Irishrose2

I've never been a fan of freezing ham, but I have quite a bit leftover that I'd like to freeze for soup. Any tricks?

QuiltE

No real tricks .....
Chop it up into whatever shape/size you want for the soup.
Put in ziplocks in the quantity you will use for a batch of soup.
Then it is ready to just toss into your soup pot when the time is right.

mmmmmmmmmmm .... soup!

Feather3

Put it in a Ziploc Freezer bag & then into a brown paper bag & tape it shut. Everything in our 2 chest freezers is done this way & we have never had anything freezer burn. We buy or pick meat, veggies, fruits in bulk & freeze. We still have strawberries, blue berries, blackberries, apples, etc., we picked 4 years ago & they have no freezer burn. We have lots of meat, frozen veggies, etc. The brown paper bag is the key to preventing freezer burn. If you can't get a brown paper bag then use freezer wrap & wrap the Ziploc bag in it, folding all edges at least twice, & tape it shut well.

Watson

Freezing ham changes the structure of the tissue and forces the water out. Doesn't hurt anything at all, just makes it feel a little different. Using it in soup is likely a better idea than serving it whole.

Watson

Irishrose2

This was my previous experience. I guess I just have to ignore any change and use it. I like various bean soups.

Doggramma

Yes I’ve frozen it too. It works fine in soup or scalloped potatoes.

tranum

Newspaper over works as a good over wrap too.

redquilter

I don't care for it to eat as is, but in soups it's fine but I do like to cut it up small.

meanmom

I made bean soup yesterday. Yum. I freeze ham. Yes it does lose something in the freezer. We like to fry the slices quickly. I usually use med high heat. Sometimes I put it on the grill.

Snooze2978

Another trick is to get the air out of your freezer bags. I don't own one of those fancy seal-a-meal machines any longer so I use a plastic straw, close the freezer bag up to enough to allow the straw in at one end and suck out the remaining air and quickly pull out the straw and finish closing the bag. My freezer stuff lasts longer this way.

I also found out that when freezing veggies such as onions, peppers, etc. I chop them up to the size I like, place them on a cookie sheet and put them into the freezer for a couple hours. This dries them out so when you thaw them out later, they're not so watery. I place them in a freezer bag and they stay more individual instead of in a pile. In fact right now I have peppers and mushrooms on a cookie sheet I need to place into freezer bags right now. Guess I should get cracking and do that.