How To Freeze Food Without Single Use Plastic Waste

Plastic often dominates in our freezers, with plastic freezer bags and ziplock bags commonly used to seal in moisture and protect our food from freezer burn. But these are wasteful and may leach chemicals like BPA, PVC and Phthalates. But what if we told you that there are other options besides single use plastic? There are many in fact! Read on to learn what you can use, besides throwaway plastic, to freeze food for later.

Freeze food in glass jars and containers

Glass jars, such as Ball mason jars or empty pasta sauce jars are exceptionally handy to have on hand. We love to use glass jars to freeze:

• Stock
• Soup and broth
• Cooked chickpeas, kidney beans, lentils and other legumes (with or without water)
• Excess fruit and vegetables
• Citrus peels
• Vegetable scraps

Glass containers are ideal for leftovers and pre-made meals. Think:

• Lasagne
• Pastas
• Curries
• Burger patties
• Stews and casseroles
• Enchiladas
• Vegetarian chilli
• Stir fries

This style by Glasslock are oven proof, so can go from the oven, to the bench to cool down, into the freezer before whipping it out again to serve. They stack well, you can see what's inside and they are free from BPA, PVC and Phthalates.   One thing to keep in mind is that liquids expand when frozen, so you don't want to overfill. We recommend you leave a 3cm gap from the top of the jar or container when storing anything in the freezer. We also recommend you avoid using thin necked bottles due to their risk of cracking and only choose glass jars and containers that are suitable for freezing. Find out more about freezing food in glass here >

Freeze food in reusable ziplock style pouches

Ziplock pouches are handy for all sorts of things, especially in the freezer.

• Single or small servings of biscuits, slices, muffins and cakes
• Breadcrumbs
• Cheese
• Tofu (including homemade, find a kit here)
• Pastry dough, bread dough, cookie dough
• Blanched veggies, like beans, carrot, corn, capsicum, broccoli, cauliflower
• Items from the butcher

But wait, aren't ziplock bags single use? Not at Biome! We have a huge range of high quality, sturdy, reusable ziplock style pouches to choose from, including popular silicone Stasher bags and other styles in a range of sizes made from safe plastic. While our styles are still made from plastic or silicone, they are designed to be used again and again, and last you a significantly long time. Unlike ziplock bags from supermarkets, they won't be discarded after one or two uses. The styles that we sell can also be returned to us for recycling.

Freeze food in a fabric bag or tea towel

A fabric bag or tea towel is all you need to freeze bread and loaves plastic free! A thicker fabric will work best, so double wrap your bread if you feel whatever you are using is too thin. We recommend double wrapping the bread bag pictured below. Tammy from Gippsland Unwrapped stores her bread in homemade fabric bags in the freezer for up to two weeks without any problems (1). She purchases package free bread from her local bakery in the bags, brings it home and then pops it in the freezer. You could make your own fabric bags (see the link under Further Reading below for how Tammy made hers), use a pillowcase, or pick up a ready made fabric bread bags online at Biome. Make sure the bread is securely wrapped up and protected from freezer burn.  

Freeze food in ice cube trays

You can use an ice cube tray to freeze all sorts of things:

• Excess tomato paste
• Ginger and garlic paste
• Herbs in olive oil
• Fresh nut milk
• Lemon juice, orange juice, lime juice
• Purred fruit and veggies
• Leftover brewed coffee or tea

Make it plastic free by choosing a long lasting stainless steel ice cube tray.  

We wrote a whole blog post about freezing food in ice cube trays, which you can read here > With these ideas, you'll be on your way to a throwaway plastic free freezer in no time.

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Further reading gippslandunwrapped.com/2015/08/29/waste-free-bread/