Clearly, the New York Times’ Mark Bittman is a man after my own heart. On Monday I blogged about Big Batch Cooking—cooking large amounts of food to freeze—and in today’s paper, Bittman gives us his handy guide to freezing just about everything you can think of.
Ladies and gentlemen, in honor of Mr. Bittman, I’m about to share with you something very few people ever get the chance to see. It’s something I’m pretty embarrassed about, to tell the truth, but purely because of its appearance. Its quality, reliability, and sheer usefulness is unsurpassed. That’s right, I’m talking about… the contents of my freezer:
Don’t be shocked. It’s mayhem, I know. There are days when we’re afraid to open it, for fear of landslides. Let me tell you, three pounds of frozen ground turkey hurts when it drops on your foot. But if you look a little more closely, you’ll see why I’m proud: My freezer is stocked. There’s an array of frozen vegetables in there—some purchased that way, and some frozen by me. Individually bagged shredded roast chicken. A gallon bag of Three-Bean Turkey Chili. Whole wheat pizza dough. Frozen strawberries, peaches, blueberries, bananas, and mangoes. Empanadas. Trader Joe’s chicken potstickers, which are fantastic when it’s 8:00, we’ve just put Harry to bed, and I haven’t even begun to think about dinner. Whole wheat hamburger buns and buffalo burgers to go with. Nutrigrain waffles. And of course, ice cream—we keep it hidden in a shopping bag so Curious Harry won’t realize there’s ice cream in the house and demand it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Every parent, new or old, deserves ice cream.
Usually, there’s Little Gram’s Sauce and Little Gram’s Meatballs in there, but we’re fresh out of both. Occasionally you’ll find individual balls of Unbelievably Good Chocolate Chunk Cookies, too, but I have an unfortunate tendency to enjoy those straight from the freezer. They don’t last long.
What’s in your freezer? And how the heck does one keep it organized? Stephen and I are highly organized people, generally speaking, but this freezer is a disaster.