{tried & true} how to freeze soup

So yesterday, I posted about the "Clean-out-yo-fridge Vegetable Soup" that I made. 

So far, we love the soup and Eugene says that it is "delicious and refreshing, too!" 

When you're cooking for two, you are almost always bound to have leftovers (most especially when you're making soup!!) I probably made about 10 servings of soup yesterday, so I researched several different websites on how to best freeze and store my freshly-made, perfect-for-a-rainy-day soup! Freezing soup is great because it only really lasts a few days in the fridge. Freezing it increases it's shelf-life to almost a month!

 The two websites that I found most helpful suggested either freezing it in a freezer zip lock bag or freezing single servings in a muffin pan. Isn't that genius?

I wanted to see which way I liked better so decided to try both!

(1) ZIPLOCK IT

The first way is extremely straightforward. Label a freezer zip lock bag (size of your choice). Don't forget to date it. Fold the top of the ziplock bag outward to make it into a bowl shape. You can even put the ziplock bag over a bowl to prevent spillage! Use a ladle and pour your soup into the bag. Zip it up, lay it flat in the freezer. It will take 3-5 hours to freeze, but freeze it overnight (single layered) before stacking multiple bags on top of each other.

Reference: {Southern Living}

(2) FREEZE IT IN A MUFFIN TIN

This takes more time than the zip-locking, but its a super cool/cute/creative idea, and it definitely enables you to individualize your frozen soup(s). Clean out your muffin tin (I only had enough for a mini), and ladle your soup into the little sections. You can mix and match depending on what kind of soup-eater you are... i.e. extra hearty/chunky vs. extra broth. I froze my "good stuff" chunks  and the broth separately so that I can add more soup or more veggies depending on what mood I'm in. 

Freeze them in here either covered or uncovered (usually takes only 2-3 hours) and when frozen, you can start loosening them up. You can do so by either holding the muffin tin sideways and letting your hot water faucet run on the back of it OR putting it in a shallow bowl with 1 inch of hot water until it becomes loose enough to take out (this takes only about 30-seconds). You can easily pull the soup sections out with a fork/knife.

Put the pieces in a ziplock bag and store it in the freezer for safekeeping. :) 

Isn't this super cute? 

{Reference: TheKitchn}

Cheers to an empty fridge, easy & ready to eat meals in the fridge and many warm, cozy, soup-eating nights to come!
Hope these tips help you like they have for me!

Give thanks: laughs at work with co-workers, a morning to read/pray/coffee, new school/office supplies, EXPO pens, bad-for-you-but-oh-so-good santa fe quesadillas