clearing out my freezer
By Kelli M
@spiderdust (14756)
San Jose, California
February 4, 2023 4:32pm CST
I'm trying to organize my freezers so I can defrost one of them and make better use of what we have without wasting it. I discovered several partial packages of frozen appetizers (such as mini pizza bagels, mozzarella sticks, etc), likely leftovers from New Year's Eve and some other events.
I pulled them all out for lunch and fired up the air fryer. The little kids are delighted! The older kids are happy too. We've got a spread of the pizza bagels, some dinosaur-shaped broccoli & potato bites, the mozzarella sticks, some chicken/corn/black bean flautas, plus some carrot sticks and red bell pepper strips. There's ketchup, ranch dressing, and sour cream available for dipping.
I'm having a bowl of chicken fried cauliflower rice that I got free from work at some point and promptly forgot about until today. I also found 3 frozen burritos that the other half likes to take to work, a box of The Tattooed Chef cauliflower burgers (free from work), a box of spinach & potato bites, and assorted partial packages of wontons and dumplings. Maybe tomorrow we'll be having a weird lunch again!
Do you ever end up with what I call "freezer fossils", things in the back of the freezer that you forgot were there?
13 people like this
15 responses
@DaddyEvil (174699)
• United States
5 Feb 23
Yes, I do. I found more frozen smoked turkey in the freezer today. The date on the freezer bags shows it was leftovers from this last Thanksgiving. And here I thought we were completely out of smoked turkey. Guess what's thawing in the fridge tonight. 
I'll be making pasta with smoked turkey for dinner tomorrow.
I'll be making pasta with smoked turkey for dinner tomorrow.3 people like this
@DaddyEvil (174699)
• United States
5 Feb 23
@spiderdust 
Of course you were... I found enough to share if you want to come pick it up. 
I use Ziploc Freezer bags. I put enough for one meal into each Quart baggie, roll the bag down to take out all the air and then seal it into another Quart Ziploc bag after rolling that down to take out the air. Things don't get freezer burn that way and I store single meals in a cardboard box to differentiate between stuff I've made and store bought products.
Of course you were... I found enough to share if you want to come pick it up.
I use Ziploc Freezer bags. I put enough for one meal into each Quart baggie, roll the bag down to take out all the air and then seal it into another Quart Ziploc bag after rolling that down to take out the air. Things don't get freezer burn that way and I store single meals in a cardboard box to differentiate between stuff I've made and store bought products.3 people like this
@spiderdust (14756)
• San Jose, California
5 Feb 23
@DaddyEvil What about scrambled eggs? Do you package them for the freezer the same way?
3 people like this
@spiderdust (14756)
• San Jose, California
5 Feb 23
I was thinking about your smoked turkey while going through our freezer. 
How do you store things in your freezer? Do you use ziplocs, or vacuum sealed bags, or freezer containers?
How do you store things in your freezer? Do you use ziplocs, or vacuum sealed bags, or freezer containers?2 people like this
@TheHorse (238356)
• Walnut Creek, California
5 Feb 23
@spiderdust Some things are best put in the dumpster. Just the thought of eating my 4-yearold lattkes gives me a tummy ache.
2 people like this
@spiderdust (14756)
• San Jose, California
5 Feb 23
@TheHorse I did toss some things in the trash, like some very old, very overfrosted, very thawed-and-refrozen bananas that weren't even recognizable anymore.
1 person likes this
@spiderdust (14756)
• San Jose, California
5 Feb 23
I have "fridge fossils" too! I found some other random things when going through another freezer... some "chicken" nuggets made from jackfruit, cauliflower gnocchi with pesto, zucchini noodles with pesto, and some sticks of butter.
3 people like this
@RasmaSandra (98106)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
4 Feb 23
Sounds like a delicious buffet, Nope my freezer is not that big and I never managed to fill it up completely,
3 people like this
@spiderdust (14756)
• San Jose, California
4 Feb 23
I have a small deep freezer, a large upright freezer, and freezers attached to both the kitchen freezer and garage freezer. The upright is the one that needs serious defrosting.
3 people like this
@spiderdust (14756)
• San Jose, California
5 Feb 23
Would you believe my goal is empty freezers and pantry so we know what we actually need and will use?
2 people like this
@sallypup (69220)
• Centralia, Washington
5 Feb 23
@spiderdust You're a freezer hoarder? I need to clean my back freezer cause flax seed meal got dumped in there.
2 people like this
@spiderdust (14756)
• San Jose, California
5 Feb 23
@sallypup I don't mean to be a freezer hoarder, it's that several people will buy things and put them in the freezer, and then I lose track of what we have. I just want to use up what we already have before adding to it.
1 person likes this
@TheHorse (238356)
• Walnut Creek, California
5 Feb 23
@spiderdust I'll just attach this old blues tune. Draw your own conclusions.
Your browser isn’t supported anymore. Update it to get the best YouTube experience and our latest features. Learn moreRemind me later
1 person likes this
@spiderdust (14756)
• San Jose, California
5 Feb 23
Sounds like it's time to eat them! Do you have yours with applesauce or sour cream?
1 person likes this
@spiderdust (14756)
• San Jose, California
5 Feb 23
Wait, you said "lattes", not "latkes". I'm assuming it was a typo and not a stash of frozen coffees.
1 person likes this
@spiderdust (14756)
• San Jose, California
4 Feb 23
I found some pretty frostbitten and refrozen bananas from two years ago. They got tossed. Pints of ice cream that sounded good in the store, but weren't as interesting when we got home, also freezer burned, also got tossed.
2 people like this
@spiderdust (14756)
• San Jose, California
5 Feb 23
Sounds like you guys should pull them all out for lunch too!
1 person likes this
@GardenGerty (169568)
• United States
10 Feb 23
Even have fridge fossils from time to time. I combined several into a unique meal the other night.
1 person likes this
@celticeagle (189957)
• Boise, Idaho
5 Feb 23
Those freezer fossils have been found in my freezer from time to time. Weird lunches help out a lot, don't they?
1 person likes this
@celticeagle (189957)
• Boise, Idaho
7 Feb 23
@spiderdust ......That's what I want to do as well. Smoothies.
@spiderdust (14756)
• San Jose, California
5 Feb 23
I think we're going to have weird smoothies for a while too... lots of partially opened bags of fruit in the freezer.
1 person likes this
@RebeccasFarm (91297)
• United States
5 Feb 23
You are a thrifty Mama. Have a lovely Sunday.
1 person likes this
@spiderdust (14756)
• San Jose, California
5 Feb 23
Thank you! You have a lovely Sunday as well. Do you have anything planned today, or is it just a day at home?
1 person likes this
@spiderdust (14756)
• San Jose, California
5 Feb 23
I think today's lunch will have a similar theme.
@thislittlepennyearns (68246)
• Defuniak Springs, Florida
5 Feb 23
What brand spinach and potato bites and broccoli and potato bites.
Also Amazon has this veggies powder you add to stuff like mac and cheese for kids to get more veggies. have you ever used that? or know anything about it
1 person likes this
@spiderdust (14756)
• San Jose, California
5 Feb 23
The veggie/potato bites were Dr. Praeger's brand and called Spinach Littles and Broccoli Littles, respectively. I think I got them from my store, but I've also seen them at Target.
I think the powder you're talking about is called Enof. I have a tin of it that I got from Amazon, but it's gone up a LOT in price since I last bought it.
1 person likes this
@thislittlepennyearns (68246)
• Defuniak Springs, Florida
6 Feb 23
@spiderdust easie peasie is the brand that i found on amazon, i think each bottle was 14.99
@aureliah (24687)
• Kenya
7 Feb 23
Thats a lot of delicacies. I rarely use my freezer. I mostly prepare fresh meals
@spiderdust (14756)
• San Jose, California
5 Feb 23
Sadly, mine is not very organized. Or rather, it wasn't organized, and it's a little better now.
1 person likes this
@CarolDM (203396)
• Nashville, Tennessee
5 Feb 23
@spiderdust Glad you know what all is in there now. Have a good week.
