Freezer Stock Up: What to Buy & How to Use It

Happy Thursday Friends!

Wow, what a week its been already. 

Here in Japan they restricted the movement of the soldiers and families

to the base due to COVID-19. Luckily we have awesome medical facilities, a post office, small grocery store, and even smaller home store.

To help with our sanity, the husband and I went on 

a little shopping trip before everyone was paid to stock up two weeks

worth of groceries. We came home and 70% of what we bought went straight into the freezer. 

Freezing the majority of our groceries and taking out only what we need

every day saves us TONS of money every month

and I wanted to share those tips with you all!

I know during this pandemic, access to fresh foods might not be as easy, 

so having healthy options frozen is SO important! 

So without further ado...

Here's how we stock our freezer for our small family and how to use it!

Freezer Door

FRUIT: This is a no-brainer for us here on the island. Fruit is incredibly expensive and has limited availability. So I use frozen fruits and spinach for my husband's post workout smoothies ever day. I also use frozen fruits like blueberries for making muffins and pancakes.

COOKIE DOUGH: Yep, guilty! We usually buy 3 types of cookie dough and spread those out over 2-3 weeks. There's no need to thaw before cooking, you just add a few minutes to the bake time (instructions on the package).

BUTTER: We always keep a big box of butter and I pull out one portion, as needed. 

LUNCH PIZZA: Occasionally my husband likes to have a little treat for lunch. So I always try to buy 1 or 2 personal pizzas for him to enjoy. 

Main Freezer Portion

TOP SHELF

BREADS: (Pictured Left) We put whole loaves of bread in the freezer (tied in grocery bags) because there is no way the two of us could finish a loaf before it goes bad! The great thing about that is, we can either take out things like buns the day before (if we've meal planned) or pop them in the toaster on 5 and it's ready to eat in a snap! We always have 1 loaf of sandwich bread, 1 loaf of Texas toast, 1 loaf of cinnamon raisin toast, and 1 package of hamburger buns ready to go. Sliced bread is SO easy to separate when frozen, so like this morning I pulled out two slices, threw them in the toaster and they were ready quickly.

MEATS: (Pictured Right) I like to keep 4 pounds of ground beef (separated), thin sliced pork chops, thin sliced beef, andouille sausage, breakfast sausage, frozen chicken breasts, shrimp, and a few cornish game hens. I separate meat into the appropriate portion sizes for my husband and I so I never accidentally waste any when we forget to eat leftovers. 

BOTTOM SHELF

CHEESES: Did you know that if you freeze a large bag of shredded cheese you can take a small portion out 10 minutes before you need to use it and it will thaw perfectly in that time? We do it ALL the time! I even put it fully frozen to directly into the eggs when I make scrambled with cheese and it cooks like a dream! We also keep sliced cheeses and only pull it out a piece at a time for things like grilled cheese, chicken salad sandwiches, etc.

VEGGIES: Last, but certainly not least, our veggies! I always keep ears of corn, broccoli, squash, okra, spinach, sliced bell peppers, and french fries on hand. From these simple frozen ingredients, we can have sides for any number of dishes.