Christine @ Good & PlatedCut down on food waste and save money on groceries! The Ice Cube Tray Hack is a simple way to save some of your common cooking ingredients.
Have you ever cooked with tomato paste before? If you have, you’ve probably encountered a similar problem to one I’ve faced: rarely, if ever, does a recipe call for an entire can of tomato paste. So, what do you do with the rest?
Sure you can store it in your fridge for a bit. But if you aren’t planning to cook anything else with tomato paste soon, it’s likely going to waste. Not sure about you, but I despise food waste (and wasting money!). So what can we do to prevent this? Use what I like to call The Ice Cube Tray Hack.
What is the Ice Cube Tray Hack?
The Ice Cube Tray Hack is simple. In my kitchen, I have an ice cube tray dedicated to freezing liquid or semi-solid foods that I don’t want to waste. Once frozen, I then transfer these foods to individual freezer storage bags so they can be saved for future use in recipes.
What types of foods can you save?
Some common foods that I love to save using this trick include:
- Tomato Paste
- Pasta Sauce
- Stock or Bone Broth
- Lemon or Lime Juice: Ever buy a whole lemon or lime for a recipe and only use half? Instead of letting the other half languish in the fridge, squeeze and save the juice for another recipe.
- Coconut Milk: For use in cooked recipes only, such as my Chana Saag, because the texture changes once frozen.
- Cooking Fats: Leftover cooking fat, like beef tallow or bacon grease can be frozen and then used as a fat for cooking in other recipes.
- Smoothies: You can add the frozen cubes to a blender with a bit of liquid and re-blend for a quick smoothie!
- Yogurt: For use in cooked recipes only, such as my Homemade Naan, because the texture changes. I’ve also used this to save pricey coconut yogurt that I used only a few tablespoonfuls in a recipe and did not want to waste.
While you’ll love this method
- It helps to prevent food waste and save you money on groceries: No more half used jars of pasta sauce languishing in your fridge waiting to go moldy – you can save it before it ever goes bad. No need to repurchase a lemon for every recipe when all you need is 2 tablespoons of fresh juice – you’ll already have some in your freezer!
- It’s perfect for saving small, measured portions of ingredients for recipes: I know that my ice cube tray fits just about 3 tablespoons of food. I can use only what I need for a particular recipe.
The Ice Cube Tray Hack FAQs
In general, a good rule of thumb for most frozen foods is they can be saved for up to 6 months. Though in my experience, I end up using them much sooner.
I’ve been there! If you are like me though, you might save several different sauces over a period of time. As long as the sauce has a similar base – say tomato sauce – you can combine them and use them to make a new sauce in the future. A little bit of meat sauce and a little bit of vodka sauce? MIx them together and no one will be the wiser.
I suggest using a tablespoon to fill the ice cube tray section with water to know its maximum storage capacity. But you can also save smaller amounts based on your personal preference if that works better for you.
Absolutely! I just happen to have a cheap plastic kind, but there are actually silicone ice cube trays that come in a variety of sizes which would allow for larger amounts to be stored. This would be a great option for something like chicken stock where you know you’ll use a larger quantity in a given recipe.
Have you tried the Ice Cube Tray Hack yet? Do you have any other tips or tricks for preventing food waste to share? Let me know in the comments!