I enjoyed Mark Bittman's column yesterday on what we might call the new pantry, a reflection on how our staple items might be changing or should be, all of it a reflection of our increasing interest in cooking great food sensibly and efficiently (photo for The Times by Francesco Tonelli). He notes things such as bouillon cubes are out (or should be), and a simple stock of a carrot celery and onion boiled in 2 cups of water should replace it—so true. Better than canned chicken stock, too. Making your own vinaigrettes rather than buying bottled dressings, which he calls a ripoff (a decent olive oil, salt and a squeeze of lemon juice over crisp greens is far superior, in my opinion). Having parmigiano reggiano on hand (I ALWAYS have this—grated or shaved on pasta, on salads, seasoning for soups, finishing a gratin, no end to its uses), fish sauce, sherry vinegar (buy the good stuff it's worth it). One item I didn't agree with, or not whole heartedly at least. Canned tomato paste should be out, tubes of it in. He argues we seldom need a whole can. True. But whole cans are better quality and less expensive. What I've been doing for years is opening both ends of a can, pushing it out whole, slicing off what I need, wrapping the rest and freezing it. It keeps for months frozen and it's easy to slice off as much as you need. I always put some in stock, where I use it most. Nothing wrong with the tube, but it got me thinking what are the things I always want to have in my freezer?
—Tomato Paste, for sauces and stocks.
—Chicken stock, frozen in quart zip top bags, no end of uses (you always have a good meal at hand when you have some stock in the freezer).
—Slabs of bacon for lardons, for noon time frisee and poached egg salads, stews and soups and pastas (bacon, like most fat rich foods, freezes very well).
—Chipotles in adobo sauce, for the great smokey heat in anything tomato based.
—Thai curry pastes for last minute curries and dramatic seasoning.
—Dried red chilli peppers (I do at least one stir-fry a week and like them hotter than everyone else, so I fry them black in plenty of oil for and use both the oil and the chillis throughout the week).
—Ginger can be frozen and grated when you need it, so you always have it on hand.
—Phyllo dough and puff pastry to turn leftovers into elegant meals, tarts and pot pies.
—Baguettes from On the Rise Bakery (find a good bakery near you—don't rely on grocery store baguettes); good fresh baguettes freeze great.
Would love to hear what invaluable staples you keep in your freezer.
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- multiple containers of pork lard
- caul fat
- leaf lard / kidney fat
- fat back
- pork bellies
- home made bacon individually sliced and in larger chunks (thanks Charcuterie book)
- beef suet
- a couple of pork shoulders for sausages / terrines / pates
- roasted new mexico hatch peppers
- roasted new mexico chimayo peppers
- ground beef
- ground pork
- frozen berries
- butter
- some herbs (sometimes you want cilantro or flat leaf parsley and it is not convenient to get)
(all items are vacuum sealed)
I think that is about it…
Staples in my freezer:
Turkey stock (from the holidays)
Nuts
Ginger
Puff Pastry
Cookie Dough
Basil
Fruits (for smoothies)
When the teens were babies, I used to cook, grind, and freeze their baby food too.
Tofu! I only keep firm or extra firm in the freezer though. We go through tofu alot more than we do with meat (I don’t know why…maybe because its cheaper in general). I buy it in the package, and just put it in the freezer, packaged and all (It comes in those tubs with liquid in them).
When I want to use the tofu, i’ll sit it out on the counter until its firm. Then i’ll take the tofu out of its packaging, and if its not vacuum sealed, i’ll literally squeeze out the liquid like a sponge.
I have noticed that after freezing the tofu, the texture is slightly different so its better to use with stir frying than more delicate things like soups.
In college we always use to marinate meat for kalbi or bulgogi and then put individual servings in freezer ziptop bags and freeze the bags. So when we wanted some kalbi or bulgogi real quick we’d take it out of the freezer
Pin oats. When my hubby, daughter and I crave ‘em, I cook several mornings’ worth on Sunday and we eat them all week. But we inevitably have a leftover uncooked supply, so into the chill chest they go!
just wanted to add that this post reminds me of one of my main food goals for the new year — to waste less food.
a well-stocked pantry, freezer, and fridge are great…but only if you’re always mindful of what you have on hand. it’s way too easy to convince yourself that you have nothing for dinner, only to let things spoil or collect another layer of freezer burn, without being diligent about the pantry.
i’ve taken to keeping a list of “must use soon” ingredients on my fridge…and I need to tidy my freezer and pantry frequently in order to keep on top of things.
aside from all the benefits of wasting less food — there’s something supremely satisfying about challenging yourself to be a better, more efficient manager of your own kitchen. it also forces you to be creative, of course, about how to combine a number of random ingredients into a good meal…which for me, is one of the biggest pleasures of home cooking.
Worcesterschire isn’t really that similar to fish sauce at all.
Just spend the two bucks on a bottle and find out for yourself, it’s salty, probably more similar to soy than anything else but a little fishy. Tons of asian recipes use it – one of my favorites is vietnamese dipping sauce: fish sauce, lime, sugar, and a little hot pepper (chopped fresh, usually green for me, or red flakes). Awesome stuff, you just need to balance the four flavors, makes a good asian salad dressing as well.
A couple things about the Bittman piece: I’m not on the fish sauce thing, but I do have worcesterschire always around…how similar are the flavours?
And while I have pretty much stopped buying bottled dressings and marinades, I still love me some French dressing. I think Alton Brown mentioned it in a book, and I agree: I don’t care what’s in it, it’s reminds me of my childhood and to me it’s delicious!
I keep nearly all of my bulk spices in the freezer. And there’s always a healthy stock of butter, nuts, bacon, bulk sausage, tomatoes (blanched and peeled in quart bags), vegetables, basil pesto, stock, and shrimp.
Ice cubes for cooling off blanched vegetables. I take my 250 ml containers and freeze them in chunks and then break them with a cast iron pot or any other heavy item close by. Freezing them in the containers means you can stack them up, and you don’t have to worry about spilling them on anything.
I am only now starting to use the freezer more and more–it all started when ‘Elements’ won me over on stock, and then I started making soups and stews. I’ll make 4-5 quarts at a time and freeze about 2/3 of it for later.
When I first discovered the tomato paste tubes, I thought it was the best thing going…until I realised it’s not really as tasty, and I usually end up using 1/3 to 1/2 of the tube at a time anyway. I had not thought of freezing it, but usually the small cans last about as long as I need them to anyway, because like vinegar or lemon, it’s one of the things I look for excuses to use.
Why it never occurred to me to keep some bacon on hand in the freezer, I don’t know. Though I do have some ham hocks on hand, I believe.
I do have a little stock in the freezer, as well as a running collection of meat trimmings, though I’m starting to find that I can make more stock, and more often, by just buying trimmings, necks and backs and whatnot from the farmer’s market.
Those of you who freeze individual portions of homemade dishes like mac & cheese or lasagna, can you give freezer hints, like do you freeze before or after cooking? What kind of containers? How do you reheat? Thanks.
Great post!
Here are the things I cannot do without:
- Stocks of all kinds (at the moment I have lots of veal (both brown and white), chicken, turkey, lamb, fish and lobster stocks.
- Breadcrumbs (whenever I have leftover white bread I turn it into crumbs and put it in the freezer).
- Cooked, shredded chicken (I often make stock by poaching a whole chicken or a couple of legs, and then the meat goes in the freezer.) Chicken stock and shredded chicken are great for making almost instant chicken soups, fricassées and stews of all kinds. The meat can also be used in sandwiches, salads, omelettes, quiches, tacos, enchiladas, etc. An extremely useful thing to have in the freezer!
- Cooked beans and grains (such as barley and spelt/farro). If one is to cook beans or grains, why not cook the whole package and freeze the rest for later? Beans and grains make great additions to soups and stews.
- Bolognese sauce, chilli stews, and other preparations that need very long cooking times. A fabulous thing to eat on busy weekday evenings!
- Offcuts from fish. (Usually we buy whole fish, and often we fillet it, make a stock with the bones, and cut out nice serving pieces from the fillets.) The offcuts we freeze for later use in fish pies and soups. When one has fish stock and bits of fish and possibly a couple of shrimps in the freezer, one can whip up a fabulous fish soup in minutes.
- Grated cheese. Whenever there is a good offer on quality firm chese, I buy it, grate it and freeze it. Great for gratins, pizzas, etc.
I find that having these staples available makes it possible to whip up tasty quality foods in no time on busy weekdays. I couldn’t do without them!
Oh, and I also keep thai curry paste in the freezer. I make the green curry paste recipe out of Hot Sour Salty Sweet, freeze it in ice cube trays (which gives me roughly 1 tablespoon sized servings) and then throw the cubes in a larger container, so they’re easily accessible.
Chicken, vegetable and veal stock, unsalted butter, lime leaves, tomato sauce, pancetta, various nuts, leftover egg whites (I freeze 2-4 of them in a ziploc bag if I make something that calls only for egg yolks, they’re great for meringues or those little Italian almond cookies). I also always keep oatmeal raisin cookies in the freezer. Although I’m not vegan, the best recipe I’ve found
http://whatilikenyc.blogspot.com/2008/10/i-hate-cookies.html
happens to be. They don’t stay fresh for much longer than a day or two, so I just keep a stash in the freezer.
This will probably mark me as a philistine, but I have a big and very fast cherry pitter specifically because I like cherries throughout the year; I buy a lot in season and pit big batches, then freeze them.
I also like to freeze pesto.
Wheat berries. This may sound weird (especially from a non-vegetarian), but since they take a full hour to cook I’ll make a big pot once a month and then freeze them in 2 cup portions. I developed several recipes for EatingWell magazine a few years ago, all of which called for adding frozen (previously cooked) wheat berries directly to soups, stews, chili, and even oatmeal. Provides great chew and really rounds out winter dishes.
Michael,
Very similar to my list, I also keep smoked ham hock on hand for soups and greens, as well as homemade maranara sauce in my freezer.
And a liter of Plymouth Gin!
Most of these have been mentioned, but in addition to a ton of ice cream, my small freezer usually contains combinations of the following:
-Chicken stock (homemade, split into pint & 1/2-pint containers)
– and herbs
-Vegetable stock (ditto)
-Basic tomato sauce (ditto)
-Bean soups (ditto)
-Smoked salmon (2kg received annually at Xmas from a friend in Nova Scotia, split into 2-bagel servings)
-Unsalted butter
-Puff pastry
-Raw almonds
-Ginger root
-Seasonally frozen berries – gone now
-Coffee beans
-Leftover baguette to toast into croutons
-Sausage (most often duck or chorizo)
-Vodka (Stoli)
-Single-serve lasagnas or other pasta for when I have an “I just can’t stand up long enough to cook!!” day
Unsurprisingly, there’s rarely room to make ice cubes.
I forgot to add I ALWAYS have Zuni chicken stock in quart-size zip top bags.
This year I “did the tomatoes,” so I have zip top bags of my own home-grown tomatoes in there. Next summer I’m going to triple the amount I grow.
I always have:
Bacon frozen in packets – first wax paper, then aluminum foil, two strips each,
A half-moon shaped chunk of pancetta, which is easy to cut frozen,
A package of Jones Little Sausage Links,
Petite peas;
Fordhook lima beans;
Sweet Hungarian paprika; and
Up till now, a small stainless bowl with beaters for my hand-held electric mixer, so I can whip cream in a flash. However, in A Platter of Figs David Tanis suggests making loosely whipped cream with an old-fashioned eggbeater, which I did last weekend to make cream to serve on my linzertorte. It was a delight – the right texture for schlag. I highly recommend using one. I don’t know, though, if I can keep the eggbeater in the freezer because some of the parts are plastic. I’m sorry I don’t have my mother’s! Perhaps I can find someone else’s mother’s at a yard sale.
roasted green chiles from harvest time in August…
With bacon, do people freeze raw strips separated apart, or freeze them already cooked?
My biggest dilemma with meats in the freezer is having too much frozen in one block together. Particularly things like a pound of bacon or a whole chicken, just too much for two people at once (even with leftovers).
Speaking of stock, I’ve got a summer’s worth of frozen corn cobs waiting to be cooked up. Never tried it before, but I’ve heard that it makes a nice base for chowder, and I love redirecting something to the freezer instead of the trash (or compost).
Chicken feet for making soups/stocks.
Backstock of all spices – with just the two of us, even the 2oz minimum purchase from Heathers Heat & Flavor can last a long time. BTW – Heathers has awesome Sichuan Peppercorn – much fresher than Asian Grocery packs.
Whole chili peppers and deseeded/dehydrated tomatoes from last summer’s garden.
Pint of chopped lemongrass from Asia Foods, for use in a pinch.
Most of these have been mentioned, but:
- nuts
- pesto
- ginger
- specialty flours/grains (oily ones that would go rancid)
- bacon
- juice from our home-grown lemons
- zest, ditto
- herbs in ice cubes (or juice cubes)
- bread/pizza dough (homemade)
- pickles (ditto)
I also keep a bag of chopped random aromatics in there — onions, garlic, etc. Little ends and bits that don’t get used fresh.
Oh, and vodka. Can’t forget the vodka. (Tito’s, always.)
I have always been partial to pecorino over parmigiano.
Homemade meatballs, especially with quality local grassfed ground beef, are just amazing and freeze great.
Anyone have a good recommendation for a balsamic vinegar that’s a good balance between price and quality (an “everyday” one if that makes sense)? How about a good reasonably priced olive oil (organic would be a plus)?
A gallon ziplock bag to store chicken carcass bones/parsley stems/etc in until it’s stock-making day.
3 or 4 nice cuts of meat/fish that cook up quick after soccer practice.
Big batches of homemade banana-blueberry pancakes (I am NOT a morning person but want The Kid to have a homemade breakfast).
Some “emergency” supplies in case I miscalculate what I have on hand: chicken thighs, a small baggie of chopped onion, and tiny bags of minced shallot, same of parsley.
And sticks of non-hydrogenated shortening for seasoning the outdoor grill. Works like a charm.
In Amsterdam our freezer space is nearly 50% corn tortillas b/c the one place that sells them in town doesn’t always have them and is a bit far away.
Fish (tuna and Shark from my Dad’s annual fishing trip), chicken stock, chicken livers, homemade pasta, Thai chili peppers, homemade bread, numerous poultry parts waiting to be made into stock, as well as about 5 pounds of shrimp shells waiting to be made into stock as well!
forgot to say:
Mix paragraph one (2 cups) with paragraph three and some extremely undercooked pasta and a breadcrumb (we already have some, per Bittman’s advice) topping for a great baked pasta.
Basic tomato sauce – some in 1/2 cup glad containers and some in 2 cup containers. Great for individual pasta servings spiced up with pancetta/bacon/guanciale, onion, and red pepper. Braising anything with a little wine (or even water and a little tomato paste).
RAGUS – bolognese, sausage, chicken livers/giblets, etc they all freeze extremely well and last a few months. Put them in 1/2 cup containers and you have yourself a excellent meal in the time it takes to boil pasta. I usually make batches with 2 lbs of the given meat, not skimping on the ingredients and it costs about $20. Makes about 12 servings. Using good dried pasta, each meal comes out to less than $3. Just make sure you have two or three different cheese in the fridge to add a little variety.
I don’t like freezing roux or anything of that nature. I find that making up a small batch of bechamel to be extremely rewarding, despite its simplicity, and it is great to top anything along with some parmesan, and through in the oven for a bubbly, browned crust.
oops, I meant to say ‘bread’ no ’sread’ in that last comment and one other thing about Bittman’s article I have to disagree with is that Balsalmic Vinegar is out…even if it’s the cheaper stuff , it’s something I could never be without!
Meatballs – I always try and make large batches then freeze them on a sheet so that they are ready for a quick meal.
Middle Eastern flabread – awesome for making quick toasts if people come by unexpectedly, or for serving with curry meals.
Stock – usually turkey because we eat a lot of it.
Homemade pasta sauce for quick meals.
Trader Joe’s fresh pizza crust.
Lemongrass stalks.
Naan to have with quick curries.
And like JWC, I keep homemade cookie dough in the freezer; I scoop dough into individual balls, freeze on a tray to keep them separate, and then bag them.
I keep all of those things along with a selection of beans, grains and sambal oelek. I have never bought a bottle of salad dressing and even as a kid I passed over the bottle of “Italian” dressing for lemon and olive oil.
Oh, and parmesan rinds. Thanks JWC.
Berries and Rhubarb are two of our favorite freezer staples…and nettle pesto, which I make in big batches in the spring when the nettles are everywhere! At the Bakery we cube stale sread and freeze it to stock up for thanksgiving crouton making. You’re correct that bread freezes well…just pop it in the oven to crisp up the crust once it is thawed.
Duck Fat.
Tomato paste in tablespoon sized portions, vegetable stock, chicken stock, butter, ginger, dried herbs, shrimp shells (for stock), little bits of leftover gravy/sauces/roux etc. that I can’t bear to throw out.
I keep a zipper bag full of Parmesan rinds in there. They are a great way to add some salt and complexity to soups.
Lots of stocks, bacon, baguettes.
I keep my vanilla beans in a bag of sugar in there,too. And a couple of big rolls of sugar cookie dough too.
If I have unexpected guests, or my sweet tooth comes alive, I can bang out some cookies, or use it as a tart dough.
Frozen berries, sundried tomatoes, several types/sizes of canned tomatoes , frozen shrimp are some of the comestibles I keep on hand.
I like to freeze some summer fruit every year. If you lay it out on sheet pans to freeze it, and then vacuum seal them, they keep very well. It’s a beautiful thing to bake something like a blackberry peach cobbler in the dead of winter.
I also can’t say enough for freezing on sheet pans. So many times I see people freeze things as a block and then worry about separating off what they need. If you simply take something like bacon, for example, and lay the strips out before freezing, you can then throw them in a ziplock and easily pull out what you need. Same goes for other meats, vegetables, the above mentioned fruit, etc.
Basil pesto, sun dried tomatoes, roasted red peppers, jalapenos, mexican chorizo (fixes any boring dish), spanish chorizo, gruyere, parmagiano, cheddar. Hmmm I discern a pattern here.
Basil pesto, sun dried tomatoes, roasted red peppers, jalapenos, mexican chorizo (fixes any boring dish), spanish chorizo, gruyere, parmagiano, cheddar. Hmmm I discern a pattern here.
I’m glad I’m not the only one who keeps many pounds of butter in the freezer!
Aside from most of the above, I always have Maida Heatter’s Queen Mother’s cake, some
unbaked homemade rugelach, meyer lemon juice and peel frozen in the correct amounts to make lemon curd, several kinds of homemade ice cream, a chicken carcass or two waiting to be made into stock, several soups and stews packed in individual servings, purees of spinach, carrot, butternut squash, apple and pear, turkey stock (thank you, Michael), and green beans, peppers and berries from the garden. For my kids I also stock individual servings of mac and cheese, turkey lasagna, mini precooked two ounce hamburgers, and chicken marbella (my three year old would eat it breakfast lunch and dinner if she could) and homemade pizza dough.
I prefer making fresh organic food every night, but I love being able to give everyone organic home cooked meals and handle last minute company with my freezer when I can’t.
Frozen Dill
Brownies (kids lunches)
Pesto (made during summer)
Tomato Paste
Coffee Beans
Chicken Breasts
Whole Wheat Flour
Corn Meal
I was rather proud of myself for having replaced most of what Bittman wrote, but I also disagreed with canned paste-my local grocer sells packets of it (4/$1), which works good too. Don’t forget butters!
Pine nuts. I buy them from local gatherers (high country, Arizona) and after I revel in the lamb crusts, pesto, tarts, and brittle, I freeze the rest. I cannot, will not, live without my pine nuts.
Pesto made with summer basil, veggies from the garden blanched and vacuum packed, bacon!, home grown chicken, home grown sundried tomatoes and ice cream. There’s other things in there as well since we buy beef by the quarter and pigs by the side. But the first are things I always have and use weekly.
Never thought to keep ginger in the freezer – great idea!
I keep bags of frozen barbecued pulled pork and beef. The addition of this to a pot of chili or soup adds a tremendous amount of smokey flavor.
My wife must have 10 pounds of unsalted butter in the freezer, ready for any baking emergency.
I make different kinds of herb pesto, with herbs from our garden, all throughout the summer. I freeze the pesto in individual portions (either in ice cube trays or scooped in mounds onto a sheet pan) and keep the frozen portions in a ziptop bag. Perfect to take out for pizza, pasta, spooning over a some fish, etc.
If I ever have leftover pieces of fresh bread, sometimes I’ll process them into crumbs in my food processor and keep a bag of frozen fresh breadcrumbs.
I always have various types of Viennese sausages because my favorite store La Vieille Europe is too far…sausage and beans on a ski day…
Freeze fresh herbs in an ice tray. You can’t really defrost them and use them as fresh again but they are great to throw into soups and sauces. Freeze them in chicken stock if you’d like.
I’m a college student so I find a way to freeze more than I keep in my fridge because I rarely use anything up fast enough.
Roux, especially the darker brick roux, in small lumps. It is time consuming to make, and therefore handy to defrost.
On a more location-specific front I am lucky enough to get to Toronto several times per year. Each time I visit the St. Lawrence market and have one or two peameal bacon loins sliced into individually wrapped third-lb packages which freeze well and are handy for breakfasts and even dinners.
Frozen peas (commercial organic), lots of greens from last summer’s garden blanched and put up with the vaccuum sealer, jars of garden parsley-basil whizzed in the processor with lots of olive oil, the remains of my half pig, half lamb, and random cuts of antelope and elk.
I forgot about nuts, good call. I buy nuts almonds and walnuts in bulk and keep them frozen.
2 and 4 ounce portions of frozen veal and chicken stock!!!!!
Pretty much everything else you mentioned. Also, since we got the circulator I usually have a couple of “ready to go” circulator dishes frozen.
Ginger is something I use frequently enough that I keep it fresh… although I usually end up throwing out 25% or more because it spoils quickly. The galangal I should probably mince and freeze in ice cube trays — it’s too big to try to grate frozen.
But freezers are great for certain herbs that don’t get used all that often, and whose texture isn’t critical: sage, keffir lime leaves, curry leaves.
Pine nuts are another that I keep in the deep freeze, they spoil too quickly to go through a Costco-sized bag.
Fresh chiles from my garden keep for a long time. I have some grilled and some fresh jalapenos and some habaneros at the ready at all times. For that matter, I have several bags of roasted sweet peppers and oven-roasted tomatoes too.