Do you ever find a great deal on a big bag of onions and ask "how can I use them all before they go bad"? Well don't ask yourself that again! During the summer I find this to be more of an issue then during the winter. I tend to cook much less because of the warmer weather. Therefore my large bag of onions continue to sit in my cupboard wasting away. So what to do with those onions? Don't wait until they are no longer usable....freeze them!
I had a 3lb bag of onions that I bought for a $1.50 and only used maybe 3 onions. I had 4 onions leftover that had been sitting in my cupboard for a couple weeks. The older the onion, the more tears and a running nose you will get. I have heard of a trick to wear goggles to help with the tears. But as for me, I just "brave" it out.
So I took a few pictures on how to cut an onion. Hey some people don't know how! There is no wrong way to cut a onion. This is just the way I like to cut a onion.
Cut the tips off at both ends, then slice down the middle...but make sure you slice the onion from the tip to bottom, not across. While I slice I like to follow the lines of the onion, it seems to serve as an anchor, sort of. Then I turn the onion and slice in the oppisit directions. You will get even cuts most of the time. Those pesky ends, well I will just lay flat and slice those again.
I choose to cut all my onions in stages. Cut off all the tips 1st, slice in half, then remove the top layer of the skin. Once I finish all my onions, then I start dicing away.
I like to have a bowl, or in my case I used a colander and placed a plastic grocery bag over it for my garbage. It keeps my prep area neat and makes for easy cleanup. Once I am finished, I just take that plastic bag, tie a knot in it and throw the bag in my garbage outside. If I would throw that bag away in my kitchen garbage, my home would continue to smell like onions much longer.
Once I finish dicing one onion, I like to place the onions in a bag. I recommend another plastic bag, or a Ziploc bag...not a brown bag, which is what I did this time around. The brown bag gets wet and starts to fall apart. The purpose of the bag? Well to shake the onions up. Great way to get your kiddo involved. Let them shake those onions around to separate them up. Its not a perfect method, and once you dump out of bag, you will still need to break them up a little bit. But don't go crazy!
Grab a cookie sheet that has edges and layer the bottom with plastic wrap. I have used wax paper, and aluminum foil, I think plastic wrap is the best. Spread your onions evenly into the bottom of cookie sheet and place into freezer. I would recommend at least one to two hours.
Once the onions feel frozen, you will need to move fast during this next step. Grab some sealable sandwich bags and 1 large gallon freezer bag. I choose to break up my onion into 1/3 and 1/2 cup portions. A 1/3 cup of diced onion equals half of a medium onion roughly. And a 1/2 cup portion equals one whole small onion or half of a large onion roughly. I marked each of the sandwich bags w/ the measurement using a permanent marker. I placed the sandwich bags into my freezer a couple at a time to keep onion from defrosting to much. Once I was done measuring all the onions out, I grab the bags from the freezer and I laid the bags flat and placed into the gallon size freezer bag. Then place bag into freezer and use when you need them.
I used 4 medium to large size onions and I was able to get 6 bags of 1/3 cups of onions and 6 1/2 cups of onions.
I love to use fresh onions, however these onions are great to have on hand for anything! Plus it is a great money saving tip so you don't waste food. It also makes for a faster process prepping your food. My one tip for cooking with frozen onions, is if you are browning chicken in the same pan with the frozen onions, it will steam your chicken or any meat you may use. So make sure that any water that comes from the onions is dissolved before you place any meat in the pan. Or brown your meat 1st then place onions in pan.
Interestingly my Little Cupcake wanted to eat the raw onions....she thought it was a snack LOL
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