Smart Tip: Bulk Freezing With An Empty Can Funnel

Do you find funnels awkward to work with, especially when filling freezer bags with sauces and soups? Here’s a smart tip sent in by Maria:

Wide Funnel Tip: Use An Empty Can

I make big batches of spaghetti sauce, chili and soups to freeze and store them in plastic freezer bags that seal shut since I can stack them flat and they take up less room in my small deep freeze.

I prefer using a funnel because I find there’s more control and bags fill cleanly with less splatter, but I always had some trouble with funnels, they took forever to fill the bags, sometimes got plugged or were awkward holding onto when filling with heavy meat sauces and chili. Here’s what I do now:

• Take an empty can and remove the lid from the other side so you have two open ends.
• Remove the label and wash the can out then sit it inside the freezer bag. Of course you want to be careful of the ends when washing since they’ll be sharp where the ends were removed. Pour the sauce into the can and once it’s getting full, lift the can up so the sauce falls out the bottom, making more room in the can to fill with more sauce.
• Once the bag is as full as you want it to be, remove the can, push out all the air and seal the bag.
• Move on to the next bag.

The empty can acts as a wide funnel and it’s a perfect size to use but it’s not awkward to work with since it sits up on its own and is easy to manage when holding with one hand. This makes bulk freezing sauces and soups a breeze, bags fill fast and no more plugged funnels!

Great tip Maria, thanks very much for sharing it with us! For more tips on bulk cooking, see Once A Month Cooking: Tips & Resources and Smart Tip: Bulk Freezing With Individual Portions.

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