(Reprinted from the New York N'shei Chabad Newsletter)

When I came to Israel fifteen years ago, I discovered that most Israelis used their freezers only to store raw chickens and fish. Being young and American, I set out to change the situation. Over the years, I have acquired a reputation here for being a freezer-nut. I simply and firmly believe that freezers are one of the greatest appliances ever invented and that Hashem created them so that Lubavitcher women like myself can have large families, teach, go on mivtzoim and still have lots of orchim and serve their own children hot, nutritious, home-cooked meals.

Since I acquired 2 microwaves several years ago, the incentive to freeze has grown, since the freezer and microwave make a perfect shidduch. I definitely believe that there are different kinds of balabustas and some are much more inclined to be the "freezing" type than others. This is my list of factors which motivate people to want to perfect the art of freezing:

1. Being busy in general.

2. Wanting to serve home-cooked food rather than store-bought.

3. Caring about nutrition.

4. Wanting to be economical.

5. Being organized (since being a "freezer person" requires advance planning).

6. Being a person who enjoys employing time-management techniques.

Freezing is an excellent way to save time, money, energy and food. If you find you are none of the above you can either:

1. skip to the next article, or

2. see whether there's some idea in the article which even you may wish to incorporate!

One of the basic principles behind freezing is this. Much of the time spent "cooking" is not really spent on cooking itself. The cooking itself really takes very little time. The stove or oven does most of the work. You basically have to put the food into the pan or pot, watch it while it's cooking or baking and remove the food from the heat source at the proper time. Most of the time is spent on a) gathering all the ingredients (including shopping for them); b) combining the ingredients in the proper order and manner; c) returning all the ingredients to their proper places; d) cleaning all the utensils, cookware, silverware, counters, (floors?) at the end. Based on this basic truth, people like me have discovered the common sense secret that for all this hassle, why make only one batch? For a little extra effort you can make enough for 2, 3, or even [4] times your usual amount.

An example: Cooking a 2-3 quart pot of vegetable or similar soup will require peeling some vegetables, perhaps checking some barley or rice, maybe sauteing an onion, adding water and spices, and letting cook till done, cleaning up, washing utensils, etc. Cooking a 12 quart pot of soup will require at the maximum 15 minutes more to peel the extra carrots, potatoes and onions as well as checking another 1/2-1 cup of rice or barley; adding the extra water and spices take practically no real extra time. Washing a 12 quart pot takes just seconds more than washing a 3 quart pot. For the minimal extra investment of time and effort you now have soup for a few weeks, or a month, or more, depending on your family size. In our house vegetable, mushroom-barley, and tomato soup are our favorites. All freeze excellently with absolutely no "freezer-taste" when reheated. All are made in my trusty 12 quart pot when I am in a "soup-making mood."

I find a hearty nutritious home-made soup is a wonderful filler for mid-day lunches when the little ones come home (here in Israel all children under [5] come home at noon!) for the baby, and for me with a sandwich. For the many people who pop into our Beis Chabad, I have often served soup "with something" which these hungry single people really appreciate. I must admit that I do feel great when I can open my freezer door and even ask them which type they prefer.

Since we're already on the subject of soups, let me say that chicken soup also freezes beautifully (as do all soups). The only "problems" are chunks of cooked potato or carrot which tend to get soggy when frozen. I solve the problem by blending all vegetables in vegetable soup (as a baby gift, I received the hand blender that blends right in the pot. Mine is a Moulinex electric, very cheap and extremely efficient for this job). If your children like the carrots from chicken soup, you can buy a few vacuum jars and jar the carrots for the next two Shabbosim with enough fat broth to cover. Seal immediately, and this will stay fresh in the refrigerator for at least two weeks with no change in the carrot texture. The main volume of clear broth can be frozen and defrosted as needed. For fleishigs I bought a 16 qt. pot in which I now habitually cook chicken and soup for at least 2-3 Shabbosim at a time. This is especially helpful before a Yom Tov where you may have several consecutive meals when you would like to serve chicken soup.

Let's go through different food categories and see how freezing can be helpful.

Baking Challah and Cake

Many people shy away from home baking because

1. it's a balagan (i.e. it makes a big mess in the kitchen) and,

2. it's very time consuming.

However, when you combine freezing and baking, you can overcome many problems:

1. You can bake when you have time and are in the mood, not necessarily Erev Shabbos, Erev Yom Tov, or Erev the birthday party.

2. Since freezing and baking is only a "half-job" (as will be explained below) it takes much less time and can even be undertaken at night after the children are in bed or 1 1/2 hours before they are due to return home -- something you couldn't possibly do the conventional way.

3. For me, I don't mind the mess as much if I'm doing a month's baking in one session. The cleanup job doesn't take much longer if you've made one cake or four.

4. You can take challah with a brocha if you bake more dough.

5. You can also be more creative, because it's easier to have a sponge cake session and later a chocolate cake session and then for the next few weeks have 2 kinds of cake.

When baking challah, I make 2, 3 or 4 batches in the mixer, one after the other. I note when each batch has finished and started to rise. My recipe has to rise for an hour before shaping. Within one hour, I have enough time to make up the 3 or even 4 batches of dough, and even start to put some ingredients away.

Each batch rises in its own bowl. When the first bowl has risen, I combine the doughs to take challah with a brocha and then let each dough continue to rise while I start shaping each dough in succession. I make some larger loaves for Lechem Mishnah, some smaller loaves for the children, some easy shapes, some 4 or [6] braids, all depending on my mood, how busy I am, etc. If I get interrupted, I put the dough in the fridge until I'm ready.

As soon as I finish shaping a pan of challah it goes immediately into the freezer, so it won't start rising. Put the whole pan into a large plastic bag and seal tightly. The time it takes to shape depends on how many challahs you are making, how fast you are in general and if you are making easy or complicated shapes. As soon as the challahs are frozen hard, put them into individual plastic bags which you can then stack or store in odd "holes" in your freezer. Erev Shabbos or Yom Tov, as busy as you are, you will find time to remove the frozen challahs from the freezer and let them thaw on the pan that they will be baked in. When you originally freeze them right after shaping you can put them fairly close together. But, when you take them out of the freezer to defrost, give them enough room to rise (at least double in size). When the challahs have defrosted, they will rise. You can brush them with egg and poppy or sesame seeds before baking.

You will be delighted that the time involved in this project on your hectic Erev Shabbos or Erev Yom Tov is five minutes at the most!! If you bake your challahs on baking pans or foil you will have no clean-up, since they can be reused. No one will know that these challahs were not freshly baked that day. Some recipes are better than others with this method, so it's good to try different ones. Yeast companies have pamphlets with recipes specifically developed for this method.

One boon of this method over the method of freezing baked challahs, and then defrosting them Erev Shabbos or Yom Tov, is that since you're freezing unrisen dough, the challahs take up much less freezer space.

Using the freezer for cake baking has the same advantages as for challah baking. If you are baking yeast cakes, you can use the same method of shaping, filling and freezing the raw cakes and then defrosting, letting rise and baking before Shabbos or Yom Tov. I think there is no better bruchim haboim to family and guests, than the smell of challah and cake baking. (Plan on giving everyone at least one taste before candle lighting so you won't be upset when not enough is left for Shabbos or Yom Tov.)

When preparing non-yeast cakes, you have 2 options:

1. You can make several batters one after the other, freeze them raw, then bake as needed. This method has the advantage of preventing cakes set aside for a certain occasion from mysteriously disappearing or shrinking. Even hungry yeshiva bochurim have not been caught eating raw cake dough, whereas frozen baked cakes have vanished mysteriously, or significantly diminished in size several hours after teenage offspring have arrived home!

2. If you have a convection oven, you can economize on energy by baking several cakes together, wrapping well, and freezing immediately. In most cases defrosted cakes taste great. You can warm them for several minutes in the oven if you like. You might try solving the above problem (if you have older children) by wrapping cakes in an opaque wrapper and labeling them raw gefilte fish or something similar...

Over the years, as I have sought out time- and energy-saving ideas, I found that breaking up baking into two distinct sessions, the preparing, and the actual baking, has significantly shortened the process mentally.

Being the scientific type, I actually time the process and write down near the recipe how long it takes so that now I know that even if I start at 10:00 p.m., by midnight I can be putting the frozen shaped challahs into the freezer and get into bed by 12:30. You can't do that the old-fashioned way.

I also learned that I can make up the dough at night, and let it rise overnight in the fridge (cover it well), shape it in the morning after the children have gone to school, and then either freeze or bake it. This method has merits as well.

If I'm very pressured, but still want to bake challah, I learned yet another short cut. In session no. 1, I combine all the dry ingredients -- each batch in a separate bowl. This takes only a few minutes, even if you're making four batches. Don't put in the dry yeast, because then you'll have to refrigerate it. Put in only flour, sugar and salt. In session no. 2 add eggs, water, and yeast. This part also only takes several minutes, even if you're making four batches. Proceed according to the desired method.

There is nothing wrong with you if you reject all the above ideas, hints and shortcuts. Freezing is an optional activity and not part of the Shulchan Aruch. I simply feel, and I'm saying this out of Ahavas Yisroel, that you should try it before you insist it's not for you. It takes practice, it takes advance planning, it takes organization, but as a seasoned freezerologist, I have found that the time, energy, and money saved makes it all worthwhile. Just don't become compulsive. We all know deep down that the important thing is the atmosphere in our homes. The food is secondary.