January is a month of deprivation. Diets. Budgets. Resolutions. Sure, the holidays are full of excess and goodness knows we can’t live that way for 12 months, but honestly, why does January have to feel so grim?
One (sensible) way to fight back is by saying No! to winter and dishing up summer fare instead. For some, this might mean margaritas and burgers on the grill. For others, it might mean a peach pie made with peaches you picked and froze last summer. At my house, we’ve already cracked open one container of zucchini-basil soup and a bag of sweet corn to bring a little August into our lives.
As I’ve written elsewhere in this blog, two years ago my freezer contained little more than half-eaten gallons of ice cream and bananas I’d felt too guilty to throw away and hoped (in vain) I’d use for banana bread. Now it’s full of frozen fruits, vegetables, soups, pies and scores of other goodies I’ve learned to “put away” as part of my CSA. Even people who cook a lot find there’s often too much produce to eat each week.
If you’re where I was, thinking that freezing food is way too 1950s, think about this. Freezing is:
* a time-saver because the cooking is already done. All you need to do is thaw and reheat
* a way to support local farmers — buy more in season and freeze it
* a way to eat organic, local food.
* Sweet corn, peach pie, and raspberries in winter. Need I say more?
For tips on how to stock your freezer, check out The Big Chill, by CiCi Williamson and April Umminger from The Washington Post.
Finally, I am following your advice before you give it…we ate my granny’s sweet corn on the cob that grew in her garden last summer! I feel I have arrived in some sense
[...] more info, check out a post I wrote earlier this month called Summer in January, aka Freezing 101. There’s also a link to a helpful article in The Washington Post on the do’s and [...]