COOKING TIP: The Freezer as Your Culinary Friend.

Ice cubes made from water from the tap freezes cloudy. Boil water, cool slightly and freeze in ice cube trays to give you clear ice cubes.

Freeze grapes and add to white wine or other fruit based cold drinks, e.g., Sangria, to keep them cold without watering them down.

Put similar sized pieces of fruit - pineapple, banana, grapes, etc. –on skewers and freeze for a fun frozen treat.

Need some bacon fat to replace butter/ oil for frying or to add some porky, smoky flavor to a dish? After making bacon, allow the fat to cool, then pour the fat onto ice cube trays and freeze. When frozen, transfer to a zip lock bag and keep frozen until needed.

When you make homemade chicken (or any other stock), allow to cool and freeze in different amounts for different purposes. For small amounts, fill ice cube trays, freeze and transfer to zip lock bags to be used for things such as, deglazing fond for a pan sauce.  For medium amounts, e.g., to be used for gravy, freeze in muffin tins, then transfer to zip lock bags. Large amounts can be frozen in zip lock bags, placed flat to save storage space, to be used later for soups.