Filling the Freezer: Homemade Hashbrowns

  I love the look of a freezer full of food. There is something satisfying about knowing you have food to eat in the coming months. Our freezer seems to fluctuate on being full & then needing to fill it up again.  I also love to fill it up with  stretching my budget as much as I can. Here is one quick ways you can help fill up your freezer without killing your budget.

Hashbrowns. 

My boys love hashbrowns, but to buy a bag of them at my local store is an average price of $2.50-3.50. That usually only makes it through one meal. Scary I know, I can only imagine how much food I am going to go through when my growing boys are actual teenagers. At the price of $3.00 average for a bag, I can't get very far. On the other hand, I can buy a 50 lbs box at my local Potato plant for $12 a box. That means I can buy 4 bags of hashbrowns or 50 lbs on potatoes. Its not rocket science.

 So what? Now, whenever I bake a potato for dinner I always add an extra 10 or so in the oven too. I might as well fill the oven up. You want them to cook until they are almost done. They will grate easier if they are slightly under done than overdone.  After they cook, I throw them into the fridge so they get cold. Once they cool I get out my handy Food Processor. (If you don't have one, you can either cut up the potatoes in a square (Southern style) or just use your cheese grater). 

 
                            I set mine to the largest size it can grate, for our family, this is our favorite. 

         Then I grate up all the potatoes & spread them out on a cookie sheet with a little wax or freezer paper.

           Then go down & set your cookie sheet in the freezer. I usually just let them freeze over night. Or if  I put them in first thing in the morning, usually before bedtime & can take them out. 

Take your frozen cookie sheet of hash browns & begin to break them into pieces and chunks. I put them into gallon freezer bags & mark them. This allows me to get into each bag & only take out what I will need.  

Take out the amount you need for your breakfast, as you need them. Fry them up, or use them in casseroles.

Either way they are delicious. I figured a bag of hashbrowns now only cost me .50 cents instead of $3.00 and a little of my time. I make 3 or so bags at a time & fill my freezer for pennies. 

Do you have any other ideas to help fill your freezer for pennies? If so I would love to hear about them.