The pandemic has all of us spending more time in the kitchen cooking. California has just shut down restaurants for a second time so eating out isn’t an option for us right now…sigh. Thank goodness there is still plenty of food at the market.
Today I want to share a simple kitchen hack that will save you loads of time in the kitchen and make cooking dinner every night just a little bit easier, and who doesn’t love easier? I know I do!!!
If you do a fair amount of cooking you know that a lot of recipes start with sautéing a diced onion. I buy yellow onions like these in bulk to save money and because I use them constantly when cooking.
It is so frustrating to peel an onion to find this! So I came up with this clever hack to stop the waste and save precious time in the kitchen on busy weeknights.
Go and grab a handful of ziplock plastic sandwich bags.
Open them up and place in a measuring cup. This keeps the top open for easier filling.
Start chopping up those onions with a sharp knife.
I portioned out 1 cup servings in each bag. That’s the equivalent to about 1 medium onion.
Use a sharpie pen to write the contents and date on the outside of each baggie. Be sure to do this. I promise, you will forget not only what is in the bag, but just how long they have been hanging out in the freezer. I speak from personal experience! Be sure to mark each baggie!
I like to store the individual portions in a larger gallon sized baggie. It keeps them all together in the freezer making it easier to find. Plus when you get down to the last couple bags you will know it’s time to pick up more onions on your next trip to the market.
Freeze the baggies flat so you don’t end up with a big clump of frozen solid onions. Freezing them in a thin flat layer allows you to use them right out of the freezer, eliminating the need to thaw them before cooking.
Note: Freezing diced onions does change the texture so these are best used in recipes where they are going to be cooked. If a recipe calls for raw onions use fresh onions.
It took me about 15 minutes to peel, chop and portion out an entire bag of onions. That 15 minutes of prep time on the front end will save loads of time down the road.
Now go get chopping!!! Trust me, you will be glad you did when you pull out a baggie to start cooking dinner!
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