Flash freezing foods is popular and very useful for food storage. Not only do I find I lose fewer items to freezer burn, I also find it is easier to utilize individually frozen foods.
The process of flash freezing for those of us at home really just refers to the process of freezing pieces of food individually (usually spread out on a cookie sheet). The food items to flash freeze aren’t limited to frozen meats – as I’ve done in the video above. In fact flash freezing produce at the end of a harvest can be a great way to have your favorite fruits and vegetables for months after the peak growing season has ended. Berries, peaches, corn, etc – all freeze beautifully for later consumption!
The easiest way to flash freeze food – whether it is produce or meats – is to clean and prepare the foods, break them down into your preferred portion sizes, make sure fruits and vegetables are dried (blanched if necessary), and then place them in a single layer on a parchment or silicone lined cooking sheet. Then place in freezer and wait until they are frozen through (some references say you can wait a short period while others recommend freezing a few hours – I usually wait a few hours). Then remove sheet from freezer and place your frozen food items into freezer safe storage containers or bags.
Congratulations, you now have individually frozen items you can pull out at will for use throughout the days and weeks ahead. Freezing fruit this way makes smoothies and pies a snap! Freezing veg in this manner can allow you to pull out a small handful for stir fry, omelets, casseroles, etc with ease. When freezing meats it allows you to easily pull out and use anywhere from one to ten pieces without having to worry about thawing any more pieces than are needed.
In our video above we have broken down whole chickens (you can find our “how to” video for breaking down a chicken here) into pieces for freezing. I love this method and we tend to consume more chicken than beef, pork, lamb, or turkey. However, we do occasionally use and freeze other meats. Other great flash freezing options are flash freezing pre-formed hamburgers, individually rolled meatballs, prepared schnitzel, butterflied and stuffed cuts and so much more!
We hope you have found this video helpful, and we hope you’ll give flash freezing a try! From all of us here in the Wee Laird’s Kitchen we wish you good health and happy cooking!
Other great references for flash freezing:
- https://www-thekitchn-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/www.thekitchn.com/how-to-freeze-fresh-summer-fruit-cooking-lessons-from-the-kitchn-193051?amp_js_v=a6&_gsa=1&=1&usqp=mq331AQFKAGwASA%3D#aoh=16052160183330&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&_tf=From%20%251%24s&share=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thekitchn.com%2Fhow-to-freeze-fresh-summer-fruit-cooking-lessons-from-the-kitchn-193051
- https://www.bhg.com/recipes/how-to/cooking-basics/how-to-flash-freeze-foods/#:~:text=For%20the%20home%20cook%2C%20flash,airtight%20containers%20for%20longer%20storage.
- https://recipes.howstuffworks.com/tools-and-techniques/flash-freezing.htm
The Wee Lairds Kitchen 