Storing food scraps in the freezer is the ultimate hack for extending their storage life—and TV host, mom and restaurateur Molly Yeh is partnering with Ziploc to make that process easier. She’s teamed up with the reusable storage bag brand to develop the World’s First Frozen Cookbook, which features a collection of food preservation tips, freezer meal prep ideas and more.
The aim is to help home cooks reduce their food waste as data from Feeding America reveals that around 145 billion meals are wasted in the U.S. each year. (For a family of four, this is estimated to be $1,500 worth of food that’s thrown away annually.)
We spoke with Molly about her approach to reducing food waste and the partnership with Ziploc in creating the World’s First Frozen Cookbook. Plus, read until the end for an exclusive recipe from the cookbook and details on how to purchase it.
First for Women: Where does your passion for minimizing food waste stem from?
Molly Yeh: I grew up with a dad whose biggest fear in life was watching food go in the garbage. He would scrape the mold off of cheese and then eat the cheese before it would go in the trash. So that type of mentality is instilled in me. I won’t do the moldy cheese thing unless it’s mold that’s supposed to be there. But, I have just this passion inside of me for not letting food go to waste.
That became heightened after having kids when I realized how many food scraps accumulate when you have little kids who don’t want to eat the crust off their peanut butter and jelly, or who need to have their vegetables cut into cute shapes if they’re going to eat them. I like doing that stuff and making really cute lunches for my daughter and cutting her vegetables out into cute shapes.
But there’s also a very real thing happening on the other side of the camera, which is all of these scraps. And so, I’ve always gotten a lot of joy out of repurposing food.
FFW: How did your partnership with Ziploc come about?
Yeh: I think the world manifested it because I use Ziplocs. I’ve used them forever and they are my go-to for my food scrap saving system. I like their bags because they are durable and really good at just keeping the smells out and they’re strong enough to reuse.
Another thing that my dad instilled in me is that just like you don’t throw away food scraps, you don’t throw away a perfectly good plastic bag just because it had some vegetables in it. So my system is that I keep a few Ziploc bags in my freezer that I add to over time. I have a bread bag, a veggie bag, a fruit bag and I also have a bag for stock ingredients that I add chicken bones to and the ends of the onion that you wouldn’t want to eat, but they’d be perfectly good for stock.
FFW: Can you offer a glimpse into the process of creating the ‘World’s First Frozen Cookbook’?
Yeh: This [storage] system is kind of synthesized in this frozen cookbook because the book has three compartments to put these three different bags. The concept is you use this book to store your three scrap bags and you accumulate them over time, and then once you’re ready to reuse them, the scraps and then you have the recipes right there in the book. I think it’s a really fun way of shining a light on this conversation around food scraps and food waste because it’s a big issue.
FFW: What’s one ingredient that needs more consideration when it comes to storing it in the freezer?
Yeh: The one ingredient that comes to mind that needs some more consideration is rice. I love to freeze rice, but it’s important though, when you’re adding it to the bag, you’re definitely going to want to freeze it flat. When you’re ready to reuse it, what you can do is just take the flat sheet of rice out of the freezer, break off pieces of it and toss it into a stir-fry or even just microwave it. Whereas if it’s frozen into a big lump, it’s going to be difficult to just use part of it, you would have to use the whole thing and you might not want to.
Bonus: Easy freezer prep fried Rice recipe
This Ginger Scallion Fried Rice recipe comes from the World’s First Frozen Cookbook, which calls for using your very own frozen veggies to make this savory and aromatic dish in 30 minutes. The cookbook is releasing in limited quantities on Amazon every day this week for $10. But, if you’re unable to secure a copy, check out Ziploc’s website as you can find more recipes like this from Molly.
Ginger Scallion Fried Rice
Ingredients:
- 2 Tbs. neutral oil, such as avocado or vegetable, plus more as needed
- 6 cups chopped frozen vegetables (such as broccoli, bell peppers, green beans, carrots, onion, celery, etc.)
- 4 chopped scallions, whites and greens separated
- 4 tsp. grated ginger
- 2 tsp. finely chopped garlic
- Kosher salt
- 4 cups fresh or frozen white or brown rice
- 2 tsp. sesame oil
- 1 Tbs. soy sauce
For serving:
- 4 fried eggs
- Kewpie (Japanese mayo), optional
- Sriracha, chili crisp or your favorite hot sauce
- Furikake
Directions:
Freezing instructions:
- Whenever you find a vegetable on its last leg or are only using a portion of what you bought, chop up the rest, place them in a gallon-sized freezer bag, and preserve them in the freezer (in your frozen cookbook) until you’re ready to use them.
Cooking instructions:
- In a large (preferably nonstick) skillet, heat the neutral oil over medium high. Add the vegetables, and cook, stirring only once or twice, until heated through and slightly golden brown, 5 to 6 minutes. If the pan looks dry, add another drizzle of oil.
- Add the scallion whites, ginger, garlic and a couple of pinches of salt. Cook until softened and fragrant, about 2 minutes more.
- Add the rice, sesame oil, and soy sauce, and toss to combine. Spread everything out in an even layer and cook, undisturbed, for about 3 to 5 minutes, until the bottom gets a little crispy. Scrape up the bottom and give it a few tosses. Taste and adjust seasoning as desired.
- Serve in bowls topped with a fried egg, kewpie (if using), hot sauce, furikake, and the reserved scallion greens.