Bananas ripen fairly quickly. When I don’t have time to make muffins or other baked goods from overripe bananas I throw them in the freezer. Bananas can be frozen directly in their skin. It is so easy!
When you defrost the bananas they do make a bit of a mess. Place them on a towel as they will be a bit watery. Although the defrosted bananas are too mushy to eat on their own, they are perfect for baking with!
What are your tips for freezing items?
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Renae is a married working mom of two handsome boys. She works as a registered dental hygienist by day and blogs here at How to Have it All by night. She enjoys cooking from scratch, working in her vegetable garden and functional training.
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I love my freezer! No one in my family will eat the same thing, so I really need to have different foods available.
1. When ground beef is on sale I buy the largest size. I brown it all, then freeze it to roughly 1# portions. Most recipes with ground beef want you to brown it first…now I have that already ready. Same goes for chicken breasts.
2. I cook 1# box of elbow noodles (my kids faves) then freeze it in smaller cooked portions. They will eat this plain with some parm or I add it to Stouffers Mac&Cheese which is too saucy, so this makes the portion go further.
3. If I slow cook a roast I usually cook twice the amount I would need for one dinner…then I freeze the other one. Same for meatballs & meat loaves
3A. Alternatively, if I make pulled pork (I use dry rub & the slow cooker) I freeze poritions which I then use in chili or mexican dishes (enchiladas, burritos, even nachos)
4. We seem to use a tremendous amount of sliced black olives…I started buying these at Costco in that Massive can, then I freeze in portions….it is cheaper, available, and ready…they are a little mushy, but no one has complained yet. Same for beans or cooked vegges (that I cooked, I don’t do canned vegges)
And of course there are loaves of snack breads, muffins, waffles (that I make) and sauces.
Geeze! I really need another refridgerator!
I definitely save money on ‘Let’s just order a pizza’ because I always have already cooked food that I can make a meal out of…instead of frozen raw meat that I couldn’t do anything with in short notice.
Hi Debi,
I love my freezer too! I often cook extra meals or meat to freeze. I never thought of freezing olives! We seem to never get through the whole can of olives. I will throw them in the freezer now! Thanks for the great tips!
I usually freeze bananas(and strawberries) in slices to use for smoothies- never knew you could freeze them whole! If you were using them for a recipe (other than smoothies) would you let the banana thaw out before adding?
Yes! I let the whole banana thaw before I use it to make muffins. I just leave it in the peel and let it thaw on a towel. It is a bit liquidy but it works! Smoothies are good too!