What's your method of freezing?

[Phentex]

I have some meat I got in bulk and want to separate it into smaller portions. I am usually hesitant to store much in the freezer because we lose power pretty often.

Do you use freezer bags? Paper for meats?

[Tab]

1. do you have a separate freezer or is this part of the fridge?

you might want to coisder a small case freezer - youo can get them foro as little as $250 nowadays.

they shouod hold their owm in an ouotage better than a rride freezer wouud.

Consider getting a vacuum pack, like a 'seal a mea' or somoething. We were given one as a wedding present and i confess to not using it enougg, but it sucks all the air out, leaves it vacuum packaged, then then you freeze it.

- t

[Warpy]

2. Seconded. You can get a 6 cubic foot chest freezer

from Sears that will hold a remarkable amount of frozen food and will keep it frozen for up to 24 hours without power, thawing only from the top down even then and very slowly.

I know because I had one when I lived in a hurricane prone area.

Freezer burn is the major enemy of meat and other frozen foods. The more air you can squeeze out of a package and the more air tight you can make the package, the better it will be. I like ziplock freezer bags not only because they work well, but also because you can see what's inside them.

The other enemy is time. There are sources on the web that will tell you the length of time you can reasonably expect to keep frozen foods. They don't become dangerous if you keep them frozen longer, they just lose a lot of flavor and often texture.

[Phentex]

5. My freezer is *usually* packed with veggies from my

father-in-law's garden by now and we'd eat from it all winter. But thanks to the drought and some other issues, I seem to have just some soup leftovers and old easter candy hiding out in there. *sigh* I am jealous of all of you who got nice tomatoes this year.

[Phentex]

4. Thanks. I have an upright freezer

was wondering about an alternative to plastic storage. Looks like the vacuum pack may be the way to go.

[Stinky The Clown]

3. Use a food saver type vacuum sealer for anything you will keep more than a week.

It keeps things far longer and in far better shape than any other way of freezing.

We have one of the FoodSaver brand jobbies, but I also use the Reynolds thing that is only ten bux at the grocery store. The FoodSaver is faster and draws a bigger vacuum, but for the price, the Reynolds thing is unbeatable.

[Phentex]

6. I seem to remember a discussion about the Reynolds version

and as fate would have it, I just found a coupon for one. Not that ten bucks is major, but I think the coupon is some kind of signal that I need to get one of those. :)

I was trying to avoid plastic. But maybe I'm being a pansy about it.

Thanks.

[NMDemDist2]

7. i wrap my stuff in the cling and stick wrap first THEN use the Reynolds bags

and suck all the air out.

[Stinky The Clown]

10. The Reynolds bags are reusable

They're a huge pain in the ass to clean .... but they **can** be reused.

[sandnsea]

8. Freezer bags, paper, foil

Anything that's handy. Never had a problem in 30 years. I have a vacuum sealer too, and I do like it the best. But it isn't remotely necessary.

[eleny]

9. I wrap in a freezer plastic wrap and then put them in larger bags

As much as I'm trying to avoid using plastics, plastic wraps and bags are so helpful.

My freezer wrap of choice is Freeze-tite. It's pricey but is so easy to use and lasts forever. It's a big box as is Stretch-tite.
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