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Farm Kitchen:  Food freezing and storage  |
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Judi
Farmgirl in Training
34 Posts
34 Posts |
 Posted - Aug 03 2005 : 6:18:23 PM
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Does anyone have any good food freezing tips? I have a pretty decent vegetable garden and am wondering about these machines that wrap food in plastic without air in them. The machines are kind of expensive...it'd take me a few years of freezing food to offset the cost! But the food tends to get ice crystals in it otherwise.
Also, there is some concern recently about using plastic. Has anyone found good alternatives to plastic containers for freezing or storage? |
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realme52
True Blue Farmgirl
106 Posts
Klara
Gatesville
Texas
USA
106 Posts |
Posted - Aug 04 2005 : 06:18:48 AM
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Judi,
I have heard about the plastic concerns regarding their use in freezing (and possibly re-heating,etc.) I am pretty much clueless myself as to what a good alternative would be! Glass bowls with matching lids, of cause, yeah, right!...Sounds great, but unrealistic for me. I could neither afford nor store all those bowls. Some things may wrap well in freezer paper. Economic, because you can choose your size and there is little waste. But just wait and they'll discover what is in the coating of that paper! So I just go with the plastic freezer bags. I've read that you should NOT use the plastic bags that are not meant for freezer use, because they leak even more. And I am never re-using mine. Once frozen they are supposed to be more porous and the leakage increases.
As to the suck-the-air-out-device you mentioned,my oppinion: I had one some years ago and gave it away. Too expensive for my budget. You have to get those special foils and the manufacturer knows it, so they charge a fortune. I also found it very difficult to seal in anything that had some amount of liquid to it, because the liquid always got sucked into the "nipple" (?) and interfered with the seal. And those foils leak contaminants just like the others. So I myself just put up with a few ice crystals....
from this hour i ordain myself loss'd of limits and imaginary lines -Walt Whitman |
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Aunt Jenny
True Blue Farmgirl
11381 Posts
Jenny
middle of
Utah
USA
11381 Posts |
Posted - Aug 04 2005 : 08:01:12 AM
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I have a food saver..the air sucking thing. I really like it for some things. The bags are expensive (I think realme52 must have had a different type..no foil with this one) but reusable (they are real thick and you can even turn them inside out and wash in the dishwasher. I have done this if I used them for corn on the cob or a veggie of some sort but not if I used them for a tomatoey sauce or raw meat. I love that they take out all the air and things do stay without freezer burn alot longer. That being said..I didn't buy it myself, second son (grown) got it for me for Christmas a few years back. I use plastic freezer bags some too. I tend to can things more than freeze them..I use my big freezer mostly to store meat. We buy 1/2 beef and sometimes a whole pig...from a local butcher (meat he raised himself..he is also a farmer) each fall. I do freeze pesto and things like that and keep them in the top of the fridge freezer..and I use little glass canning jars (the 1/2 cup size) for that usually.It is hard to know what the alternative to freezing veggies in plastic is. ou can't exactly use butcher wrap!!
Jenny in Utah
The best things in life arn't things! |
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Farm Kitchen: Food freezing and storage |
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Food freezing and storage
