Cool and kinda damp today, with the possibility of some real hard rain according to openweathermap.org. I guess we’ll see…. Sunday was nice, cool but sunny and decently warm in the sun.
This January took forever to pass by. Usually I feel like the days are flying by, but with 5 weekends, this month dragged. I don’t know why I want it to be past, but I do. I don’t think great things will be happening in February, but at least it won’t be January.
Spent yesterday watching auctions for stuff for the new place, while also doing other stuff around the house, and I blew it. I let something go that I really wanted and would save both time and money at the new place. Got distracted…
Then made dinner. Which brought me this thought. I can talk briefly about one of my storage options, the freezer.
I freeze bread. I find that bread products keep really well for me in the upright freezer. I don’t do anything special, just put them in the way they come from the store. I freeze regular loaves of Sara Lee white sandwich bread, with at least 2 and usually 3 in the freezer at a time. We use about 2 loaves in three weeks, so they do turn over regularly. I like the Sara Lee because it holds up to spreading peanut butter. A lot of the white breads don’t.
I freeze naan bread. (indian flat bread) It’s pre-baked, and just needs to be warmed up, so it’s a quick and easy way to get a bit of bread with a meal. It does come in a sealed plastic bag. It lasts for a year or more in the freezer, doesn’t take up much space, and is a solid “go to” for me. Very easy to warm for use too, spritz with water and throw on the grill or in the oven (whichever you already have hot) for a few minutes each side. I think if things get really shirty, flat breads will be the way to go vs leaven breads. Much less time and energy to cook than baking.
I freeze english muffins. Thomas’ to be precise. Again, I just chuck them into the freezer in their store packaging. They store well for a long time.
I freezer a 300 pack of wheat tortillas too, but also have a 300 open in the fridge for normal day to day use. They last in the fridge for months.
I thaw the white bread, and the english muffins all at once for the week before use, but the naan I heat from frozen.
Hamburger buns and hotdog buns do well too, but do get ‘freezer burned’ if left too long.
It is very convenient to have bread in the stacks and to not have to head to the store every week.
One other option deserves mention, my Costco has 3 packs of shelf stable bread. They are loaves of sourdough and are vac packed with some sort of absorber packet. They just need to be heated to ‘crunchy’ and they are great when you are looking for a crusty hearty loaf in a hurry. They are still good after the best by date, but the absorber starts to stain the crust black. I just cut that part of the crust off and ate the rest.
Of course, you can bake from scratch, kit, or with a bread machine. I’ve done the machine and still do for holiday breads. It’s very easy and a great way to get good bread on demand, and save money while cycling through your stored bulk. I’ve found the loaf doesn’t last long once made though, and if we don’t work hard at it, we don’t eat it before it gets hard. So the store bought breads are a better value as they last long enough to get eaten.
There it is. Compelling content! Exciting discussion! Friendly folks! Random factoids! Red Lectroids!
If you haven’t been stacking bread or bread-like food items, I hope you can throw some in the freezer now. They’ll probably be good later too.
Stack all the things! Including bread.
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