. You can see everything right in front of you to analyze and by typing it out you get to live through the shopping experience again and really take a closer look at what was purchased. We then form thoughts on each purchase. That’s great you are tracking everything. We do that with our overall budget but the GGC is a great start for anyone who doesn’t want to budget or budgets and wants to break down this specific category further since it’s a big budget expenses. Keep up the great work. You get ballot 1. Mr.CBB
Yes, we did redeem the $40 already in PC points in 2015. Our goal is to get meat when it’s a great sale with the PC plus to put a bit in the freezer. However, the bulk of the points we’ve accumulated we are hanging on to until the summer, hopefully for more meat!
This week our budget is $100 making this month $500.
With that said I did go over this week/month. Our little miss is now officially only having bottles of homo milk so I am still figuring out the numbers on milk and how much we need and use and how it will work in our budget. I did stock up on baby cereal and canned fruit at amazing prices!!
Costco
$10.99 kraft parmesan cheese
$2.09 1L coffee cream
$11.59 4pk tums
$3.29 brown gravy mix
$3.99 2lbs zucchini
$5.31 4L homo milk
$5.71 4L chocolate milk
$43.55 total oop
H&W Produce
$2.28 yams/sweet potato
$2.60 acorn squash
$4.92 butternut squash
$2.98 whole head of cauliflower – really nice big one!
.79 eggplant
$3.99 25lbs yellow onions
$5.99 20lb russet potatoes
.72 bananas
$24.25 total oop
McGavins bread basket
$1.66×3 van/choco/straw wafers
$1.59×7 bread
$14.05 total oop
Walmart
.50×12 frozen minute maid punch
$2.63 6pk pop
$9.25 total oop
Sobeys
$2.31 2L pop
$1.11×2 organic pop – clearance
$1 hashbrowns
$8.99 olymel chicken chunkies
$4.99-instore fpc wub olymel delissio frozen pizza
$2.50×2-$2C&$1CO51 halls bag
$1.89×2-bogoC del monte fruit cup
$19.90 total oop
$3.89 total coupons
Superstore
$2.98×8-$1.50Cx8 Heinz baby cereal
.97×16 del monte canned fruit
.99 snack pak pudding
$1.50×2 snap peas
.99 mango nestle tea
$4.96 1lb blueberries
$38.30 total oop
$12 total coupons
$149.30 weekly total oop
$15.89 weekly total coupons
$567.02 monthly total oop
$200.83 monthly coupons/discounts
$3.18 gift card used
Hi Juanita
What are all the purees you make for your daughter? I know we are doing a post but I see you buy lots of squash and cauliflower. Is that for baby too? My wife and I had frozen fruit in the freezer and we puree that into muffin tins then pop into a container in the freezer for him. He loves mangoes too.. omg he goes nuts! How much homo milk to you reckon you go through a week? So she’s still eating cereal too? What kind? Our son likes Milupa. Lots of baby questions… well done with the shop and not too big of a dent in going over but I’m sure you will more than make up for it. Do you see your coupons as successful this year as last? You get ballot 8. Mr.CBB