5 Ways Your Freezer Can Save You Money
Learn how to use your freezer to save hundreds of dollars per year including buying in bulk, stocking up on sale and preserving in season produce with these five tips that are sure to help you keep your grocery budget in check.
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5 Ways Your Freezer Can Save You Money
I use my deep freezer on a daily basis as a meal prep and money-saving workhorse. It’s one of my absolute favorite kitchen tools that helps me to get affordable, healthy meals on the table day in and day out. We are a homeschooling family who lives rurally, which means that the lion’s share of our meals are eaten at home and I try to make as many of those from scratch as possible.
Having an extra deep freezer in the house is invaluable to me. Yes, it costs a certain amount in electricity each month to keep it running, but the savings and convenience that I can get from it far outweighs the cost. In fact, we’re probably going to get a second deep freezer sometime in the next few months.
If you’re unsure as to why a deep freezer would be worth the space and investment, then stick around for five ways that this amazing appliance can transform your kitchen.
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Buy in Bulk
A great way that you can use your freezer to save money is to buy in bulk. Prices are normally cheaper per ounce or per pound when purchased in bulk, so when you use your freezer to buy in bulk, you are saving your family money.
Some things to consider purchasing in bulk and freezing:
- ground sausage
- ground beef
- chicken (any cut or even whole)
- cheese (blocks and shredded)
- butter
- yeast
- flour
- milk
Stock up On Sale
Being able to stock up when something is one sale or at it’s rock bottom price is an awesome way to save money and also fill your freezer on a budget.
Around the holidays, things like chocolate chips, butter, flour and other baking supplies are on sale. I try to stock up on these items (and store them in my freezer) to get me through until Easter when they go on sale again.
Butter is an especially good item to stock up on when it’s on sale in November/December because it’s normally at it’s rock bottom price and it freezes beautifully. For more information, check out my post 24 Grocery Items to Stockpile During Holiday Sales.
Also, if you find a great deal on produce that freezes well such as bell peppers, cabbage, celery, onions, blueberries or green onions, then you can really save a lot of money. Not all produce freezes well and some need to be blanched before freezing, so make sure that you do your research before stocking up.
Meat is also a great thing to stock up on when it goes on sale. Pretty much any cut of any meat will freeze well. Some of the cuts that I buy when they’re on sale to put in the freezer are chicken thighs, chicken legs, ground beef, ground sausage, sausage links or patties, whole hams (at Easter), pepperoni and meatballs.
Preserve in Season
We grow a large garden, so being able to freeze produce while it’s in season is a massive savings to us. Berries are in season during the summer and freeze extremely well. They are great to bake with or use in smoothies. I also love to make freezer jam with them.
I use fresh, in season apples to make freezer apple pie filling, apple butter and apple sauce. I also use my freezer every summer to preserve tomato sauce, pumpkin puree and shredded zucchini for muffins.
You don’t have to have a garden to take advantage of in season produce. Check your local farmer’s market or grocery store shelves to see what deals you can find. We aren’t very great at growing corn, so this year we bought it from a local roadside stand and canned it. There’s no rule that says you have to grow it yourself in order to preserve it.
Embrace Freezer Cooking
I absolutely adore freezer cooking, but you don’t have to make 20+ meals all at once to do it. Doing something simple such as browning several pounds of ground beef, making a big pot of bone broth to freeze or cooking a pot of beans and freezing them is also a form of freezer cooking. You can also freeze things like pancakes, muffins and loaves of bread to help save money on breakfasts and snacks.
This meal prep type freezer cooking is what I do 99% of the time. Any prep work that you can do ahead of time will make your life so much easier and also save you money.
But if you want to get into keeping full meals in the freezer, the easiest way that I’ve found to do so, is to simply double your dinner recipe once or twice per week and pop the extra one of them into the freezer for later. I’ve found that casseroles, soups and slow cooker meals freeze the best.
Freezer-Friendly Recipes:
- Bean and Cheese Freezer Burritos
- Quick and Easy Freeze Meatloaf
- Beef and Noodle Casserole
- Freezer Chicken and Rice Casserole
My Favorite Supplies for Freezing:
- Gallon Freezer Bags
- Sharpie Marker
- Freezer Bag Holders
- Quart Freezer Containers
- Silicone Ice Cube Trays
- Freeze Fresh: The Ultimate Guide to Preserving
Plan for Things to Go Wrong
A failure to plan is a plan to fail. Even the most organized of moms will have things go wrong every once in a while and that’s why it’s smart to use your freezer as a back up plan.
Keeping convenience food in your freezer is a great way to save yourself the time and money of going through the drive-thru. If you know that you have a frozen pizza in the freezer and that dinner can be on the table in 20 minutes with no prep from you, then you can save yourself all kinds of money.
Everyone needs a fall back and the freezer is a great tool for this purpose that can save you hundreds of dollars over the course of a year.
Do you do any freezer cooking? What is your favorite way to save money using the freezer? I’d love to know!