Hospitality is something I strive to incorporate into our family life. But opening our doors to the world can sometimes seem like a lot of effort. I have found that the art of hospitality can be made easier with certain tools. For me, my most valuable tool is our chest freezer.
Here are some of the many ways our chest freezer helps me extend hospitality to my family and my community.
Preparing for Events and Holidays
Freezing Fruit Pies
I really enjoy making pies. Nothing screams hospitality more to me than a warm, freshly baked pie. But pies are relatively time consuming to make completely from scratch. I first learned the trick of freezing pies when I made all the pies for my own wedding. There was no way that between greeting all the guests flying in and the rehearsal dinner I was going to be spending the day before my wedding in the kitchen. Instead, I made them a week or two ahead of time and froze them assembled but not baked. Then the day of I had various family members bake the pies for me and bring them to the reception. It was a sweet and cost-effective way to serve up fresh pie to our wedding guests.
I do the same thing with holiday pies. Christmas is a busy time of year and we have so much going on in the days leading up to Christmas. Apple pie is the most time-consuming pie that I make for the holidays. I often make and freeze an extra apple pie or two in late November, when I am already making pies for Thanksgiving. This makes Christmas so much more relaxing.
Not all pies freeze well. Fruit pies do great in the freezer. Custard pies can be more tricky. So usually I will make and freeze some extra pie crust in portioned out disks. That eliminates one step when it is time to make the other pie varieties (like pumpkin and pecan). If I have extra apples in the fall, I might slice them and stick them in the chest freezer. Sometimes I will mix up an apple pie filling and freeze that. Those are great for the more impromptu celebrations any time of the year. I can whip up a pie pretty quickly if I have all the parts ready to go in my chest freezer and just need to assemble them.
Freezing Cakes
Did you know it is very common for bakeries to freeze the cakes that you order? They freeze the freshly baked cake to lock in the moisture and keep it fresh until they are ready to assemble the cake and deliver it to the customer. Not only does this make it possible for them to fill a lot of orders, but frozen cakes are actually easier to frost. I do something similar at home. If I know I’m going to be busy with family life in the days leading up to a birthday or other event, I will pick a day that I have time to bake the cake and then freeze it until I am ready to assemble the cake. Someday maybe I will have time to start a baking project and see it through to completion in the same day. But for now, freezing cakes is such a helpful trick!
Freezing Cookies and Cookie Dough
For the past several years I have opted to freeze cookie dough into cookie-portioned balls instead of baking the whole batch. Then, whenever we want cookies, we take however many we want to consume that day out of the freezer and pop them straight into the oven. This allows me to have freshly baked cookies at any time. It can be very handy to have cookie dough in the freezer if someone unexpectedly stops by or we have dinner guests but want an easy dessert option.
And remember, Hospitality can be extended beyond the home. With the cookie dough balls waiting in the freezer for us, we can also easily deliver freshly baked cookies to a neighbor or friend. Best of all, it prevents me from having a dozen cookies tempting me from the counter all week.
Cookies also freeze well once baked. You won’t get the warm, fresh out of the oven cookie experience that you get by freezing dough. But say you go to a cookie exchange and receive more than you can eat before they go stale. Pop them in the freezer! I usually freeze my decorated holiday sugar cookies. It is nice to be able to take them to parties and deliver them to friends throughout the holidays, but if I bake them right after Thanksgiving, they won’t taste great if left out on the counter until Christmas.
Freezing Bread
Breads freeze really well. From sandwich bread to sweet breads, and most types in between, freezing bread works great!
Sourdoughs and other Savory Loaves
I like to make 2 sourdough loaves at a time. I’m already going through the steps so it is not much harder to double up. Same goes for many other types of bread. By having some loaves of bread tucked away in the chest freezer, we are still able to enjoy bread on the weeks that I don’t get around to baking. Or, if friends are coming over for a playdate and we are low on lunch options, I can pull out some bread for sandwiches or bruschetta.
Sweet Breads
Every year around Easter I bake a whole bunch of lemon loaf and freeze individually wrapped loaves. It is a messy process and the recipe I love is a bit involved with a glaze that needs to fully set. By batch making breads and freezing them, I save a bunch of time. Then, as brunches, play dates, and other events pop up throughout the spring, I can pull a loaf out the night before and thaw it in the fridge. I have even had some luck with some very last minute morning-of counter top thawing if I get it thawed enough to slice and then leave it to finish thawing pre-sliced.
Preparing Freezer Meals for Others
Expecting mothers, a sick friend, a grieving neighbor. There are plenty of people in our lives who would love to receive a pre-made meal. Friends certainly helped us a ton with meals during our newborn stages. A chest freezer can make extending hospitality outside of the home easier. If you are making lasagna or a casserole for your family, why not make an extra one and stick it in the freezer unbaked?
Saving Money and Time by Buying in Bulk
I will admit hosting costs money. It also requires my time. Whenever I can, I like to buy food staples in bulk so I have a stock of food to pull from in a pinch. Our chest freezer allows me to buy meat and fish in bulk.
I always keep Costco’s individually-portioned salmon filets in the freezer. While not terribly cost effective, those filets can be thawed in water very last minute (like half an hour). Then they cook really fast. They save us at dinnertime on busy weekday nights. They can also be a great option for last minute dinner guests or if someone has a dietary restriction that prevents them from eating what you prepared for the larger group.
On the cost saving side, buying large quantities of meat when it is on sale can save a lot! Prime rib goes massively on sale each Christmas. For the past several years we have purchased a full rack (around 16 pounds) each December. I temporarily turn my little kitchen peninsula into a butcher shop. I’ll cut the rack into 2-3 more manageable chunks and very carefully and tightly wrap them in butcher paper, plastic, newspaper and then an oversized plastic freezer bag before sticking them at the bottom of my chest freezer. The meat may not be fit to serve at a Michelin star restaruant. But for my family and friends, this is a cost effective way to enjoy finer cuts of meat.
Chest Freezer vs Upright Freezer
Why do I prefer a chest freezer over an upright freezer? Items can be stacked and you can fit oversize or odd shaped foods in the chest freezer. Often, I will put a whole cookie sheet in the freezer to quickly freeze fruit (berries, sliced apples, pears, peaches, etc.) before bagging them up so they don’t stick together. And my oversized apple pies may not fit well on the shelf of an upright freezer. Or what about a half rack of prime rib? Sure, items can get lost at the bottom of a chest freezer if you are just throwing things in. But I find that if I regularly take inventory of our freezer and place items in the freezer with some order to them, organization is not an issue. With chest freezers you also don’t lose cold air as easily when the door is opened and shut. This is better for your frozen foods. The key to all of this, regardless of the type of freezer is wrapping the items you freeze really well. Nobody wants a freezer burned steak or crystalized apples.
