The Freezer

Introduction: Welcome to my new blog, The Ice Man Cooketh, devoted to cooking and eating food with a focus on all that is frugal and freezable. Just the thing for these troubled times, but I've always been a cheapskate gourmet. Origin story below:

For years I stressed out about what to cook for dinner. If I didn't make enough to have leftovers the next day or went out to eat, I would have to buy lunch. I knew the answer was freezing large quantities, but my freezer was overstuffed already.

Enter... the chest freezer. My memories as a child involve being sent down to the basement where my father kept a GE chest freezer stocked with meat from the butcher (Pepi's, to those who have ever lived in Bel Air) and bluefish my grandfather caught. The freezer was ancient and I don't think it had been defrosted since my parents moved into their house in 1980 and I assume it still hasn't.

I opted for a smaller chest freezer, a 5 cu ft model from Home Depot. All the chest freezers on the market seem to be made in the same Chinese factory. This one is labeled Magic Chef, a dead brand that, when it was alive, produced the 1965 stove in my old house which I loved until my contractor destroyed it. That's another story and this is not a kitchen renovation blog.

I looked all over for some stackable storage containers that fit in it, since otherwise food gets lost in the bottom. Milk crates didn't work but I found these tubs at Ikea, Trofast, that are actually part of a children'a furniture set. They are also the perfect size and shape to brine a turkey. Wonders never cease.

Anyway, I'll be posting at least once a week. Stay tuned for my series on savory waffles.

Frugal Factor: Retails for $189 but I got one somebody drove a lumber cart into for $134.