Simple Storage Tips – How to Freeze Soup, Sauce, and Puree
One of the ways I’m able to keep our grocery budget so low is by freezing our extra fruits and vegetables during the growing season. I also like to make large servings of soup in my crock pot during the week as well. Knowing I have the option to pull a hearty soup or pasta sauce from the freezer when I’m having a busy day {or week}, is a huge stress reliever.
How to Freeze Soup, Sauce, and Puree
- Fill quart sized zip baggies with 2 cups of soup, sauce or puree and seal.
- Lay bags flat on a cookie sheet and place the cookie sheet in the freezer on a flat surface.
- Once the contents are frozen solid {I usually wait 24 hours} stack them on a freezer shelf or in a freezer basket.
If you have a large quantity of soup to freeze, you may also want to use a large baking pan to stack your bags in while they are freezing. I have used this method before with various produce, purees, and soup as well and it works great.
So what do you think? Am I just a total weirdo with too much time on my hands?
Or do you freeze your excess soup and purees too?
~Mavis
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FoodSaver Vertical Vacuum Sealer
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I think that’s a great idea! My freezer is now envious of yours.
Love it! I freeze so much stuff that the baggie idea looks like the way to go. Thanks for posting. Hey, did you make your own pizza sauce? That’s silly question
. Would love to know the recipe if you have the time to share.
This is genius! I can only make soup in enormous batches, but with just me, sometimes I get way tired of eating the same thing for 6 suppers in a row. I love the idea of freezing it in individual portions, but all those containers get awkward in my freezer.
I freeze them this way, but then they go in the freezer haphazardly. :/
A good way to get the air out of the baggies is to submerge it under water just up to the zipper part, then zip it. Then, massage the bag to get it to lay flat.
I freeze tons of soup and stock, but have used 32oz yogurt containers for years. There is a lot of wasted space, I think I will try the Ziplock method. Do you reuse your bags? I go through stock like crazy and would hate to throw out a nice freezer bag or two each time I need stock?
Did that blue thing in the first picture come with your freezer? Or did you buy it? I NEED one of those suckers!!! My chest freezer is a mess.
We freeze a lot in bags, too. I find that using shallow boxes to “file away” the bags is really helpful. I put all of one thing in a box and then stack them. This way, if you need something underneath, you can just lift out the top box or two and reach what you need easily without keeping the door open too long- it works great in chest freezers, but also helps with uprights- so the bags don’t go sliding out the door when you open it:-).
Were you a filing clerk in your past life? Just checking;-).
Ha! No…. I like the filing box idea.
I freeze the same way. Haven’t bought spaghetti sauce or diced tomatoes for my house in years. I also can in quart, pint and half pint jars. So we get stocked in freezer and out and usually lasts until August, when things start coming in again.
I freeze flat, but I try to be careful and just stack them on top of other flat bags. Your way would certainly limit towers of bags collapsing on me though.
I freeze the same way with either my foodsaver or ziplocs. The only store bought food in my freezer is some salmon and some butter. Everything else is from the garden!
I did this exact method for freezing my breast milk. It was so easy and took up less freezer space. Plus, everything defrosts faster and more evenly.
I use the baggie method too! Just took some frozen peppers out for a yummy stew the hubby put together. Yes, the hubby is the one who does all the cooking! I have given up trying, because even my best cooking doesn’t measure up to his. Until a couple years ago my daughters thought that every dad was the cook in the family…wake up call!
I just started freezing leftovers (flat like in the pics) a week or so ago and it is so nice to know on my super busy nights it will be so quick to heat up that delicious chili or taco soup or whatever that is just waiting for me. Not to mention the desserts I am starting to stock pile away for those “special” nights when I just feel like having dessert. Plus, I like to just open my freezer and look in sometimes. It feel good to have a stack of prepackaged, homemadeness looking back.
I have started cooking more from scratch and so far the items I freeze are pizza sauce, marinara sauce, refried beans, bananas and cookie dough. I received a canner last week for my birthday, and am so excited to learn how to can so I can add to the homemade goodness.
I use the flat freezer bags as well, over and over again
Thanks for all the great ideas/recipes you’ve been posting!
Now I’m convinced your are WONDER WOMAN! Where do you hide your cape?
In the closet of course. I only bring out the boots and gold bangles for special occasions though.
How do you thaw the pizza sauce (for example) without melting the bag in the microwave? Because I ADORE how organized your freezer looks Ms. Mavis, but I don’t think to take things out of the freezer before I leave for work in the morning. My thawing method is to pop it in the microwave.
I put the pizza sauce on a plate and stick it in the refrigerator to thaw. Or, if I’m in a hurry, I just place it in a bowl and run cool water over it and the pizza sauce is thawed and read to go in like 5 minutes.
Mavis–I love your blog!! I always make extra soup to freeze and last night I froze 3 containers of homeade marinara sauce. Last weekend I bought 100 ears of corn for $20 and froze 23 bags (3 servings p/bag). And I still have corn coming out of my ears!!
I have started putting my ziplock bags of fruit or veggies into a brown paper bag to protect them more from freezer burn and it’s working!
100 ears of corn? Holy canolies. That ought to last awhile. Good job! Thanks for the brown paper bag tip. I’ll try it.
Yay!
Hi Mavis!
I LOVE your ideas…keep them coming!
Alas, I used this freezer method all the time when we had our huge old side-by-side, but since we remodeled the kitchen (and sadly, downsized the fridge), my freezer capacity is so much less. I am still able to freeze limited amounts of soups, sauces and veggies in quart-sized bags, but there simply isn’t the space to be as neat and tidy as what you’ve shown above. The good news is, you’ve inspired me to reclaim my frozen real estate! My plan now is to ask for a stand-alone freezer for Christmas, and if that doesn’t fly, I’ll work my way through everything that’s in the freezer and start fresh with this storage method in the New Year.
Did those colored storage bins shown in your photos come with your freezer? They sure make it easy to stay organized!
Thanks,
Red
I do this same thing. My mom gave me the idea, and it works beautifully! We buy the freezer bags in big boxes at Costco & it saves us from having to buy & wash a ton of containers besides making room for more food in the freezer!
I currently have many quart bags filled with stock in my freezer. They are not frozen yet, and I am a bit concerned that they are going to burst. I filled each quart Ziplock with about a quart of liquid. They are lying flat, and again I am a bit nervous. Can they explode when there is expansion? thanks!!
I assume they could burst as liquid expands as it freezes. If it was me I’d probably put the quart sized bags into gallon sized bags to prevent them from exploding into the freezer. My guess is they won’t burst but I wouldn’t take the risk.
Eeeek! I have never had on burst before. But then again I do not fill mine to the top either. Maybe you should do what Heidi said above and place them in a gallon container to be safe.