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My freezer is working hard. I would go so far as to say that I am an experienced freezer user. Although he is a food professional who writes and thinks about food all day. I often find myself not knowing what to cook, especially at the end of the day. I rely heavily on the thoughtfulness of my past. I like to cook things in large quantities that I can easily reheat when I’m lost. In addition to the types of dishes expected in the freezer like chili and soupI also like to make extra loaves of no-knead breadTO DO extra cookie doughand tons of pierogi, which are one of my most reliable staples.

Irregularly shaped solid foods like those mentioned above aren’t really good candidates for hard-sided airtight containers. They fit much more perfectly into gallon size freezer bags. There’s one step I always do – and you should too – when freezing things in zip-top bags: suck the air out with a straw.

Why suck air out of zippered freezer bags?

One of the most useful little science facts I’ve learned over my years in various kitchens is that air is the enemy of freezing. Exposure to air can cause freezer burn. Moisture trapped in the food itself evaporates into the air, even the small amount of air left when you zipped a bag closed.

The best way to prevent freezer burn is to limit the amount of air that frozen foods are exposed to. This is easy to do with something like soup that can completely fill the container it’s in, leaving no room for excess air. However, with something solid, you have to remove the air yourself before the food hits the freezer.

How to Remove Excess Air from Zipper Bags

You have a few choices: you can shell out the money for a vacuum sealer, which will remove every last bit of air, you can try to expel the air with one hand while sealing the bag with the other ( not very effective), or you can opt for my favorite method of using a straw to suck out the air yourself.

1. Add food to the bag and seal it 3/4 full. You can expel as much air as possible at this point, but depending on what’s in the bag, it may be difficult.

2. Insert a straw into the open quarter of the bag. Slide the straw to the far corner of the bag and seal the bag around so that the only open part of the seal is where the straw is placed.

3. Suck out all the air. Inhaling through your mouth and exhaling through your nose, use the straw to remove excess air from the bag. When you have gotten out as much as possible (it will never be all of it, but the bag should adhere to the food in the bag), quickly remove the straw with one hand while completely sealing the bag with the other. to keep as much air out as possible.

Tips for Freezing in Zipper Bags

• Invest in reusable straws. Rather than wasting a disposable straw every time you need to freeze something, buy reusable straws that you can wash and use again and again.

• Freeze small foods flat first. If you don’t want your mounds of cookie dough, dumplings, or green beans to coalesce into one unusable mass, freeze them in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet before transferring them to a zip-top bag .

Further reading

Why people are giving up their seltzer after a worrying study

The “beautiful” $3 flower cups at Walmart People are buying 2 at a time

Tuscan Chicken Is the ‘Most Delicious’ Dinner Ever, Says Everyone Who’s Tried It

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