I am obsessed with a good kitchen hack. I am always looking for a better way to make my time in the kitchen easier and less stressful. Here is my newest kitchen hack that might change your life.
You know that bowl of onions you have in your cupboard because it is easier to buy a bag at the grocery store versus buying them one at a time? But then you don’t use them quite as fast as you thought so they start to sprout a green stalk or start to turn brown? Then you just throw them all away and buy another bag of onions….
The solution I found is that once I am already chopping one onion (or if I only need half the onion for a recipe) I just go ahead and chop more than I need. Then I toss all the extra chopped onions into a ziploc bag and freeze it for another use.
I found that this works great for a lot of other grocery items too. A little bit of planning means I waste less produce. And I am so happy when I have the ingredients on-hand and don’t need to buy more later.
Here are my most favorite items to prep and freeze (besides onions)
- all herbs (especially cilantro)
- green onions (you can even freeze the greens and the whites separately)
- extra fruit (strawberries, mangos and bananas for smoothies)
- Brussels sprouts and broccoli (for when I need an easy veggie side dish)
- lemon juice frozen in a ice cube tray (easy to add to sauces)
- the peel of the lemon to add a little extra flavor to Greek meals
What else do you freeze that makes meal prep so much easier?
Also read about Cleaning Hacks here.
Garlic! Chop a bunch and then have them freeze flat in a freezer bag.
Ooh garlic! I hate chopping garlic so if I did it all at once and then froze the extra that would save me from that stinky process the next time. Great idea.