I'm Biggie: avid cook, speedy lunch packer, mom in San Francisco, & former expat fluent in Japanese. 
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Speed tip: Make individual portions in freezer bags
Although it might be nice if I were organized enough to plan out all of our dinners and my son’s bento lunches in advance, that’s never going to happen — not my style. I operate from more of the spur-of-the-moment approach to cooking, so it’s essential to have a well stocked freezer and pantry. One drawback, though, is that if I’ve frozen food in big blocks, I can’t use just a bit quickly without defrosting the whole thing.
Enter my Japanese-language freezing books. A standard tip for freezing ground foods or thick sauces in small portions is to first put the food into a large freezer bag and press it out as flat as possible, eliminating air pockets. (Making it thin speeds up defrost time due to the increased surface area, and pressing out excess air guards against freezer burn.) Use a long chopstick or ruler to create divisions within the food, forming individual portions. This way when you freeze the entire bag, you’ll be able to quickly break off just as much as you want to use, no more.
Because you’re touching the freezer bag and not the meat directly when flattening it out, your hands don’t get messy, and the food and work surface stay clean. You also reduce the waste that would be generated by individually wrapping each little serving in plastic wrap. This freezing technique isn’t limited to ground meat, though. Think thick pasta sauces, mashed or pureed fruit or vegetables, cooked meat soboro, rice, fried rice, cookie dough, etc.
(Read on for variations and space-saving storage hints.)
You don’t need a big flat open space in your freezer for this, either. Just fold the freezer bag into thirds and slide it into what available space you do have. The ideal defrosting method is to pop the individual frozen portion into the refrigerator and let it defrost naturally, but if you’re in a hurry you can put it in the microwave on the Defrost setting, or put it into a smaller freezer bag in a bowl in the sink with cold water, turning the running water to a mere dribble once the food is immersed. Convection from the moving water speeds defrost time without hot spots that a microwave can produce (thanks Alton Brown
VARIATIONS:
- If you’re feeling industrious, season ground meat and make it into meatloaf mix or gyoza dumpling filling before freezing. After defrosting, form it into whatever shape you like: meatballs, mini hamburger patties, pressed around a popsicle stick for mini kebabs, etc. You can also form the meat mixture into shapes before freezing, but this increases your pre-freezing prep time (a mental obstacle for me).
- If you’ve preseasoned the meat before freezing, it’s easy to make other dishes with this — press it into halved bell peppers and fry, make into patties topped with a slice of renkon lotus root and fry, etc.
- Freeze thick pasta sauces (meat sauce, thick vegetable sauces), and use either as is on pasta, or in a gratin, part of a dumpling filling, etc. (Thin pasta sauces and stock do well frozen in ice cube trays, then transferred to a large freezer bag for longer term storage.)
- One hilarious tip from “Reitou Teku & Setsuyaku Recipe” (Freezing Techniques and Frugal Recipes)
is to put individual meatballs into the long, skinny plastic bags used in Japan for umbrellas. You know — the disposable bags that you see at entrances to Japanese hotels, department stores and supermarkets for covering your wet umbrella while you’re inside (like an umbrella condom). The book shows meatballs or little patties lined up inside the narrow plastic bag, which is twisted or knotted between each meatball and knotted at each end (for parents: like diapers in a Diaper Genie bag). Use scissors to snip off as many meatballs as you like. This cracks me up, but I confess to being tempted to snag a few extra umbrella bags from Nijiya when I was shopping in San Francisco’s Japantown on a rainy day (store info in my San Francisco Bay Area shopping guide to bento gear or guide to ethnic markets). I’m not sure if the plastic used to make these bags is food-safe, though, so I just mention it as a funny alternative.
EDIT: Welcome to those of you who found your way here from recent write-ups in Boing Boing, Lifehacker, Neatorama, Slashfood, Serious Eats and Stumble Upon! Please have a look at the Bento FAQ, feel free to ask questions or comment even on old entries, and accept my apologies for some lingering issues from the site’s being hacked last month (some character encoding is still wonky). Everything should be back to normal soon.
RELATED POSTS ON LUNCH IN A BOX:
- Bento FAQ
- Freeze green onions in plastic drink bottles
- Tips for freezing ginger
- Magnets to track freezer inventory
- Cycle through freezer items quickly
- All freezing-related posts on Lunch in a Box
- Biggie’s list of top speed tips, tutorials and equipment reviews
April 11th, 2008 | Categories: freezing, glutenfree, lactose free, meat, organize, parenthacks, tips | 
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144 Responses to “Speed tip: Make individual portions in freezer bags”
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April 11th, 2008 at 1:07 pm
That is so smart! My freezing is limited to meats, which I tend to get in bulk, then clean, carve/dice/prep and freeze in boxes. Your ideas are so creative that I feel compelled to expand my horizons- thanks!
April 11th, 2008 at 1:25 pm
Fantastic tip! I’ve been freezing my bolognese in muffin tins but they take so long to defrost because they’re so big (comparing to your method). I’ll try this the next time I make bolognese.
April 11th, 2008 at 1:57 pm
what a great idea
i came from the diabetic centers of america for school project
and they said that it is actually better to make your own beef patties than buy those prepackaged ones
uM, who has time to make your own esp if you live alone like me
NOW THiS! is a great idea, B!!!
thank you!
April 11th, 2008 at 2:05 pm
That’s great! I’m a freezer fanatic and have to try this.
April 11th, 2008 at 2:36 pm
How clever! I usually freeze stuff in smaller bags, but this is much more economical. Thanks for the tip!
April 11th, 2008 at 3:37 pm
That’s an awesome tip! Thank you!! I’m having a baby in September and have been trying to figure out how I’ll stock up my freezer for quick and stress free meals after the baby comes. This will help a lot!
April 11th, 2008 at 5:37 pm
THAT is really smart! I tend to do it already with ground beef alot but that were some new ideas to me.
Zip-lockies of any kind (like jars and containers) are a great invention
April 11th, 2008 at 8:06 pm
Biggie, you’re Brilliant!!!!!
April 11th, 2008 at 9:25 pm
The freezing meat in portions in a big ziplock is a nifty idea!
put it into a smaller freezer bag in a bowl in the sink with cold running water
This is less nifty, because it’s a wasteful means of defrosting. Potable water is a finite and increasingly scarce resource–just FYI.
April 11th, 2008 at 9:42 pm
@9, Pizza Diavola, I agree with you on the water. I defrost quickly in semi-cold water that I have filled a bowl with (not keeping the tap running). Squeazing whatever you are thawing as you go along to allow the water to reach new areas of what you are thawing should reduce time of the process (particularly true with stews or curries and ground beef, less so with other dishes).
April 12th, 2008 at 2:12 am
AWESOME tip! I would never have thought of that, and love the idea of being able to snap portions off like katsu curry blocks!
April 12th, 2008 at 2:28 am
@9 from Pizza Diavola: I should have been clearer. When using the water defrost method, I reduce the running water to a mere dribble once the bowl is full enough to cover the defrosting food. You just need enough to create movement in the water, not full blast or anything. I’ll edit the post.
April 12th, 2008 at 2:34 am
@12 Biggie, it is awfully effective to thaw in water either way. I should probably hit McGees book to try to find out why…
I do know people that do run it under an open tap. Water conservation not being a dire issue here, not as of yet at least. hope you managed to find my somewhat rambly email on the pancakes in your in-email.
April 12th, 2008 at 4:26 am
This is awesome; I love it! I already freeze flat with both sandwich and gallon sized zip bags, I think it’s a lot more work to do the sandwich sized. But I suffer through it because I only wanted to thaw small amounts. Now you’ve taught me this trick, and it will save so much time, THANKS!
April 12th, 2008 at 4:56 am
Biggie, how much ground meat did you use in the photo, and what size Zipper Bag? I’m terrible at guesstimating quantities and volume!
April 12th, 2008 at 7:11 am
Wow! Everytime I come here there is always something new to learn. Thanks Biggie for sharing your wisdom.
April 12th, 2008 at 8:19 am
what a genius tip! thanks biggie
instead of umbrella bags, if you dont happen to be near somewhere that has those, maybe you could use those bags they sell at the grocery for roasting meat in.. theyre generally long and skinny.
April 12th, 2008 at 8:37 am
@15 from Alison: That’s one pound of ground beef in a one-gallon Ziploc bag. I initially thought the bag would be too big (maybe I should use a one-quart bag instead?), but it wound up being perfect as I can smush the meat down quite thin for faster defrosting.
April 12th, 2008 at 1:53 pm
OMG THIS IS GREAT DSKBGDKBHKJ. I don’t often get the chance to make bento because I am dirt poor and on college meal plans, so it doesn’t make sense to try and keep food stocked up. But when I do get meat, I never eat it in time, or I freeze it and never use it again because defrosting is such a huge pain in the ass.
YOU HAVE JUST MADE HAMBURGERS POSSIBLE!
April 12th, 2008 at 3:48 pm
I wonder if that would work to make sliders? It was my first thought when I signed on and saw the picture. ^c^
April 12th, 2008 at 7:48 pm
This is ingenious! Thank you so much for the tip! Usually I just leave the meat in the fridge till it completely defrosts but this idea is even better!
April 12th, 2008 at 9:20 pm
I freeze tomato paste that way. But as soon as I find tomato paste in a tube I’m tradin’ up!
April 13th, 2008 at 1:02 am
Wow, this is cool. Can’t believe I never thought of it.
My little obsessive part (I’m a Virgo) was going “aaaaah, odd number, I don’t want to divide whatever in ninths.” I thought I might have to do sixteenths. But then tonight my rice came out too wet for onigiri, so I decided to try this. Then I realized I had almost 5 cups of rice left, so I put 4.5 cups in the bag. Divided by 9, that’s 1/2 cup which is what I try to use for my rice servings anyway. Obsessive satisfied.
April 13th, 2008 at 2:09 am
@23, Sunflower, not being a single bit ironic or cynic. We seem to all have an obsessive trait that do this. Some more than others. Count me in with the ones that have more obsessive tendencies
April 13th, 2008 at 4:20 pm
Oh, that makes more sense, Biggie. Thanks for clarifying!
Squeazing whatever you are thawing as you go along
Jessika - that’s a good idea! Usually I let things sit in a bowl of water. I’ll have to try the squeezing next time.
April 14th, 2008 at 12:48 am
What a good idea for making portions
April 14th, 2008 at 6:53 am
Cool blog, I love bento’s! Blogrolling you!
April 14th, 2008 at 7:11 am
Great tip! I cook only for 2, and end up wasting a lot of food. This will definitely help.
April 14th, 2008 at 10:09 am
@1 from Shweta: I’m with you on freezing meats — although it feels like every trip to Costco is followed by a long period of prep to get things ready for the freezer.
April 14th, 2008 at 10:13 am
@2 from Wendy: I’ve recently started freezing stock in silicone muffin pans in addition to ice cube trays. It’s easier to pop the frozen cubes out of the silicone trays than standard metal muffin tins. Bolognese sounds like a perfect candidate for the freezer bags, though — thick enough to retain the individual divisions you make in the bag.
April 14th, 2008 at 10:16 am
@3 from a.J.: After I read the book Fast Food Nation
I started grinding my own beef with a grinder attachment
on my KitchenAid stand mixer
. I occasionally buy organic ground beef, but I’m still a little paranoid about it…
April 14th, 2008 at 10:17 am
@4 from Maggie: Enjoy your freezer adventures, Maggie!
April 14th, 2008 at 10:19 am
@5 from Kitt: I use the smaller bags for larger pieces of meat or whole fillets of fish, but I like the flexibility this gives me with ground meat.
April 14th, 2008 at 10:21 am
@6 from spiderdust: Congratulations and good luck with the baby, spiderdust! Having a good freezer stash can really help out when you’re busy with a new baby — glad to help.
April 14th, 2008 at 10:42 am
@7/10/13 from Jessika: I did get your e-mail with recipes for authentic Swedish pancakes — thank you! With the water convection method, I suppose you could also put a wind-up bathtub toy in the water to have it move the water around without running the tap, or maybe just swish it around with your hand every once in a while.
April 14th, 2008 at 10:44 am
@8 from Alison: Hey, thanks Alison! Remember that I’m not thinking these all up on my own, though — they’re cool tips that I’m pulling from my Japanese cookbooks.
April 14th, 2008 at 10:46 am
@11 from Christine: I like the image of snapping off blocks of curry roux! Or like a chocolate bar?
April 14th, 2008 at 10:48 am
@36 from Biggie: Well, since I can’t read Japanese, that makes you doubly brilliant in my book! (Not to mention generous about sharing, and Oh, my gosh, how much time you are putting into this blog!)
April 14th, 2008 at 10:52 am
@14 from Sherri: So glad you think you’ll find this useful, Sherri.
April 14th, 2008 at 10:55 am
@16 from Fourleafclover: I’m happy to be able to keep it fresh, Fourleafclover! Remember, though, that these tips aren’t just springing from me independently; I’m having lots of fun combing my Japanese-language cookbooks and freezing books for tips that I think are neat or relevant for a wider lunch-packing audience.
April 14th, 2008 at 10:56 am
@17 from kittifoot: But then we get to the cost issue — how much are those roasting bags? I assume they’re pricier than regular plastic wrap (or free umbrella bags), but I could be wrong.
April 14th, 2008 at 10:59 am
@19 from Chelsey: Woo hoo! Hamburgers for a college student — I’m satisfied now! (remembering my own days of college food scrounging outside of meal plans)
April 14th, 2008 at 11:00 am
@20 from Monica: Come to think of it, this’d probably be a perfect way of creating perfectly portioned sliders (square mini patties for mini burgers) — great idea!
April 14th, 2008 at 11:07 am
[...] a super smart tip for freezing foods in bulk, yet still have easy access to individual portions, Speed Tip: Make Individual Portions In Freezer Bags… A standard tip for freezing ground foods or thick sauces in small portions is to first put [...]
April 14th, 2008 at 11:24 am
@21 from Linda: Yes, I’d done the same, but got tired of not being able to use ground meat quickly, on a whim (the drawback to not planning ahead). This lets me continue with my spur-of-the-moment cooking without waste — woo hoo!
April 14th, 2008 at 11:26 am
@22 from Lisa: I love the tubes of tomato paste — absolutely no waste involved! Just squeeze out as much as you need, recap the tube and pop it back in the fridge.
April 14th, 2008 at 11:28 am
@23 from Sunflower: Ha ha, we all have our own quirks. There’s no reason you couldn’t make fourths (2 x 2) out of a bag, or sixths (2 x 3), or any other even-numbered combination. Or forget the divisions down the middle, and make just two or three large portions…
April 14th, 2008 at 12:46 pm
@26 from fossettes: Glad you enjoyed it, fossettes.
April 14th, 2008 at 12:47 pm
@27 from Jessica: Thanks for the add to your blogroll, Jessica!
April 14th, 2008 at 12:48 pm
@28 from Foodaholic: It’s a constant battle against spoilage, isn’t it? So frustrating to realize I’ve waited too long on something, and have to throw it away.
April 14th, 2008 at 12:49 pm
@46 from Biggie: How long does the tomato paste stay good in those tubes after they are opened? Is it a matter of days, weeks, months? The tube I bought didn’t have any kind of expiration date that I could find, nor any info on how long it would last after opening. I ended up tossing it after a week, just out of nervousness, but maybe I could have kept it longer?
Then again, the 8-oz cans are only 33 cents…
April 14th, 2008 at 12:54 pm
@51 from Alison: I’d say months on the tubes of tomato paste. You’re squeezing it out, so not introducing air or bacteria that would lead to spoilage. I’ve had the same tube of tomato paste in the refrigerator for months with no mold or other apparent spoilage. Just keep the mouth & cap clean, don’t touch it to anything dirty and you should be fine. When I have excess from cans I freeze them in ice cube trays, then move the cubes to a one-quart freezer bag.
April 14th, 2008 at 1:23 pm
I tried this last night with some rice, and the divisions all ran into each other as soon as I tried to fold the bag over. I eventually ended up putting the bag on top of a piece of cardboard, making the divisions, and then sliding the whole thing into the freezer flat (i hope to be able to fold it into thirds when I come home tonight). Did I do something wrong?
April 14th, 2008 at 1:56 pm
biggie you are brilliant I love your ideas they help me ( as a highschooler)
save time with my bento before school freezing things is the best way to preserve it but defrosting stuff is a pain.
Long live your japanese language cookbooks and may their pages never tear!
April 14th, 2008 at 5:51 pm
@53 from Rachel: I’d say it depends on what you’re freezing and how full the bag is — whether you can fold it over before freezing or need to wait until after freezing. The thin meat above held the divisions before freezing, but I can see how something runnier (or a fuller bag) would be problematic. Play around with it! Were you able to fold it into thirds when you came home?
April 14th, 2008 at 5:52 pm
@54 from Tony: Thanks for the kind comment, Tony. Very sweet of you!
April 14th, 2008 at 5:55 pm
@55 from Biggie: Thanks for the tips! When I got home I was able to easily break the rice into 9 squares while keeping the bag closed, but the bag still wouldn’t fold–so I think I must have overfilled it. Luckily, I can fit it flat in my freezer without any problems
This is really the coolest idea on the planet, thanks so much for sharing.
April 15th, 2008 at 3:02 am
[...] Klumpen, den man erneut nicht aufessen kann. Oder es dauert ewig, bis er endlich aufgetaut ist. Lunch-in-a-box hat den perfekten Tipp für portionsgerechtes Einfrieren. Einfacher geht’s [...]
April 15th, 2008 at 7:42 am
[...] to divide freezer bags of food into individual servings before [...]
April 15th, 2008 at 10:09 am
Biggie, you are saving my life again! I never thought to “score” the meat with a chopstick to divide it. I’m always freezing in lumps, touching meat (which I hate), or freezing the whole thing and then having to thaw it all before taking some out. This will save so much time.
My cooking life has improved so much since I started reading this blog!!! ;D
Btw, my blog is back up. http://nekonoai.mine.nu/bento/
It has a new name: BLD Bento
and a new mission (you can read on the About page, if you want)
Since I lost ALL of the old posts, it’s starting from scratch, but it’s well on teh way! Thanks for linkin!
April 15th, 2008 at 10:48 am
Yay! Another great tip. I wish I knew about this earlier. There’s a bag of pasta sauce in the freezer right now that will probably never be used because it’s a giant block. Thanks for sharing!
April 15th, 2008 at 11:31 am
I was browsing my usual food blogs when I noticed your article got featured here:
http://www.slashfood.com/2008/04/15/a-helpful-technique-for-freezing-meat/
Seems like the readers there really like it
April 15th, 2008 at 3:52 pm
[...] she also has really great tips on how to freeze and keep stuff fresh. My favorite tip is how to freeze individual portions of meat in zip locks. The great thing is you can go to Costco and buy 200lb of meat and spend the next 9 [...]
April 15th, 2008 at 4:23 pm
For those of you who have already frozen a quantity of (fill in the blank) without dividing it into portions, there is always the option of using a sharp knife and a new bag to save that which you already have.
April 15th, 2008 at 5:19 pm
Yes this tip is perfect for those who want to defrost quickly and easily. The fridge idea is just a slow way of defrosting. Thanks again for all your wonderful tips. ::Bookmarks this site:::
hehe
April 16th, 2008 at 11:13 am
@60 from Sile: Ha ha, I personally don’t like touching raw meat in the re-packing process either! It feels like I have to wash my hands so many times after a Costco run to pack everything up — I don’t want to contaminate anything, and things can get messy. Thanks for the heads up on your blog; I’ll update my Lunch Links page later this week.
April 16th, 2008 at 4:20 pm
@61 from Y.: I feel your pain, Y — I’m looking ruefully at big blocks of food I froze earlier and figuring that I actually need to plan out what to make with them.
April 16th, 2008 at 4:21 pm
@62 from Raine: Thanks for the Slashfood link, Raine! It also got picked up by Boing Boing, Neatorama, Serious Eats, TipNut and Organized Home — cool.
April 16th, 2008 at 4:23 pm
@64 from Jon: Ah yes, the brute force method. I’ve got a massive Chinese cleaver that’s great for chopping through bone or frozen foods…
April 16th, 2008 at 4:24 pm
@65 from Linda: Welcome to the site, Linda! Feel free to comment or ask questions even on old posts — I try to keep up via the Recent Comments thingie in the right-hand column.
April 16th, 2008 at 6:36 pm
Great idea! I’ll be using this and some of your others too.
April 17th, 2008 at 9:22 am
What a wonderful tip!
That tip will change my life.
I’m living alone so it is always difficult to have just one portion or two when you cook. I’m a bento fan so I freeze a lot, and my little freezer is just full of small boxes
April 17th, 2008 at 11:14 am
@71 from Erika: Glad you found it useful, Erika!
April 17th, 2008 at 11:19 am
@72 from fiquo: I hear you on the little boxes in the freezer — there are still a couple of little plastic boxes in there that I’m looking to free up.
April 17th, 2008 at 12:59 pm
I am a single woman who likes to eat in but one of my biggest challenges is portion control. Sure the valu paks of meat, etc… are cheaper but I can’t use it all up before it goes bad. And in the past I have used indivdual bags but it seems so wasteful. Thanks so much for sharing this great idea! Duh, so simple yet I wouldhave neer thought of it. I am going to start my bulk shopping right away!!
April 18th, 2008 at 3:47 am
The umbrella bags make me shudder. Definitely NOT made for food contact! But your empty bread-loaf bags might make a good (if larger) alternative.
April 19th, 2008 at 6:34 am
@75 from Tracy: Enjoy your bulk shopping, Tracy! Be sure to leave yourself enough time to re-pack the meat after you buy it; that’s always the big time suck for me. It’s so tempting just to chuck everything into the freezer in one big hunk.
April 19th, 2008 at 6:35 am
@76 from Darryl Papa-sensei: Right!?!? That was my first thought on seeing the umbrella bag tip (okay, after thinking — “so clever!”). I like the bread bag substitution, though.
April 24th, 2008 at 7:49 am
Thanks Biggie! This looks awesome.
I’m going to try it this weekend w/ some black beans - trying to get away from canned beans, but they’re so convienent. I’m going to cook them so they’re just mushy enough to keep the ’scored’ lines.
April 24th, 2008 at 12:08 pm
@79 from Jammytoast: Mmm, homemade black beans sound great. Maybe I’ll make up a batch of refried black beans and do the same — so much better than the canned ick.
April 25th, 2008 at 9:47 am
Thank you so much for your clever freezing tips. So much food is wasted because it isn’t frozen properly.
April 26th, 2008 at 12:12 am
@81 from Marjorie Dorfman: I absolutely agree. It certainly is a bad feeling to discover that food that was once perfectly good has developed freezer burn because it was forgotten or improperly wrapped. What a waste!
April 26th, 2008 at 4:57 pm
I mix ground beef with grated cheddar cheese and seasoning and then flatten it out. Subdividing it into squares is a trick I hadn’t thought of, though. You can take a single square out and put it on top of a hamburger bun and broil it. The juice from the meat goes into the bun and the cheese really keeps the meat moist. Mmmm mmmm good.
April 26th, 2008 at 8:56 pm
i used to use waxed paper and a large plastic bag. put a lump of meat on the end of a long piece of waxed paper, fold some paper over it, smush it, lay another lump of meat on the new layer, fold more over it, smush again. when frozen the waxed paper makes them easy to separate. haven’t done it in a while and it’s a lot harder to get equal portions compared to your method though.
also, if you have the room, freeze things like strawberries or meatballs on a cookie sheet. after they are frozen you can put them all in a bag together and they will be easy to separate
April 27th, 2008 at 3:18 am
[...] meat nowadays. The Japanese, known for efficiency and tricky mind-reading toilets, has came up with an ingenious way to freeze meal-sized meat, pasta sauces, or any food of that pliable food nature. In fact, if you read down further in the [...]
April 28th, 2008 at 9:37 am
@83 from ZaZu Pitts: Oh yum, grated cheese and ground beef patties sound delicious. Thanks for the suggestion!
April 28th, 2008 at 9:41 am
@84 from catastrophegirl: Individual flash freezing of things like meatballs or strawberries is an excellent technique; good point. I also saw a thing on Alton Brown’s Good Eats show where he flash froze whole (destemmed) strawberries using dry ice in an ice cooler — evidently they don’t get mushy when frozen so quickly at a lower temperature with dry ice. I’d try it out, but am not quite sure where to get a supply of dry ice…
April 28th, 2008 at 10:04 am
@87 Biggie: I get dry ice every halloween at the local grocery store. in san francisco i see online that albertson’s carries it as well as some liquor stores.
April 28th, 2008 at 10:16 am
@88 from catastrophegirl: Woo hoo, thanks so much for the dry ice sources! Can’t wait to get some and play with it…
April 29th, 2008 at 3:08 am
[...] Pre-make Individual Portions in Freezer Bags [...]
May 4th, 2008 at 1:07 pm
What a great technique! If only you could do the same with chicken
May 5th, 2008 at 4:37 pm
BRILLIANT!
May 5th, 2008 at 8:57 pm
@92 from fo: Thank you, fo!
May 5th, 2008 at 9:05 pm
@91 from Mike: Well, you could do the same with ground chicken…
May 6th, 2008 at 10:34 am
[...] de Lunch in a box nous propose une astuce intéressante pour la congélation de la viande hachée. Dans un grand [...]
May 7th, 2008 at 10:02 pm
I used to freeze flat bags of hamburger all the time. My little trick was to squash out as much air from the bag as I could and then use a small cutting board to really flatten it out. The bags ended up a lot neater and stacked up better than they did when I flattened by hand.
May 7th, 2008 at 10:40 pm
@96 from MES: I really like the idea of using a little cutting board to flatten the bags — nice tip! Thanks.
May 11th, 2008 at 6:51 am
[...] The Lunch in a Box article not only has a picture illustrating this awesome tip, it also has the logic for pressing the contents as flat as you can. [...]
May 15th, 2008 at 10:29 am
I used the idea to make sliders! They came out perfect! I flattened 1 lb of ground beef in a gallon size bag and “scored” it into 16’s. We use hot dog buns cut in thirds, and cheese slices in quarters. They were the perfect size! I even sent some with my husband’s bento the next day!
On the “sauce bricks” topic - on Top Chef they had to make frozen one-pan reheat pasta meals (like you get at the super market for $7!) The winners (& Bertoli similarly) spread the sauce in sheet pans, and then broke it up when it was frozen. It quickly defrosted for the 15 minute meals. They also made small portions of noodles (like your nests) and froze all the veggies and meats laid out on sheet pans, so there were no bricks. The next day they just put all the elements together in big gallon zippy bags and stuck them back in the freezer.
May 17th, 2008 at 9:17 pm
@99 from Monica: Hey, great to hear that this works to make sliders! Thanks for the feedback. I actually remember that Top Chef episode — wasn’t it last season (or was it the one before)? That was cool to see them using speed prep techniques.
May 18th, 2008 at 6:51 pm
I always just used shopping bags for the initial freezing before moving the frozen items into a large ziplock. When I wasn’t dividing the meat into hamburger patties, I would season it and add onion/garlic/etc., then divide it into rows about an inch wide. At the far end, I could either fry these ’skinless sausages’ as-is for slipping into hotdog buns or chop into meatballs. (A heavier knife makes short work of an inch of hamburger.) C’est facile, n’est pas?
May 18th, 2008 at 9:31 pm
[...] about halfway down in the package so it’s easy to break off half, but you should check out this lady’s great idea for ‘marking’ meat for individual portions when you bag it in gallon [...]
May 18th, 2008 at 10:01 pm
[...] you don’t have chopsticks handy, any straight edge will work, like a ruler. Speed tip: Make individual portions in freezer bags [Lunch in a [...]
May 18th, 2008 at 10:12 pm
Came here from Lifehacker - I have to say that as a guy living alone, this will be a great money-saver. We’re all feeling the rising price of food, and pre-packaging burger patties will save me time and money. Thanks!
May 19th, 2008 at 9:10 am
[...] Speed tip: Make individual portions in freezer bags [...]
May 19th, 2008 at 1:06 pm
[...] Speed tip: Make individual portions in freezer bags [...]
May 20th, 2008 at 6:09 pm
[...] great tip from Big (of Bento fame) She presses ground beef into thin flat sheets inside zip-lock bags and then uses a chopstick to mak… you can break off the portions you need and they will thaw quickly [...]
May 22nd, 2008 at 3:06 pm
[...] and has offered up an idea (that she plucked from one of her Japanese freezing books) that makes it easy to break off a little bit of frozen meat in order to make quick work of meals. She advises that when you put the meat in a freezer bag, [...]
May 24th, 2008 at 9:19 am
What a fantastic idea!!! I’m going to have to try this soon.
May 24th, 2008 at 3:50 pm
I love this idea. Would have never thought of this myself. It’s genius!
May 25th, 2008 at 10:12 am
My cowoker put spaghetti sauce in the ice cubes holder and freeze it,
Might be another good idea to store pasta sauce!
When you’re crazing for spaghetti, just pop in a few cubes in the microwave!
May 25th, 2008 at 11:30 am
[...] (weekly) May 25, 2008 Finding the Best Way to Cook All Those Vegetables - New York Timestags: foodSpeed tip: Make individual portions in freezer bags | Lunch in a Box: Building a Better Bentotags: foodTampa Restaurants, Central Florida West Restaurantstags: food, dining, reservationsThe [...]
May 25th, 2008 at 1:14 pm
@111 from Cindy: I’ve done the ice cube thing with other foods, but never with pasta sauce — nice idea!
May 26th, 2008 at 2:30 am
Hello!!
Just wonderful.
Good ideas.
Thanks.
jitendra
May 26th, 2008 at 5:52 am
That is such a brilliant tip! Thanks for sharing it!
May 27th, 2008 at 4:30 am
good idea
November 13th, 2008 at 10:08 pm
I have cooked ground beef and frozen - great for soups or anything else that requires ground beef.
your idea is great and I intend to use it soon.
December 3rd, 2008 at 12:59 pm
[...] you don’t have chopsticks handy, any straight edge will work, like a ruler. Speed tip: Make individual portions in freezer bags [Lunch in a Box] No Comments so far Leave a comment RSS feed for comments on this post. [...]
December 9th, 2008 at 2:45 am
[...] showed how to freeze ground meat in way that you can get out smaller portions in the article “Speed tip: Make individual portions in freezer bags“. It seems to me that this would be a good way to make [...]
December 10th, 2008 at 12:08 am
You can use the ziplock bag method of freezer storage with ‘wetter’ foods than ground meat.Leave the filled bag on a flat tray in the freezer till the contents have the same stiffness as meat,then do the dividing/folding thing & put back to freeze completely. :-))
December 24th, 2008 at 9:22 pm
[...] Easy freezy individual portions [...]
January 5th, 2009 at 11:54 pm
Really Great idea, thanks for sharing.
January 7th, 2009 at 8:23 pm
Getting ready to make some individual meals for my colleg daughter. Just a quick question. Once you break off what you need, does the bag remain sealed where you broke it off?
Thank you
January 22nd, 2009 at 2:02 am
[...] On a related note, this portion sized freezing technique saves time (quick defrost), money (fewer bags used), and space in your [...]
March 16th, 2009 at 5:13 am
Thanks for dropping by my site and leaving a comment on a related post!
August 24th, 2009 at 2:26 pm
Wow! I can’t believe I haven’t thought about this freezing technique or come across a tip this simple yet helpful earlier! The ice cube trays have been something I’ve been doing, but the things like the ground beef is just something I have never thought of. I would have just bagged the amounts separately, wasting bags!
I’ll be following your blog, I just came across it from http://steamykitchen.com/.
October 9th, 2009 at 1:22 pm
I buy hamburger in 5lb portions. When I get it home,(depending on how I plan to use it) I fry all of it up and let it cool. I then divide it into 5 -1lb portions and freeze seperately on a flat serface in the freezer until frozen. After froze, I stack in freezer. I don’t even worry about thawing it. If it’s flat enough, (always is) I just break it up in my pan with ex/ spaghetti sauce/ paste ect.
October 22nd, 2009 at 11:41 am
Congrats on getting another mention on Lifehacker! http://lifehacker.com/5385842/10-simple-freezer-tricks-to-save-you-time-and-money
December 21st, 2010 at 7:04 pm
Great tip on defrosting meat. I didn’t know that defrosting it in water worked faster and scientifically proven!
December 28th, 2010 at 9:15 am
when you break off the piece you want, doesn’t it leave an open seam exposing the other frozen pieces?
January 5th, 2011 at 10:03 pm
[...] mehr und friere etwas davon ein. Und hier wird gezeigt, wie man das Einzufrierende gleich schön portionieren kann [...]
March 30th, 2011 at 9:59 pm
I’m lovin’ this idea. As a person who lives alone, I’ll be using this so I can FINALLY make hamburgers at home without thawing a whole pound of beef. I love the slider, cheese and hot dog bun idea!
Because I’m on a VERY tight budget, when I put individual servings of meat from family sized purchases in the freezer, I put the individual piece in a zip lock SANDWICH bag. They are cheaper than the freezer bags. Then I put all the sandwich bags in one large gallon freezer bag. I can reuse the gallon bags without even having to wash them because the food never touches the inside of the gallon freezer bag. I do this with my frozen ice cube whatevers, too, labeling the sandwich sized bag, and putting several of the sandwich sized bags into one gallon freezer bag.
If I know I’m only going to use a small amount (frozen eggs, or rice, for instance), I’ll put the amount in a snack size bag and then put the snack sized bags in a quart or gallon freezer bag.
The “regular” zip lock bags aren’t thick enough to keep freezer burn away by themselves, and provide a bit of extra protection when put in the freezer bag, too.
Every little bit of $$ saved helps in this economy.
June 14th, 2011 at 2:23 pm
[...] Speed tip: Make individual portions in freezer bags-Lunch in a Box [...]
June 14th, 2011 at 8:24 pm
what a great idea! thanks for sharing
June 15th, 2011 at 3:57 am
when you break off the piece you want, doesn’t it leave an open seam exposing the other frozen pieces?
November 13th, 2011 at 12:16 pm
[...] offers sound advice on bento-making, including protips like freezing sauces in portions in a single Ziploc bag and ways to use leftovers. She’s been blogging for a while, so there’s a great archive [...]
November 16th, 2011 at 7:19 pm
[...] ground beef in flat sheets like this that can be broken off in sections and quickly [...]
December 4th, 2011 at 1:09 pm
[...] You can divide and store ground meat in a zip loc bag. Just break off how much you need and keep the rest in the freezer for later. So much easier than dividing and individually wrapping each pound or half pound. -Source [...]
December 20th, 2011 at 3:02 pm
[...] Freeze individual portions in freezer bags with the help of a chopstick. (This idea is from Lunch In a Box.) [...]
February 2nd, 2012 at 5:22 am
[...] ?nternetten buzlukta k?yma yerle?tirmek için harika bir fikir buldum. [...]
February 29th, 2012 at 5:02 pm
[...] Source: lunchinabox.net [...]
March 19th, 2012 at 10:05 am
[...] Now that the children have moved out and have homes of their own, you are back to cooking for two. In a world of big box stores and club packs of everything, this can be difficult. This great Pinterest site has an awesome idea for packing individual portions into freezer bags. Check out this site for some great ideas. [...]
April 4th, 2012 at 8:02 am
[...] Source: lunchinabox.net [...]
April 25th, 2012 at 5:01 am
[...] so instead of thawing and making a pound of meat every night just for his hamburger, this tip from Lunchinabox.net sure came in handy; separate your meet and freeze it, will be a breeze to take out one at a time [...]