March is National Frozen Food Month,
which might conjure images of frozen tv dinners or perhaps specialty, calorie controlled meals. I’d like to present a different picture.
Growing up, our family freezer was usually filled with meats, vegetables and fruit, all carefully packaged in sizes for one meal for our family. TV dinners were a rarity for us; we lived on a farm and grew much of what we ate, along with frequenting the u-pick farms for produce our farm did not have.
Freezer Burn is actually just air coming in contact with the food, either from a rip in the container or perhaps just too thin a material. Either way, the food is technically safe to eat, but may not taste as good and will have fewer nutrients retained. If it’s just a small area, remove the freezer burned area and use the remainder. If it is most of the package, consider sending it to your compost pile.
After we were married, we continued the tradition. Our growing family required more freezer space, so we replaced our smaller sized one with an extra large. When we turned to a vegetarian lifestyle, our freezer contents took on a new look, but still required space. Now, the gluten loaf might take up the space where a beef roast might have been and we usually store extra flax seed in the freezer to keep it fresh.
Diane,
I have found your webpage very valuable. Thanks for so much information. I have never used glass for freezing because I thought it would break. Can I use mason jars or does it have to be a special type of glass? Where do I buy stainless steal containers with covers? I always struggle with freezer burns.
Thank you,
Thank you, Wilma. We use the glass mason jars for freezing without any problems, as long as we are careful to leave a couple of inches of air space above the food to allow for expansion. Some of the jelly jars are marked as “freezer safe.” I am looking for a source for stainless and will let you know when I find one that is trusted.