Saturday, November 10, 2007

True Love --- at last.



Over the years I've wasted silly amounts of money in search of the perfect containers for fridge and freezer storage, but my long, frustrating quest is over. My heart now belongs to decor tellfresh containers -- made in Australia but available from the Container Store's website. They're dishwasher safe, relatively inexpensive, come in a variety of shapes and sizes and stack beautifully. To my surprise, the smallest (3"x4") have proved so useful that I've reordered them twice. All the sizes come with nifty little reusable labels that work well for fridge storage but are often dislodged by the hurly-burly of traffic into and out of my freezer. Masking tape and sharpies remain my choice for long-term labeling.


This afternoon J. did his bringing-in-the-sheaves number with most of the basil plants. He even plucked all the leaves so the subsequent pesto-making was way less tedious than usual. A mammoth bowl of basil leaves yielded only three small containers of pesto -- one for the fridge and two for the freezer -- but their summery flavor will be a welcome brightener to winter fare.



6 comments:

Katie Zeller said...

I have a serious issue with my plastic containers: They start to look grubby and worn out so I buy new ones...then I can't bring myself to through the old ones away... I should toss them all and buy some nice ones - but I can't..
Well done with the harvest!

Betty Carlson said...

I've discovered the wonders of Haribo candy containers. They are dishwasher safe, freezer safe...of course the candies are not so great for the kids, but we do indulge in them occasionally.

lmc said...

thank for the tip! i am always looking for good containers.

Marjorie said...

maybe dumb question: what's the best way to freeze basil? should i make a huge batch of pesto and freeze it, freeze the leaves, or grind up the leaves with some olive oil and freeze the mush? i am short on pine nuts (need a costco trip so as not to bankrupt self on pine nuts).

Casey said...

I like to make it all into pesto and freeze same, but you can keep it for a while in the fridge as long as you completely cover the leaves with oil.
or, make a basil butter with chopped leaves and some lemon zest and freeze that in logs.

Anonymous said...

thanks for the review of the containers. I've been wondering if I should, and I know no opinion I value about foods/cooking/storage as yours, so it's an order. Thanks for the review, and please continue to have products you like.