Making Amazing Meals From The Pantry - #3 (What's This?)

 

Amazingly, I’m still pretty much on a pantry challenge again this month as I am using up all of the items I squirreled in the kitchen freezer at the holidays and since.  It has been a lot of reheat and eat meals as well as a boatload of fresh salads and frozen vegetables.  Not too terribly exciting.

 

But, what I have been doing a lot this month is preserving a variety of different foods for the deep freezer.  I had picked up a four pound bag of whole organic strawberries when I was at Costco.  I divided the strawberries into smaller packages and vacuum sealed them for the deep freezer for long term food storage (LTFS) keeping some for the kitchen freezer to use now.

 

Sharp Cheddar & Monterey Jack

Next I sat down at the dining room table and grated two 2# blocks of cheese I had bought at the end of last year.  They had best buy dates far into April so I wasn’t in a big hurry, obviously, to get that chore done.  But now I have it all grated and in bags for the bin I keep for cheese in the kitchen freezer.

 

I realized I wasn’t going to eat them before they would start to ice up and freezer burn so I took one of the bags of frozen fries I had made up and vacuum sealed it to put in the deep freezer.  The other one is in the kitchen freezer and will be used in some upcoming meals.

 

After that I took three bell peppers I had found on the markdown produce rack one day at the supermarket and sliced them up along with an onion I had rolling around in the crisper drawer in my refrigerator.  I divided them in half and vacuum sealed two packages and added them to the deep freezer.  I plan to use them in future fajitas or stir fry meals.

 

I had picked up a package of green onions at Trader Joes for the sole purpose of slicing and vacuum sealing them for the deep freezer.  I then took the root ends and placed them in a jar of water to re-grow.  After ten days I had enough growth to trim and slice up to make up another half bag which I put in the kitchen freezer.  I will either use them now or add to them until I have a full bag to vacuum seal.

 

At the beginning of the month I mentioned I had scored a great deal on sirloin steaks which I divided into individual portions as well as sliced and cut up some of the steaks to go in other recipes.  I then vacuum sealed those to go into the deep freezer as well.

 

I took out a bag of flour I had placed into a Ziploc bag and vacuum sealed it instead then put it back in the deep freezer.  This will help to keep the flour fresher and make it far less likely for it to absorb any flavors or odors from other foods I have in there.

 

The miscellaneous shelf in the deep freezer is starting fill up

Butter was on sale at Albertson’s so I picked up two pounds, which was the limit, and after vacuum sealing them in a large bag I added them to the freezer along with the cream cubes I had made in ice cube trays and vacuum sealed.  The butter and cream is the first I’ve added to the deep freezer for LTFS.

 

Newer fruits & vegetables coming in now get vacuum sealed

Older vegetables in the deep freezer I plan to use up here shortly 

As you know I like to use my kitchen freezer for open packages and items I am using in the next few months while the deep freezer holds the stock up items I plan to consume further down the line.  I still have plenty of frozen fruit and vegetables, loads of grated cheeses, some bread products and some meat in the kitchen freezer to work my way through.  While I work on that I can focus more on LTFS and filling up the shelves in my cute little deep freezer.

 

Open packages of fruits & vegetables in the kitchen freezer

Meats & cheeses

Meal prepped items on the bottom
Slowly, but surely, I'm making progress!

So while I didn’t do any big meal preparations this past month to share with you I did manage to do a lot of freezer food preparation in addition to all the home canning I have done so far this year.  Also, I am definitely making progress on the using up older items so they do not freezer burn and go to waste.  I will continue with my pantry challenge through the end of the month and then see where I sit in April.  Looking at what I still have in my freezer I may have to work on it some more in April.  Coming off of a year of an extremely low grocery budget in 2024 I’d say, “What a problem to have!” 😊