Freezer Organization: For Those with Lots of Meat

Dairy farmers that we are, beef is an abundant blessing at our house that we too often take for granted. I honestly cannot remember the last time I bought beef in a grocery store...probably close to 8 years ago when we lived in North Carolina.

If you are like us and get your beef in quarters or halves, freezer organization can get a bit chaotic. I do not like digging through chunks of frozen meat up to my elbows to find a package of hamburger in the middle of winter. So I thought I'd show what works really well for our family!



1. Purchase a decent sized chest freezer...it has been the best food investment I think we've ever made. Buying meat in bulk will save your family money. If you have the space and farmers near by, I highly recommend it. We also are able to freeze large quantities of summer vegetables and fruits in season or when they go on sale.

2. Upon bringing your meat home, take out your previous supply of freezer meat. Using large bags as seen below (our meat packer supplies them), sort your meat into a few manageable categories. I go with

Hamburger
Roasts/Stew Meat/Soup Bones
Steaks

3. Place your previous meat in the top of your bags to use up first.




Hope this helps someone out there!:)

For more kitchen tips, check out a great site called Tammy's Recipes.

Frozen Bananas & Banana Milkshakes

Oh the yummy possibilities with frozen bananas! I've been blessed to hit our grocery store twice in the last few months when bananas were on sale for 39c/lb...with a whole bunch of bunches on the reduced rack for 29c/lb! That adds up in a hurry with bananas! This time I purchased ~7 large bunches for around $4.50.

I used to just throw whole bananas in the freezer with peels on. My current, favorite way of preserving them is to peel, chunk, throw on a cookie sheet and flash freezer overnight. I first read about trying this on moneysavingmom. Next morning, just throw in a ziploc bag and they'll last a couple months in the freezer.

Here are great things to do with these yummy chunks-o-nana:
-Throw into smoothies - so sweet, we don't add sweetener to our smoothies anymore.
-Thaw and mash as baby food.
-Thaw and use in banana bread.
-Banana Milkshakes: Yumm-o! Our current favorite...




~8 Banana chunks (enough to fill your blender 1/2-2/3 full)
Milk (we use whole)
Vanilla extract (I don't use pure for this)



-Fill blender 1/2-2/3 full by loosely tossing in frozen banana chunks.
-Pour milk in 'til one inch below top of bananas.
-Blend until really thick and smooth. Add more milk if not creamy enough.
-Add vanilla and blend a bit longer.
-Drizzle with chocolate syrup if desired and enjoy!

Freezer Corn

Sweet Corn
Sugar
Salt
Pint/Quart freezer bags
Ice
Large pot
Cooling bowls
Angel food cake pan
Knives

-Place cobs on angel food cake pan and slice sides off into bottom of pan.
-Measure 9 Cups corn and place in saucepot.
-Mix with 1 Tb salt, 1/4 C sugar, 2 1/2 C water.
-Stir and heat to a boil. Boil 5 min.
-Pour into bowls and place in sink with small amount of ice water to speed up cooling process.
-Bag and freeze!!
-To serve, place in saucepot with small amount of water, heat on high until completely thawed, then turn off.


This recipe is from my mother-in-law. She taught me so much about preserving. This corn is wonderful!!!!