What's All This Space in the Freezer For?

A freezer is a money-saving, time-saving awesome machine. I'll prove it.

A freezer is not a place to stash stuff you don't otherwise know what to do with, only to leave it there until it becomes unrecognizable, then throw it out. A freezer is not a place to hide during hide-and-seek. A freezer is more than just a place to keep raw meat and popsicles.

I'll tell you what a freezer enables you to do. It gives you the power to go to the store and stock up on stuff that is either free or priced at rock-bottom. If you buy enough of that stuff to last for months you don't have to buy it again until it's free or close to free again. This saves you tons of money! And gives you lots of power! If you use your freezer right you will have plenty of space in there for everything you need without buying a deep freezer.

What I use my freezer for:

• Leftovers! I often make at least twice as much food as I know we will eat, then stash the half we don't eat in the freezer for later. A few weeks down the road when I don't feel like cooking we pull out our leftovers, heat them up, and enjoy them like we did the first time around. This also works well for treats. When I make a batch of cookies or brownies the three of us could easily eat the entire batch, but that wouldn't be very good for our waistlines. We eat a serving the night I make the treats and then I freeze the rest to enjoy over and over again.
  
• Frozen produce. I prefer to buy fresh fruits and veggies, but many times I get frozen bags of produce for free or close to free with coupons. During the summer when berries are in season and are on sale I stock up and freeze bags of them for smoothies throughout the year.
• Staples that can only go in the freezer. You know, things like frozen orange juice concentrate and ice cream.
• Bread and tortillas that I get for free or almost free. Many times when tortillas go on sale I can get about 10 packages for free with coupons. Of course I can't use them all at once so I freeze them so I don't have to buy them until I find them for free again.
  
• Very little meat. I prefer to can most of my meat and keep it in the pantry so that I have ample room in the freezer for all this other stuff. However, I do keep some ground beef and some chicken breasts in the freezer for meals where using canned meat doesn't really work (like hamburgers).
  
• Other random stuff I find for free or almost free. Sometimes I find cottage cheese or shredded cheese at the store on "Manager's Special" for $0.25 or so. If it's on "Manager's Special" it means they have reduced the price to sell it before the expiration date on the package. I buy as much as I can and freeze it for things like lasagna (dairy products often have a really strange consistency after being frozen. They are fine to eat, but you probably don't want to eat them straight up. Best to hide the weird consistency in something you are cooking!).

You save money by only buying products when they are free or ridiculously cheap. You save time by freezing meals so you don't have to cook a fresh meal every single night. You also save time because you don't have to run to the store every other day, thanks to your prudence in building up your freezer storage. Are you convinced? Let me know.