Life happened (as it does sometimes) and I forgot I posted this! Thanks for the replies. I pitted the cherries and it was quite a bit more difficult than expected. :) Still, I managed to pit and freeze them (it looked like a massacre had happened). I made the world's smallest cherry pie this weekend, but...it was the best tasting cherry pie I'd ever had. Nanking cherries make EXCELLENT pies. Bird netting is going up next year. I'm not sharing with the catbird. The pie was also very well received, so it was completely worth the effort. The white cherries in the picture are white nanking cherries. I have both white and red bushes (but prefer the red). Thanks again, Bellatrix

I've gotten fast on the "instant seal" button my unit has. I seal a lot of meat, and no matter what, it will start sucking juice if I don't hit instant seal. Sometimes I miss, and usually it's just a small spot that does not seal, so I wipe out the top part of the bag, and then reseal it just up a bit from the first seal. Usually it stays sealed enough that I can do this without having a lot of air get back into the bag. I've also put stuff in freezer containers to freeze, then popped them out and sealed them in bags and put them back in the freezer, this is for things like puree, or corn cut off the cob where I don't want to lose the juice. Stuff like berries, chopped onion or peppers get placed on a cookie sheet to freeze first.

Are they sweet cherries or sour pie cherries? I have a Montmorency (sp) cherry tree & this is the first year it has REALLY produced cherries. After pitting, mine look pretty much like what yours sound like. Believe me, they are SO much easier to get already pitted. I froze mine, put them in freezer bags with about 1/3 cup sugar in them for 4 cups cherries. That is what I read to do. I've only used one package & it seemed to be as good as the fresh. I used it in a cobbler, & did reduce the amount of sugar I normally add to cherry cobblers. If your cherries are the sweet variety, I believe you can freeze them the same way, might not need as much sugar.

Rhome, if you'll be doing this more often than not, purchase some different sized open glass containers - think the smaller pyrexes and pie plate types. Give them a light spray of a cooking oil like Pam. Line them with plastic wrap, and place the food inside after it cools. When the food is frozen, you can pop the contents out and finish wrapping them as an individual or "for two" servings. I usually then put a second covering of stick free foil. Label, placing like packets in one zip lock bag. Then your glassware is free to re-use. This is good for when you need a larger size than a muffin cup provides. When they are ready to eat, they can grab these packets out of the freezer and place them on a plate (and you can give them the same exact container it was frozen in making it easier still). When the food just stars to defrost in the microwave, they can remove the plastic and finish heating. I know we shouldn't be microwaving with plastic, but you only do it till the food just starts to defrost and releases from the plastic - it's not even getting really hot. If you use the whole wheat noodles, you can make simple pasta dishes that are non tomato, with a very light, low fat cream sauce on them and those freeze well too. As for the meatloaf - I have a recipe which calls for putting lots of finely chopped carrots and zuchini into the mix, and it really helps to get those extra veggies in. I mean you can put a LOT in there and it's really good. I second soups! So easy to cook and they freeze so well.