freezer food storage hack

whether i'm buying in bulk or opening a single can of food, i'm still a single person living alone. unless i want to eat the same thing three days in a row constantly, i need to preserve and store food all the time.




and eating one portion and freezing the rest as a single unit just delays the problem. so years ago i hit upon a way to preserve portions of food in a way that's easily defrosted later in whatever amount i want. and over time i've refined the details for efficiency and sanity.
the ice tray.

the white ones are for water ice.

the colored ones are all in different shapes for food. this keeps the water ice from making your lemonade taste like tomato sauce later. it's important. over time the plastic can pick up a little funk from the food. it's not dangerous but no one wants a vodka and cranberry with a hint of turkey stock.... oh wait, did i just invent a new thanksgiving libation?
and yes, i make my own turkey stock. that's another recipe for another day.

if i freeze two sauces that look similar when frozen, i tend to use different shapes for them. like square for tomato sauce and oval for enchilada sauce. that way if the label smears off the bag i can still identify which frozen red mini brick of sauce is which. and i don't end up with mexican marinara accidentally.

something i have noticed is enchilada sauce tends to defrost in need of a serious stirring. so i just mix it into my nacho cheese [which i freeze and defrost in the fridge over a couple of days, nacho cheese does not microwave defrost well at all. baaaaad idea]

for refried beans i tend to use this "ice tube" shape [designed for making ice that fits in your water bottle opening]
beans defrost a little differently than sauce and this is something i've just found over time.
by the way, that's a butter spreader. it's a darned convenient tool for smearing paste things of all kinds.

this shape defrosts in the microwave without making an ice cold lump surrounded by exploded beans that got too hot on the edges.

however, tomato sauce [i use hunt's] tends to microwave defrost very nicely at half power in my microwave as you can see by the last picture.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/catastrophegirl/sets/72157624482480276/