Overheard a guy at the grocery store say he freezes his onions and it blew my mind

I was standing in the produce section last Tuesday trying to figure out how to stop my onions from going bad before I use them all. This older dude next to me just tosses a bag of yellow onions in his cart and tells his wife he's gonna chop them all up at home and freeze them in ziplocs. Said he saves like $15 a month because he never throws away half a rotten onion anymore. Tried it this weekend. Chopped up 5 pounds, spread them on a baking sheet to freeze separate so they don't clump, then bagged them. Works perfect for soups and stir fries. Anyone else do this with other veggies too?

3 comments

3 Comments

logan_mitchell1mo ago

Frozen onions are one of those things where the internet makes it sound like a life hack but the reality is way more complicated. It's like when people say you can meal prep all your lunches for a week and then you realize day three your chicken is dry and your veggies are sad. Life hacks work great in theory but not so much when you actually have to deal with texture, freezer space, and the fact that browning food is what makes it taste good. The guy who chops them fresh on Sundays and keeps them in the fridge has the right idea because you get the convenience without ruining the cooking process. People want to skip steps but cooking is full of little steps you can't really skip if you want good results.

drew_hart41mo ago

I live in an apartment with a tiny freezer so the idea of dedicating that much space to bags of frozen onions gives me anxiety. Plus I find frozen onions turn into mush the second they hit a hot pan. They release all this water and never get that nice caramelized texture you get from fresh ones. Might be fine for a slow cooker dump meal where texture doesn't matter but for any actual cooking where you want browning it's a total loss. And honestly chopping five pounds of onions at once is a tear gas level event in my kitchen, I'd rather just buy onions as I need them for 50 cents each. To each their own but I'll keep my fresh onions on the counter and my freezer space for ice cream.

owens.anthony1mo ago

Tried the frozen onion route once myself after seeing it all over social media. @drew_hart4 you're spot on about the mush factor. I found the only way to salvage them was to toss them directly into a ripping hot pan straight from the freezer without thawing, and even then you get more of a steamed onion situation than browning. What ended up working better for me was buying a cheap onion chopper and prepping a bunch at once on Sundays. I just stick the chopped fresh onions in a container in the fridge and use them up within a few days. That way I get the browning and texture without crying over five pounds of onions every single night. The freezer space stays dedicated to ice cream where it belongs.