PANERA SOUPS DAILY - TIPS FOR FREEZING HOMEMADE SOUPS

I do love living up here, tucked in the truly beautiful Upper Peninsula of Michigan but I must admit that I often long for the adorable delis, coffee shops, and bakeries that the city offers. Leave it to me not to miss the culture the city provides, but ahhhh yes the food:) My trips to the city often revolve around my plans of where to eat. I get so excited not for the 5 star restaurants, although I do love those, but for Panera and ohhhh how excited I am to arrive at Nordstrom's Café. I love the smell of the fresh baked bread and how they have all their gorgeous treats on display. It is so hard to decide what to order but the fabulous thing is there really are no bad choices for me.
Ok, so here I am in my cozy home, daydreaming about soups and bread... I love making soup but what I love even more is having a gorgeous assortment of homemade soups available to me everyday that I can choose from. I shared my tips for freezing homemade soup with my mom last month and she loved it and put it into use immediately so I thought maybe you would enJOY it too...

Step 1:

Pretty simple...
Every time I make soup, I put 2 cups in a freezer bag and add it to my stash:)
Today I made chili so I thought I would share my step by step as I go.

Step 2:

Label quart size freezer bags with the date and the name of the soup you are freezing. Yes label...it might be obvious which bag my pureed beet soup is in but sometimes the others can look alike and you might defrost chicken soup when you wanted cabbage sausage! I speak from experience here:)

Step 3:

To make it easy, just tuck your bag into a tall, large mouthed glass and then add 2 cups, a large mouthed funnel would also work well here:)  Carefully seal bag with as little air in it as possible and then lay it flat.
I then lay bags of soup on a shelf in the freezer. Once they are completely frozen I add them to the back of my little freezer soup bin so that the oldest soups are in the front and do not get overlooked in case they have been in the freezer awhile.

Step 4:

With only 2 cups per bag and frozen flat, they defrost quickly and are ready when you are.  To defrost super quickly, I cut the bag off and then place in a large microwavable bowl for a few minutes.
I sometimes freeze chili in 1 cup serving sizes so I had the perfect amount for chili dogs and chili cheese fries! You may want to check out our #1 comfort-game day recipe...CHILI CHEESE FRIES at...

http://joyfuldaisy.com/comfort-food-chili-cheese-fries/

Step 5:

Just a few more tips I enJOY....
I always have a great loaf of bread in the freezer. I love this Food For Life brand and it is pretty easy to just pull out a piece or two at a time.
I also love collecting menus from places like Panera. If I ever get in a rut of eating the same thing, looking at their different salads and sandwiches helps me to try something new:)
BON APPETIT!

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See you soon!
CYBER HUGS
Amy

Step 7:

Comments

[Joyful Daisy]

Thanks for your comment. I just realized I left a few things out...like I cut the bag off when I remove the soup from the freezer and then I put in a large bowl to thaw in the microwave- I will have to add that:) The Ziplock brand bags really work great as long as I seal them nice and tight. The wide mouth funnel is a great tip, I need to pick one up. Fortunately all my soups thaw out just fine without any separation, however, as I was writing this post I was wondering how my Cheesy Vegetable soup would freeze, because that is one of the only cream based soups I make. I have never freezing that one because my family gobbles it up so fast! I will have to make it again soon and then try freezing to see how that one works out and update my post as I learn more:)

[pecker]

I use a similar method but added a wide mouth funnel for filling the bags (helps to prevent drips).
I use Tesco (UK) zipper bags but find that when I thaw the soup, the seams have split slightly and there may be small nicks in the plastic. I'll try a different brand when my current stocks run out.

Also the soups tends to separate into solids and liquids which looks a bit vile. Any tips on an emulsifier?