Hey LindaN

My mom taught me to reuse plastic bread sacks. When I freeze bread I slip an extra plastic sack over it to help prevent freezer burn.
I save all plastic wrappers and always double wrap everything that goes into the freezer.
The place where I buy meats provides a thin plastic bag to wrap the individual packages, so I put them inside a bread wrapper before freezing. The thinner bag keeps the bread wrapper clean too!
I reuse cottage cheese containers and when my MIL drank her Ensure she would save the container for me, they make great transplant pots!

Robin

LOL!
My DH thinks I'm a nutcase because I keep all the spagetti and peanut butter jars to store things in. Eventually, I did have too many and sent them off to recycling. Now I miss them terribly because we don't eat as much spagetti sauce (yeah, it has sugar in it for all you diabetics) and the jars are in short supply. I use yogurt and margarine containers for mixing my paints and dyes and storing short-term leftovers...

Foxglove

Robin,

Just a note regarding freezer burn. Freezer burn is caused by air pockets inside the package of whatever it is you're freezing. The air draws moisture out of the food in the package causing localized tissue dehydration, which affects both texture and flavor.
If there is air in the package you can double wrap it, triple wrap it, or wrap it in a sleeping bag and you still won't prevent freezer burn.
The only way to prevent it is to completely remove all air from the package before sealing, or to consume the food item before burn takes place (a time frame that varies greatly depending on the food).
You might as well find something else to do with the bread sacks.

I find that egg cartons are great for starting seedlings in (I get teh cardboard type, not the styrofoam ones). Also, my empty Crystal Light canisters are great for seed storage-I put the seed envelopes into the canisters, and then write the seed type/variety on the lid and side in indelible marker. Plastic bags (like they use at the grocery store or wally-world) get used as liners for my wastebaskets, and smaller plastic bags are used for picking up after the dog while you're out on a walk--old bread bags are GREAT for this--just invert the bag over your hand/arm, pick up the doody, and then pull the top of the bag back down and off, twist it around to tie, and toss in into the garbage on your way back home!

I try to reuse as much as I can, recycle what I can, and try not to send TOO much out to the landfill.

Wow. I didn't know that.

BUT isn't air more likely to get through a thin wrapping than a thick one? So assuming you squeeze the excess air out, won't two wrappings still be better than one? (You can tell I still want to double wrap and use up my bread bags.

I also use bread bags instead of plastic wrap to cover casserole dishes and other leftovers in the pan they were cooked in. I slice it down the side and tuck it under the pan, or use a big gumband, to keep the air out. I reuse my ziplock bags that haven't been used to store meat. If it just had produce in it, I wash and dry it and use it again. I also save many jars and lids to take leftovers or soymilk to work for lunch. I don't like heating things up in the microwave in plastic containers and glass jars are good for that.

Hey TrudyF & Weedkicker

My MIL liked to leave some air in her bread that she kept in the freezer, she said it made it easier to just pull out one slice.

Course, I store more than one loaf at a time, so I just give the loaf a gentle hug, squeezing out as much air as possible. I twist the inside bag close, tuck it inside the second bag, give another hug as I twist and close the outside bag.
I've been doing this for over twenty years and haven't had a problem. Most bread is consumed with in two to three months.
.......Nope, the one time I did get freezer burn was storing the bread on the bottom shelf, so I keep them on the middle or top shelf of the freezer.

Robin

Robin,

As far as freezer burn goes it makes absolutely no difference which shelf the package goes on. The fact that you experienced burn with the bread on the bottom shelf was just coincidence.
Again, burn occurs when air circulates next to the food item, drawing out the moisture. Items such as bread can be rehydrated to an extent. Same with some other food items. There really isn’t any way to salvage freezer burned meat, however. The burned part is usually cut off and discarded. Eating it won’t harm you, but it isn’t very palatable.
There are only two ways to avoid freezer burn. Use an airtight package and completely remove the air from it, or eat the food item before burn occurs.
The best way to accomplish the first is to use a commercial vacuum seal machine. The second best way is to store things in ziplock freezer bags and suck out as much air as you can using a straw.
As far as eating the food before burn occurs, the time frame depends entirely upon the food and how well it’s packaged.

Trudy,

BUT isn't air more likely to get through a thin wrapping than a thick one? So assuming you squeeze the excess air out, won't two wrappings still be better than one?

I suppose it all depends upon what kind of wrapping you begin with. If the wrapping is porous then I suppose another wrapping would help. But most material commonly used for wrapping isn't porous so I doubt it would make much difference.
See my other response to Robin as to the best way to avoid freezer burn.

Sucking it out with a straw?! really? you are serious about freezer burn. I must go through the stuff before freezer burn happens. except for peppers it hasn't been a big problem, just an annoyance. (we grow a lot of peppers.) but I guess with all the meat you're freezing you have it longer before use.

Ever read the Tightwad Gazette (books or the newsletter?) In my house, it's a horse-race to see if I can stash it before my dh pitches it. I pretty much re-use an awful lot of it - glass jars, plastic containers, pie plates, frozen o.j. containers, lg. bakery containers (great for seed-starting/controlled humidity), bread bags, WalMart bags, washed ziplocks (no meat, though), washed tinfoil, and cut-open waxed paper that lines cereal boxes. Save a reasonable amount, and try to recycle the remainder.

Thanks Weedkicker

Sincerely
Robin

d in dixie,
I loved the Tightwad Gazette. It's a recycler's dream. I didn't think she published anymore.

never tried the wax paper from cereal box trick and will definitely try containers from bakery or salad bar to start seeds. I've made tents for cuttings from bags to increase humidity when starting them. but the rigid containers would be easier. and yes, my DH thinks I'm nuts. but he likes me that way.

do you reuse your sweeper bags too?

Trudy,

I do store a lot of meat. I rarely purchase it at the store. Almost everything we eat is wild game that I hunt and kill myself. That's the way my father did it and his father before him. Guess it's just tradition in our family, but I do enjoy the process. Kind of like the difference in growing and harvesting your own vegetables rather than buying them at the store. There's a whole lot more satisfaction in growing your own and you know they taste a lot better, too.
I store some of that meat for as much as a year, which is why I researched the subject of freezer burn a long time ago. It was something I had to deal with.
The straw in the ziplock bag works really well and takes little time. I processed an elk and two deer last year, along with a lot of small game, and I imagine I'll have at least a few packages left by the time the hunting season rolls around this fall. With the straw and the ziplock I don't usually have any problem keeping the meat that long.