Portion Control

likitisplit

I have become a big fan of pre-cooking, cooking in bulk and portioning out meals, buying in bulk and portioning out servings, etc. It is completely awesome-sauce and lets me eat home-cooked with a fraction of the work/ mess/ waste/ time/ cost/ you name it.

The one draw back is that I'm using a million bags. I come from a home where we NEVER bought plastic bags. We washed out the ones you get free with produce and used them again and again and again. The number of ziploc bags I go through now is dismaying.

When I try to work around this (by packaging two slices of cooked bacon in tin foil before freezing, for instance), it quickly becomes a time-consuming nightmare.

Does anybody have ideas for easy, fast, cheap and easily stored substitutes or work-arounds that they've either used or heard about?

akh1981

I get baggies at the dollar store. Cheap, fast, and easy. And it doesn't bother me as much as paying $3-4 for a box of ziploc baggies.

rduhlir

My mom is saves all the tubs from butter, jars from pickles and olives, etc... She washes them out and uses those in place of the plastic Ziploc tubs.

And I second the dollar store bags...much cheaper.

bcattoes

Reuseable containers. More expensive at first, but cost saving overall. Not to mention the the environmental savings by eliminating all those plastic bags ending up in the landfill.

btsinmd

I use a lot of plastic containers. You can get them in all shapes and sizes and I do. I also use plastic bags. Any bag that didn't contain raw meat or anything really messy is then added to my collection of potential dog poop bags. I travel a lot with the dogs and so need those bags on me often.

Now that I think about it, my mother used and uses a lot of product tubs too and even saves the containers from our local chinese takeout to hold various food items. Maybe I should start incorporating that.

likitisplit

My mom is saves all the tubs from butter, jars from pickles and olives, etc... She washes them out and uses those in place of the plastic Ziploc tubs.

And I second the dollar store bags...much cheaper.

My husband throws out old food containers

That is a good idea though. He also debates the value of the plastic storage ware I have (non-tupperware). I feel like there's more down that train of thought.

I did get some silicone pans for lasagnas - freezer/microwave/oven/dishwasher. They are pretty flexible so they're easy to store, but it makes them difficult to handle with the uncooked food and you can't stack them in the freezer.

likitisplit

Foldable boxes ala chinese food container, that you could throw into your dishwasher - there's a product idea!

likitisplit

http://www.reuseit.com/food-storage-and-produce-savers/progressive-international-collapsible-food-storage-containers-set-of-3-by-progressive-international.htm

likitisplit

http://www.amazon.com/Seal-It-Real-Banana-Reusable/dp/B0057KKMUQ/

likitisplit

http://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/creo-collapsible-food-storage-container/

canadjineh

If you were really into washing out the bags BEFORE you started doing the portioning thing, why don't you do it still? If you buy the good quality baggies (NOT the dollar store ones) then you can wash & re-use still. Not a huge deal. Or just reuse the containers from yogourt, cottage cheese, etc. That's what we do. Everything goes into the recycle bags here, all glass containers, metal food cans including aerosols like whipping crème, all hard food storage plastics, even food film and bags after rinsing. Only no-no here is styrofoam meat packaging.

deksgrl

I like the re-usable plastic containers. I have also been known to wash and re-use ziplock freezer bags instead of throwing them out. When I am portioning out larger packages of meat to freeze, like when I buy a "family size" ground beef, but want it in one pound sizes, I use Freezer paper and tape.

likitisplit

If you were really into washing out the bags BEFORE you started doing the portioning thing, why don't you do it still? If you buy the good quality baggies (NOT the dollar store ones) then you can wash & re-use still. Not a huge deal. Or just reuse the containers from yogourt, cottage cheese, etc. That's what we do. Everything goes into the recycle bags here, all glass containers, metal food cans including aerosols like whipping crème, all hard food storage plastics, even food film and bags after rinsing. Only no-no here is styrofoam meat packaging.

I grew up washing out bags (well, to be accurate, I grew up weaseling out of washing out bags). I barely have the time to do dishes as it is, there is no way I could stand around washing out plastic bags. If it can't go into the dishwasher, then I can't use it.

Anyway, my husband feels strongly that they should be thrown away and will trash any containers that I wash, like margarine tubs, etc.

I need convenience - I'd like there to be less expense/environmental impact.

likitisplit

I like the re-usable plastic containers. I have also been known to wash and re-use ziplock freezer bags instead of throwing them out. When I am portioning out larger packages of meat to freeze, like when I buy a "family size" ground beef, but want it in one pound sizes, I use Freezer paper and tape.

That's a great idea.

ldrosophila

My mom is saves all the tubs from butter, jars from pickles and olives, etc... She washes them out and uses those in place of the plastic Ziploc tubs.

And I second the dollar store bags...much cheaper.

this is a good idea i always hate throwing out tubs and jars

amandzor

I love my ziploc containers. They're reuseable and save me tons. They come in all sorts of sizes/shapes and help me stay on track in terms of controlling my portions.

I know which one fits a cup, which one fits two, etc. The only thing I use Ziploc bags for any more is freezing chicken.

likitisplit

http://www.amazon.com/FoodSaver-Advanced-Design-Vacuum-Sealer/dp/B000AANXDG

My mom had a food sealer thing, but it was difficult to use and never very effective.

likitisplit

Thank you all! I think I'm going to get the baggies from the dollar store, maybe collect some of the collapsible silicone dishes and possibly get a food saver unit if I'm still going strong at the end of a year. I'm also going to get butcher paper for freezing meat.

I hope this thread has been helpful to others as well.

kgeyser

This may sound weird, but muffin tins? You could freeze foods in those, which would give you a handy portion size, then pop them out and store them all together in one large bag in the freezer. Then you can just grab as many portions as you need, put them in a reusable container, and heat in the container at work? You can also use ice cube trays for portioning sauces.

likitisplit

This may sound weird, but muffin tins? You could freeze foods in those, which would give you a handy portion size, then pop them out and store them all together in one large bag in the freezer. Then you can just grab as many portions as you need, put them in a reusable container, and heat in the container at work? You can also use ice cube trays for portioning sauces.

I actually have a 24 cup silicone muffin "tin" that I use for that (the metal ones rust). I did 1-cup portions of rice for awhile. That is a great idea. The silicone also allows you to press on the bottom and pop things out.

The bacon was too big of a batch, but there's a lot of things that would be easy to wrap frozen and could be thawed in a washable container. I can definitely use that for some of the recipes that call for three different bags to be stored in one larger one.

Mangopickle

We use quart/pint/half pint jars all the time for fridge food storage. I tend to make meals that are good for 4 days without freezing. Freezing meals does not seem to ever work in our life. My freezer is packed with raw meat and frozen veg. I will preproportion some meat,wrap in wax paper and dump back in a Kroger bag. We use our meat so rapidly it has no time to freezer burn.

likitisplit

We use quart/pint/half pint jars all the time for fridge food storage. I tend to make meals that are good for 4 days without freezing. Freezing meals does not seem to ever work in our life. My freezer is packed with raw meat and frozen veg. I will preproportion some meat,wrap in wax paper and dump back in a Kroger bag. We use our meat so rapidly it has no time to freezer burn.

I got the book "Fix, Freeze and Feast." Even though I only like a couple of the recipes, I've applied to techniques to some of our favorites. It's been a lifesaver. I make a batch of six or so meals on Sunday and freeze them. There are several selections in the freezer now, so I take out a bag each morning to defrost in the fridge and then heat it in the evening. I'm able to use fresher ingredient and nothing goes to waste - and it saves so much time.

It takes as much time and dirties as many dishes to make one batch of red sauce as it does to make 10. I'm using the gigantic cans, so there's less in the recycling container. I use the ENTIRE clove of garlic, so it gets used the day I buy it and I chop it and the onion in my mini-chopper, so it takes seconds. Yesterday, I pulled out a bag of red sauce and meatballs. They simmered together as I made the pasta. Voila! Homemade spaghetti and meatballs with all the effort of opening a box of pasta. And the portion size is exactly what our family needs, so everything was eaten that night. No storage, no spoiled food, no washing plastic ware.

Madelinec117

I have started using the sandwich bags for the individual portions, then put all the sandwich bags in one large ziploc freezer bag, which can be reused. The sandwich bags are much cheaper. I use it a lot for bananas for smoothies and cooked meats.