Frugal Tips: Freezing Onions

I always assumed that there are certain foods that everyone knows freeze well, and everyone knows how to freeze those foods. But we all know how assuming can turn out. Since I was chopping up my onions for the freezer anyway, I decided to let you know my way of freezing. It's not exactly the way the Food Network would probably tell you to do it, but it's always worked for me.

Step 1: Get onions. Chop off the ends, peel off the top layer, and wash thoroughly. Give them a good cleaning!

Step 2: Chop onions.

Step 3: Put chopped onions in ziploc bags and put them in the freezer.

Voila!

Okay, so a little bit more detail here. I like to plan ahead when I am chopping my onions. For example, I love onion rings! So, I plan in advance that I will probably want onion rings:

I also love caramelized onions on my hamburgers, and there is a spinach salad recipe I've been wanting to try that uses caramelized onions. I like mine done in strips, so again, I plan ahead:

But truthfully, the majority of my onions are simply chopped/diced/whatever you want to call it. Besides, you can always chop your strips or your rings, but you can't put your chops back together to make a strip! That is a very strange sentence but I think you get my point.

Then all I do is throw them into freezer bags (I don't always even use freezer bags, just plain old ziploc bags) and pull them out as I need them.


You'll notice I don't label mine with the date. That's because it's never very long before I use them, so I don't have to worry about them being in the freezer for a year before I get to them.

I think that technically you are supposed to freeze onions like I would, say, strawberries or mushrooms. In other words, once they are sliced and diced, you lay them on a cookie sheet and freeze them separately for a couple of hours. After they are frozen solid, you then dump them into a baggie or other container. I have always skipped this step and mine have always turned out just peachy. Freezing them separately adds an extra step but it's such a small extra step you may want to do it.

So don't ever throw away a bad onion again! Buy in bulk proudly, and freeze those onions!