I put frozen food in my flow through tube. I find it has a lot of benefits. Firstly, because all fresh scraps give me fruit flies and I'm sick it that, I freeze the scraps to kill the fly eggs. Secondly, it destroys the cell wall so it breaks down faster, which means the worms can work it faster , which means that any free flying fruit flies will have less chance to find it on their own, and it also means less chance of smell, I've never had bad smells from my mesh tube. Thirdly, because my bin is mesh, it gets drier than a box bin. As the frozen items thaw, it slowly drips it's moisture into the bedding and it is absorbed better than if I try to sprinkle in water. The frozen food is on top of the bedding and the worms are never right on top, so there is no direct contact. In the summer, I assume the cold food cools down the bin and reduces evaporation and keeps the bin cooler and moister. I always end up with super fine crumbly castings, and the only bits still in the bottom are hard shells like avocado or fruit pips. And I just toss those back in for a nother go through. I've never had center rot or putrid situation, and I don't extra chop the food before freezing it, the freezing does the work of breaking apart the food on a cellular level. the bacteria break it down more and finally the worms work it into dust, literally! LOL

Anything that could be made ahead and frozen could also be (and in most cases would be better) made the night before and refrigerated, to be warmed up before serving. And even for those foods that don't suffer from being frozen, most will be better if you defrost them slowly rather than cooking them frozen. It's a lot easier to cook (or teach someone to cook) after dinner, when not hungry and under time pressure. Cooking skills take training and practice. It's hard for inexperienced cooks to connect between cooking techniques and results. Even if they were standing next to you while you cooked, it doesn't mean that they were paying attention. Even when an inexperienced cook can manage one or two things at a time doesn't mean that he can do several. My DH used to hate to cook because he thought he had to get several complicated dishes to the table at the same time. Once he realized that he should do no more than one dish that requires timing and learned how to assess which dishes can be kept warm, cooking became a lot easier for him. While I was waiting for the surgery (knee, so I was barely mobile before it and really needed help), I taught DH a bunch of techniques for fresh vegetables. I showed him how peeling and cutting up vegetables affects the outcome. By keeping cooking techniques simple -- either microwaving (with a sensor, so you just hit the fresh vegetable setting) or sauteing. That way he could see what it looked and smelled like when it was done, and that you don't need to grill to brown foods to enhance flavors. I showed him how to vary the seasonings. For example, for fresh broccoli, how just changing a small amount of oil from olive to sesame can make it taste different. The important thing, especially with men, is to focus on a result and then show them how to achieve it rather than give them a list of steps. While I was recuperating DH reached the point where he was experimenting with herbs! However, learning to cook creatively may lead the OP's DH to cook to his own taste. If all she wants is someone to follow orders, she is safer if he stays ignorant.

When the fridge in the garage went out four or five years ago we moved the side by side out there. I never liked the SbyS. It just seemed both compartments were too small. I have a fridge with a bottom freezer in the house and I like it better because my refrigerated items are at eye level. In the bottom freezer is the ice-maker, all my frozen herbs, nuts I have already toasted, white bread, wheat bread, containers of lemon juice and lime juice and some odds and ends. I had a 15 foot freezer in the garage which had to be defrosted. It stayed so packed that I could never find what I was looking for so we just sold it and bought a new self defrosting 21 CF freezer. It holds a lot more and I have vowed not to get it junked up with bits and pieces of items. It has one pull out tray the width of the freezer. It isn't deep and I keep things like frozen BBQ, the small amount of beef I buy, and various sausages in it. There is a bin in the bottom with a drop down closure where I keep boxed items for the grandkids such as corn dogs and other misc items. ONe shelf is devoted to frozen veggies. Large bags of nuts and ice cream go in the door. I bought 3 plastic bins from Wal-Mart. In one bin I placed packs of chicken parts, one has packs of all of my boneless, skinless chicken breasts in it and one contains pork chops and pork tenderloins. The top shelf contains a country ham which I had sliced and I used the Food Saver to put each slice in a separate bag. The Food Saver is great because anything frozen in those bags last a long time and doesn't get freezer burn.

The three FoodSavers I've used since 1986 have all worked as they were intended for bags, jars and canisters. The first one, which happened to be a used machine, failed when one of the children vacuum-sealed a powdery substance and it was sucked into the motor. The second machine died when a friend borrowed it and I didn't realize they were vacuum-sealing a large amount of food, and they didn't follow the instructions to allow time between each use so the machine could cool down, and they burned the motor out. The current one has been in use for over a decade. I suspect many problems are due to failing to read the user manual and following instructions: -Drawing in liquids, powdery, or fine-grained products into the unit. You can place a coffee filter over powdery items in jars/canisters to help keep the fine powder from migrating to the lid during vacuuming. You can prevent liquids from being drawn into the unit by placing a folded paper towel at the top of the bag (but below the seal area), place the wet food in another bag FIRST, before vacuum packaging. -Failure to clean the rim of the jar/canister, and failure to heat the canning lids to soften the sealing compound before attaching it to a jar. -Heavy use it's not intended for - like vacuum-sealing a large purchase of meat one package after another. You need a commercial-grade machine for heavy use. -In the early machines you needed to place the bag in the machine with the rough side down, and "the bag should not overhang into the vacuum channel itself, or touch the rubber gasket" (outlined in the user manual, complete with pictures). -Failure to close locking clips on each side of the unit properly - on machines that had the locking clips. -Failure to wipe any excess moisture or residue from inside the bag surface at the open end. When possible, roll the side of the bag over to fill it (it's also helpful to use a wide-mouth funnel to help keep the top of the bag debris-free, then roll it back up when the filling is complete, in order to help keep the top edge of the bag clean. -Note how use of any other bags "may damage your machine and invalidate your warranty". -Sealing contents that are warmer than room temperature because the vacuum may cause the contents to bubble out of the container or jar. -Failure to leave adequate headspace. -Failure to set the sealing time adjustment switch (if your unit has one). -Sealing foods you shouldn't vacuum seal - like strong-smelling vegetables (cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower) and whole avocados with their pits. You can place a wad of plastic wrap, paper towel, or a piece cut out of a Styrofoam meat tray over bones. You can also double-bag meat - raw, frozen, or raw that you quick-freeze. For instance, if I purchase a bag of frozen chicken pieces, I'll package them in user-friendly amounts in small plastic bags, place them back in the original bag, and place that in a FoodSaver bag and vacuum-seal shut. For raw meat I'll portion it using a Ziplock product called "Perfect Portions" (7-3/4"x11-1/4" bags - 150 bags per box) and quick-freeze those on a cookie sheet, then place the meat in the Perfect Portions bags in a FoodSaver bag and vacuum-seal shut. I'll be interested in getting my next one to see if the new versions are a bad investment, as so many have experienced. If that happens, I'll resort to using Oxygen Absorbers to vacuum-seal canning lids on canning jars. -Grainlady