10 Food Waste Freezer Hacks To Reduce Your Leftovers

If you are into cooking, then the freezer might come in handy for reducing the waste you are producing. 

Many of us throw away food which is okay to consume still, if only we were aware of some tricks. We need to stop buying, cooking and eating more than we should and need. 

If you are trying to reduce the waste you are producing you should start using the freezer more often. Once you know how to do it you will be able to store the leftover food you would otherwise throw away. Here are some good ways to use the freezer to its fullest potential. The environment and your wallet will thank you.

Ice Cube Trays

Make use of the ice cube trays for many different things. You can put the leftover gravy you have laying around, chocolate sauce, stock, cranberry, minced herbs, fruit justice and so many more. When you have frozen them you can put them in a bag and again in the freezer. They will be ready for you to use once the time comes. 

Blanching & Freezing

Almost anything that you have leftover could be processed by blanching in boiling water for a couple of minutes. After that you should put the food in cold water to stop the cooking process. You can try this method with cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, carrots, broccoli, eggplant, green beans, and many others. The same could be done with some fruits. 

Freezing Citrus

In case you have some lemons, limes, or oranges lying around you can cut them in small pieces, spread them on a tray in the freezer and freeze them. After that you can put them in a bag and use them when preparing some drinks, soups, salads, and dressings.

Freezing Stone Fruit

You can do this with peaches, nectarines, cherries, and plums. You can put them as is or you can peel them, cut them in pieces, put on a tray and later transfer in a bag so that they are ready for baking or making a smoothie more easily once you need them. 

Freezing in Metal Cans

There is no need for transferring the remains of the canned food which you didn’t get the chance to use when cooking. You can simply put the can in the freezer and cover it with tin foil or plastic wrap.

Freezing Bread

Bread is great for freezing since you can do it when it is in many different states – fresh, as a dough or even stale. You can make some sandwiches and then freeze them, the stale bread would make for perfect breadcrumbs when you need them or you can put some garlic butter on it and freeze like that to be ready to make a quick garlic bread. It is super simple! 

Freezing Stock Ingredients

You can make it a habit to have a specific bag with stock ingredients. You can put inside bones, herbes, leaves or vegetables. Once the day comes for making delicious stock you will throw it all in the pot. Afterwards you can actually put in the freezer the prepared stock as well. Pour it in a container and in the freezer it goes. 

Freezing Bananas

You can put bananas whole in the freezer or the better option is to peel them and put them into pieces. Put them on parchment paper and freeze like that. In this way you will need less time before they are ready to use afterwards. You can do the same with the berries you have laying around.

Freezing Eggs

A fun fact is that you can also very successfully freeze eggs.

Freezing Dairy

Many people throw away dairy since it goes bad quickly. Did you know that you can freeze it? You can put yogurt, cheese, whipped cream and so many more in the freezer and in this way cut down on the foods you are wasting. Great, right?