Get ahead in the kitchen + reduce waste – by using your freezer!

I love my freezer.

Whenever I'm at a loss for how to use something up before it goes bad, I stop thinking and pop it in the freezer.

When I have an abundance of a certain vegetable and my family gets sick of it before the end is in sight, I throw the rest in the freezer.

Freezing food is the perfect solution to avoid wasting it, to save money, and even to get ahead in the kitchen!

For example, we had cheesy bean + rice burritos the other night. We had enough cheesy beans and rice leftover for our family to have for lunch, but had eaten all the tortillas. We like to eat beans and rice alone, too, but I knew the kids would probably complain about the lack of tortillas if I tried to serve it the very next day. 😉

So I put it in my freezer! It's there for us whenever we need a quick lunch to heat and eat.

If you follow me on Instagram, you saw my crazy pile of squash yesterday. You better believe some of that will make its way into the freezer!

I often purposely make way too much food (which is harder than you might think in this house full of boys) so that I can freeze some. It's awesome to be able to pull out frozen leftovers that I can just heat up on busy days rather than resort to less healthy, less sustainable convenience foods. This works especially well for:

• Chili
• Taco/burrito fillings
• Cooked chicken (love to toss it in soups and quick stir-frys)
• Lasagna
• Pancakes! Yes, if you can manage to make more pancakes than your family will eat, they freeze nicely!
• Homemade bread. Yes! Though you want to eat it right away after taking it out, as I've noticed it doesn't stay fresh for long after thawing.

Freezing food is just one of the many tasks I'm making a habit as part of the #EcoEats with Green is Universal.

If you want to learn more about ‘eco-eating,’ check out NBC’s Green is Universal! They're hosing an “Eco Eats” sweepstakes from September 29 – October 17. You can join by their free green-living tool, One Small Act, and join the “Eco Eats” challenge. It's an awesome tool that shows how the power of community makes it easier for us all to take these small steps to better our world.

Everyone who signs-up and tackles at least one action by October 17th will be entered to win one of five 6-month subscriptions to NatureBox! No Purchase Necessary. Must be US resident and 18+. Read official rules here.

Note: In exchange for participating in the challenge and writing this post, I was given a gift package from Green is Universal. All opinions here are still 100% my own, as always. 🙂

See what other bloggers are doing as part of the challenge!