Thrifty Thursday: Slice 'em, Dice 'em, and Freeze 'em

Next time you're cutting veggies for a recipe, do yourself a favor and get out two freezer bags.  Instead of cutting up two stalks of celery, for example, cut up the entire head.  Put the sliced celery into one freezer bag (labeled, of course) and put the leaves into another bag (labeled "scraps for stock"). 

Do the same with onions.  When you have the time, make it a habit not to cut up one onion, but cut two or three instead.  Use what you need and freeze the rest.  Again, put aside the peels and the roots for stock.  Then when your bag of scraps is full and when you've got a chicken carcass lying around (that sounds so gross), make your homemade chicken stock.

You've also built up a stash of ready-to-go onions for when you're in the middle of the evening crunch time.  You'll have all the perks of storebought frozen onions without the added expense.

I have noticed that bell peppers can sometimes be cheaper when purchased frozen and already diced.  How is this possible?  If bell peppers have reached their high price of nearly $1 each and the frozen bell peppers are on sale for the same price, then you're guaranteed to come out ahead when you purchase the prepackaged frozen kind.  You'll end up with more vegetables in the frozen bag than you would get from one pepper and it saves you the time and effort of cutting.  But if it's summer and bell peppers are cheaper, you won't save money going with the prepackaged frozen stuff.  If it's summer, however, hopefully you've got bell peppers growing in the back yard.  We sure do! 

One of my favorite things about cutting up veggies and freezing them, aside from being a time saver, is that it keeps me from wasting produce.  When your family is small like mine, it's easy to let celery or onions go bad.  By cutting and freezing, I can prevent waste, thereby saving money, and saving time.