12 Foods Farm Kitchens Always Froze That Nobody Freezes Anymore

12 Foods Farm Kitchens Always Froze That Nobody Freezes Anymore Open your refrigerator and look at what is in there right now that will not get used this week. The half block of cheese. The carton of buttermilk you bought for one batch of biscuits. The bananas going brown on the counter behind you. Every one of those is already paid for. And every one is about to get paid for twice, once when you bought it and again when you replace it next week. Your refrigerator buys you days. Your freezer buys you months, and nearly everything in that list can go in tonight. These are twelve foods farm kitchens always froze, and exactly how to do each one so it comes back out worth eating. The one that has to be grated first or it crumbles the moment your knife touches it. The jar your grandmother made every October that nobody should be making now. The dough that goes into a hot oven still frozen solid. And the one on this list that saves more money than all the rest together. And number one is the one nobody believes until they try it, and it is standing in your refrigerator door right now. WHAT I MENTION → An open gallon of milk keeps about a week in the refrigerator and about three months in the freezer. Pour off about a cup first, because milk swells as it freezes and a full jug can burst. Thaw it in the refrigerator, never on the counter, and shake it hard before using. → Pureed or mashed pumpkin and winter squash cannot be home canned at all, in a water bath or a pressure canner. The National Center for Home Food Preservation only has a tested method for one inch cubes, because the puree is too dense for heat to move through reliably and pumpkin is a low acid food. Freezing the puree is the recommended way. → Sweetened whipped cream freezes in dollops on a baking sheet and keeps one to two months, according to the National Center for Home Food Preservation. → A bag of dried beans costs a fraction of the same beans in cans. Cooked and frozen flat in can sized portions with some of their own liquid, they replace the can entirely. → Hard cheese keeps about six months frozen, but it has to be grated first. A frozen block crumbles as soon as a knife touches it. → Eggs freeze for up to a year, but never in the shell. The inside swells and splits it. Break them, whisk gently, and freeze one egg per muffin cup. → Butter keeps six to nine months frozen with no change in baking. → Unbaked biscuits go from freezer to hot oven without thawing, with a few extra minutes. → Freezer burn does not make food unsafe, according to the Department of Agriculture. It dries the food out and those patches can be cut away. Air is what causes it, so the air gets pressed out of every bag. → Food thawed in the refrigerator can safely be frozen a second time, though it loses some moisture. → Eggs in the shell, unopened cans, and anything you want to eat crisp and raw do not go in the freezer at all. SOURCES → United States Department of Agriculture, Food Safety and Inspection Service, on freezing and food safety and on freezer burn → Ask USDA, on freezing eggs out of the shell → National Center for Home Food Preservation, University of Georgia, on canning pumpkin and winter squash, on the pumpkin butter warning, and on freezing whipped cream Tell me in the comments which one of these surprised you most. And when you thaw that first gallon, tell me whether anybody at your table could taste the difference. And tell me what part of the country you are writing from. I read every one. Nothing here is lost. Just untaught. #freezer #farmhouse #oldways #frugalliving #foodwaste