9 Foods To Keep In Your Freezer (With GE Advantium® Recipes!)

Tue Jan 24 2017

Refrigerators

Keeping the right freezer foods on hand can make meal-planning, meal-prepping, and life in general so much easier. Here is a list of freezer foods you should always have on hand along with some seriously amazing (and fast!) GE Advantium® recipes to try them with!

1. Bulk Nuts If you haven't added healthy nuts to your diet, the time to do so is now. Walnuts, almonds, cashews, pecans, and brazil nuts can help aid with digestion, fight inflammation, protect against cancers, and defend arteries. They also provide healthy fats that fill you up and give you energy throughout the day. These healthy nuts tend to be on the more expensive side so it's more cost-effective to purchase them in bulk. Unfortunately, nuts won't last forever... unless you freeze them! Eat them raw or add them to your favorite recipe like this delectable Cashew Shrimp.

2. Butter Frozen butter can take your pie crust from good to amazing and your biscuits from dense to buttery flakiness. Simply slice your butter into recipe portion sizes and wrap tightly in heavy-duty aluminum foil or plastic freezer wrap. Could baking your favorite flaky goods get any easier? Yes! Use a grater to grate your butter into fluffy shreds which evenly distribute into your dough mixture. Try this time-saving hack next time you make these Classic Biscuits.

3. Bacon Because... Bacon. But also because it doesn't take up much room in the freezer and is super fast to thaw (or even cook frozen!). It's a flavorful addition to any meal or snack. Throw it into some pasta, wrap around some chicken, add it to a sandwich, sprinkle it on a donut, we literally can't think of a food that bacon doesn't go great with! They especially make a great addition to these Southern-style shrimp & grits.

4. Cookie Dough Even though it's usually always healthier to cook from scratch than purchasing it from the store, it also require more time (and usually there's a mess involved!) . The next time you go to make a batch of cookie dough, such as these classic chocolate cookies you won't be able to put down, make extra dough to set aside for the freezer. The next time you need to bake cookies for a get-together or just a sweet treat for yourself, you'll have (healthier) cookie dough readily available.

5. Overly Ripe Bananas Bananas are never so sweet as when they become ripe and disperse their sugars. Unfortunately, if you don't eat them right then then they can quickly become brown and mushy. Instead of throwing them out, simply peel and place in a freezer bag to have sweet bananas ready for banana breads, banana & Nutella ice cream, smoothies, and this syrupy sweet 2-minute Bananas Foster recipe.

6. Pre-Made Meals One of the best inventions ever was the freezer meal. Instead of cooking 7-21 times a week (3 meals a day), you can cook just a few times and have a week's worth of readily available healthy meals! Soups, pastas, casseroles, breakfast sandwiches, and so much more. This flaky chicken pot pie recipe puts the "comfort" in "comfort-food" and makes for a perfect weeknight (frozen) meal to keep on hand.

7. Pre-Cooked Meats The Pioneer Woman recommends keeping frozen grilled chicken on hand for lunches and dinners. By keeping them stored in portion-size containers or bags, you can quickly thaw them out and add them to salads, tacos, quesadillas, soups, pastas, chilis, panini, and these Tiny Chicken Turnovers perfect for any get-together. Another great options for cooked meats to keep on hand is browned hamburger and for tacos, spaghetti, pizza, sloppy joes - the possibilities are endless!

8. Portioned Smoothie Packs Smoothies are an easy way to quickly get nutrients and energy from various fruits and vegetable sources without sacrificing on taste. They also make for a great dessert replacement! Simply cut up your favorite fruits (strawberries, blueberries, bananas, peaches) and veggies (frozen kale, spinach, swiss chard) and place into portion-sized bags inside the freezer for a healthy, on-the-go snack!

9. Vegetables Vegetables are a healthy addition to any meal or snack. Although veggies don't store well if you plan to eat them raw, they are perfect for keeping on hand to add into appetizers, side dishes, and main entrees. By storing vegetables like pre-cut carrots, brussel sprouts, green beans, cauliflower, and asparagus, you can quickly have a meal packed with ingredients ready in minutes, like this classic Green Bean casserole that is sure to be a crowd-pleaser.

What frozen food do you always keep on hand?