glass - can it go in the freezer?

Meadows

If it's large amount of liquid you can buy 'Pour & Serve' bags in supermarkets, probably found near the foil etc.
If it's small amount do you have any Chinese Take Away containers? Or you can use things like Margarine/Spread containers, many years ago I used to buy Vitalite, these make great freezer storage containers.

ThyKingdomCome

hangs head in shame (i thought that you meant carrier bags):D

I have just seen in the 'merged thread' that you need special bags for the freezer. I hadn't considered putting liquids in a bag for some reason.

chumbasmum

I have been freezing things in jars for a while and have had no problems. I only freeze things like 1/2 jar of pasta sauce and they are not filled to the top. I don't place them in bags because I know that I am too lazy to label them properly and if they are in jars they still have the label on. I would recommend thawing them slowly as the glass probably wouldn't cope with high heat.

Primrose

Kingdom - yes, you can freeze glass jars, or at least some of them and this is the problem - you will not necessarily know which jars are freeze-proof. My husband freezes small jars of home made pesto and there's no problem as long as you thaw them at room temperature and don't try to be clever thawing them out rapidly in a microwave. I usually freeze larger portions of soup/sauce etc in the Lakeland zip seal bags which are ideal for this purpose as they're made of heavy duty polythene, can be washed and stored flat until you need them again. Recently we've been making lots of soup from home grown vegetables and I've been using empty washed plastic milk bottles (pint sized) with the caps on which have proved perfectly freezer proof, so you might want to try these as an alterntive to glass. Just leave a small space at the top to allow the frozen liquid to expand and let them thaw through overnight when you want to use them (or alternatively place them unopened in a bowl of warm water if you want to speed things up). A pint bottle will hold two decent portions of soup. If you have large lumps of vegetables obviously these could block the opening to the milk bottle but purreed soups and sauces are no problem. Incidentally we were given a bottle of Italian liqueur which is supposed to be served ice cold which we store in permanently in our freezer without any problem. It's been there for over a year now so some glass can definitely be frozen.

alittlebitofmagic

ThyKingdomCome wrote: »

sorry, bags? like asdas bags?

Freezer bags, better quality ones on the rolls, as I do not trust the thin ones not to puncture on me!

I also re use the utterly butterly tubs that my friend uses at an awful rate, great portion size, stack well, also good for peppers, cheese, onions etc one open dried(spread on cookie tray first, so they do not stick and are free flowing). I save the pint milk cartons too for the soups. I have been known to put a fresh loaf in a carrier when I know it is VERY clean, but they have air holes, so no matter how frugal I do not think it would be a good idea for your soup

ThyKingdomCome

Thank you all so much for all the tips. Plastic milk containers, margarine tubs etc: genius! We have to put all our plastic bottles in a bag for recycling, and I store it in the back garden. It looks really ugly. If I re-use them, that's as good as recycling, isn't it? (obviously I will not fish out the ones that are already outside in the garden-they don't have lids anyway) I have just been googling freezer tips, and it is amazing what can be frozen.
I had no idea that you could freeze grated cheese, put I have eaten hundreds of frozen pizzas covered in the stuff!!

SailorSam

I put soup in those Pour & Serve bags with the zip, i bought them in Home & Bargain, i think it was a box of ten, wasn'y expensive.

CCP

alittlebitofmagic wrote: »

I should imagine the chances are slim, but I'm never going to attempt it now :eek:

I think I was probably just very unlucky as other people on this thread seem to have frozen glass with no problems. I am never, ever going to try it myself, though - one scar is quite enough for me, thanks!

Patchwork_Quilt

I freeze portions of soup and left over meals in those huge, old-fashioned soup cups - the ones with the recipe printed on the side. I cover them with cling film and take them to work in a frozen state. They sit on the windowsill until lunch and then I nuke them for about three minutes and eat from the pot.

Fire_Fox

I froze a bottle of wine once (trying to fast cool and forgot); the contents expanded and the bottle broke. I am ashamed to say we defrosted and drank the wine!!