Freeze/Prep

In the realm of cooking from scratch in a new country, there are few things as precious as time.  This idea of pre-preparing foods has saved me a ton.  One note of caution-make sure your electricity is fairly stable before using this(we initially tried this when we first moved to Hanoi- which was followed by a few days worth of blackout and spoiled food).  Our current residence rarely has power outages, but it is good to know before you waste more valuable time.

I have found you can do this with a wide variety of foods, but I am still experimenting.  I know for sure it works well with Potatoes, Carrots, and blanched and seeded tomatoes to be used for tomato sauce.

Start by washing your veggies.

Next, peel potatoes/carrots. Discard skin.

You should be left with something like this:

Next, cut the veggies into chunks of approximately the same size.(this can vary by your preference or what you plan to make with the veggies in the future)

I then take the cubed potatoes and put them in a steaming pot(just a pot with holes in the bottom for steam to pass through) and place it on top of the coordinating pot of boiling water.

Like so:

Place the lid on and let it steam for 15-30 min or until fork easily penetrates the veggies.  If you cook too long they will be mushy, but this could work if you plan to use them in a recipe where they have to be cooked that far, such as potato soup.

Once cooked I store the potatoes in zip-lock bags(not brand name because those are hard to find).  I generally write what is in the bag with sharpie as well as the date I prepped it.  This is helpful because once it is in the freezer some things start to look alike and that could make for some interesting creations by accident.

I then transfer the mostly cooked potatoes to the bags and allow most of the steam to escape with them open.  I usually only fill the bags half full due to the amount we would most often use for a recipe since there are only 2 of us, but you could probably fill to 3/4 full safely.

Next, you just squeeze out as much air as you can, seal the bags and fold over so that the label is on top.

 And now, finally, they take their place among other frozen veggies in the freezer(carrots at this time).

I find this helpful, especially with veggies that take longer to cook or that have several steps involved.  We have even come across several new combinations of food just because we have certain things cooked in the freezer and just combine them in a pan with some different seasonings.

hope you enjoy, and happy cooking!