It’s the key to no-cook jams, toasty bread on demand, and whenever dumplings.

Even for those of us with relatively tiny New York City apartments, and proportionately small New York City freezers, this fraction of arctic real estate is coming to the rescue right now. My freezer, at the moment, is a trove of blanched kale to throw into soups and pastas, cut-up fruit just waiting to be whizzed into smoothies, bricks of dumplings that are ready to drop into a boiling pot of water at a moment’s hunger, and balls of peanut butter chocolate chip cookie dough—because you never know when half a dozen warm cookies will come in handy. There’s even a sad baguette half, which I’ll probably be pulling out periodically and grating into small portions of bread crumbs (a trick that really comes in handy for the occasional fried egg or bowl of leftover beans that needs some crunch). Remember, better bread makes better bread crumbs.

In this collection of TASTE stories, the freezer is not just a place to store ice cream or to sustain you between trips to the grocery store or dumpling-making marathons (although that’s important, too). It’s a cooking tool in its own right. It’s a way to make a frosty baked Alaska from roasted pineapple and dulce de leche, and it’s a way to turn a little bit of fruit into a cheerful, jewel-tone jam. Here are some ideas for stocking your freezer and turning its contents into triumphs along the way. – Anna Hezel