Freezer Jenga!

[Deleted User] · 8 December 2016 at 3:20PM

My late Dad used to make redcurrant jelly which was delicious on scones and bread and butter , but I can't remember how he made it I'm afraid We had a glut one year in our garden and being a canny Scot he wasn't going to waste them

He also used to make apple jelly to go on toast and scones as well if we had too many No freezers back in our house in the late 1940s. He made the most delicious soda scones on my late Grannies 'cast iron girdle'on top of the stove .Using up milk that was a bit on the turn these floury soft masterpieces I have never been able to replicate sadly.

MallyGirl · 8 December 2016 at 3:21PM

frozen sweetcorn is OK in something like chowder but other than that tinned all the way.
I don't even want to think about the freezer at the moment - it is stuffed and I haven't got any Christmas stuff in there yet - and it is 1.8m high so that is a lot of food. It was already pretty full and then I did a muscle meats order and really struggled to house it all - oops! We may never need to buy chicken breasts ever again - but they were a bargain!
I need to tackle a drawer at a time. Three of the drawers are 'big box' style as I wanted to be able to fit the ice cream maker in there but no chance of that right now. I did start with 1 drawer for ice cream and desserts; one for freezer blocks, ice packs, icepops; one for veg; one for fish; one for meat, bulk cooking and left overs; one for bread/bagels/etc which also held soup; and one for fruit. Now everything is all mixed up to get it all in there. OH got really cross when I sent him down to the cellar to get out a loaf of bread for DD's lunch the next day and he couldn't find one - there is definitely a full loaf in there somewhere.

C_J · 9 December 2016 at 10:09AM

So I had a re-think about the large gammon joint and decided not to keep it for Christmas as I have already planned my festive catering so a football sized gammon joint on top of that would be way too much.

I simmered the joint last night then roasted it after brushing with a little mustard, a drizzle of runny honey and then (because I couldn't remember what people put on gammon before roasting) I went a bit mad and sprinkled it with cumin and smoked paprika. It is absolutely delicious (well, I had to try a few wafer thin slices as soon as it came out of the oven, didn't I?)

I've changed my meal plan for the next few days to incorporate this - ham, cheese and leek pancakes tonight; ham, egg and chips for Saturday as we're out all day and I'll want to make a simple, quick supper.

By Sunday I hope to have made enough room in the freezer for some individually wrapped slices of ham, plus I might make a ham and cheese quiche and some ham croquettes to freeze too. Sunday is baking day

JWPopps · 9 December 2016 at 2:50PM

CJ that sounds delicious!!

My issue with freezer space is that I'm so used to living alone, when I could always tell you down to the last sweetcorn kernel what I had in... but my mother is temp. living with me, and she has a hobby I didn't know about: buying food we don't need.

So a bit of freezer jenga has become the norm for me now!!

Pollycat · 9 December 2016 at 3:03PM

C_J wrote: »

I simmered the joint last night then roasted it after brushing with a little mustard, a drizzle of runny honey and then (because I couldn't remember what people put on gammon before roasting) I went a bit mad and sprinkled it with cumin and smoked paprika. It is absolutely delicious (well, I had to try a few wafer thin slices as soon as it came out of the oven, didn't I?)

Don't know if this is traditional but it's inspired.:T

C_J · 9 December 2016 at 4:04PM

Ha ha - thank you

I do a lot of random, make-it-up-myself flavour combinations and generally they work quite well. I think I learned my daredevil approach from working for a certain famous chef many years ago. He taught me well.

I love JWPopps' mother's habit of 'buying food we do not need'. I bet she's just trying to be helpful (or is she a hoarder?)

I have come to the conclusion that the reason I get so frustrated with my freezer is that it contains mostly lots of odd bits and leftovers (I hate waste) and ingredients rather than actual meals. I don't have too much problem with batch cooking pies or curry or chilli or whatever - those portioned-up meals get used up regularly. But it's the small bags of chopped up last-bit-of-the-red-pepper or half a handful of curry leaves which seem to clutter it up and languish there for months until they are forgotten.

I'm actually quite looking forward to having a ruthless clear out this weekend and getting all organised. Does that make me a sad person?

LameWolf · 9 December 2016 at 4:14PM

Islandmaid wrote: »

It started with a conversation with a local cheese maker, and I pointed out that it was daft that we could buy Goats milk and goats cheese but not goat meat - they told me there was no call for it, and I said they should try it and they would be surprised.

They tried selling it, and its flying off the shelves

You have flying goats in the IOW?? :eek: I never saw any when we were there! :rotfl:

Re: breadcrumbs - I use them a lot as they are an ingredient in my HM nut loaf. When I want to make this, I just wuzz (technical term there) five slices of the Emergency Sliced Loaf in the food processor.

Re: sweetcorn - I can't see the point of it; it doesn't provide any nutrition to speak of, and tastes of nowt. I'd eat it if it was on my plate when I was visiting somewhere, but I wouldn't bother buying it. Just my opinion.

Ooh, and corn-on-the-cob is a definite no-no when you have a mucky herbert like Mr LW in the house.

Islandmaid · 9 December 2016 at 4:50PM

LameWolf wrote: »

You have flying goats in the IOW?? :eek: I never saw any when we were there! :rotfl:

Well you can get Buffalo Wings, so why would Goats not have them

I shall be releasing some stew portions and steaks from the freezer this weekend, have managed to slide some pigs in blankets in there by removing from the packaging and laying them out barely touching in a freezer bag.

Will make sweetcorn and chilli soup for work lunches, so that will kill most of one bag of sweetcorn, will buy tinned in future, it's only DS that really likes it when not on the cob :cool:

suki1964 · 9 December 2016 at 4:53PM

JWPopps wrote: »

CJ that sounds delicious!!

My issue with freezer space is that I'm so used to living alone, when I could always tell you down to the last sweetcorn kernel what I had in... but my mother is temp. living with me, and she has a hobby I didn't know about: buying food we don't need.

So a bit of freezer jenga has become the norm for me now!!

Hold on, just checked, mums in the living room so I know we dont have the same mum

Ive all the meals planed, and shes snuck in a half leg of lamb as well as the icecream

Living_proof · 9 December 2016 at 5:47PM

I am guilty of having far too much in my freezers, much of it either unlabelled or poorly labelled. I just cannot resist a bargain but I do vacuum seal meat etc. and only buy vacuum sealed fish which means I don't get freezer burn. I am waiting for a really very hard frost and we will load everything into a black freezer bag or three and put it outside for a while whilst we reorganise and take an inventory although a lot of it will be guesswork. I have a tall Beko in the garage and a Bosch f/f in the kitchen, and OH has his own house and own f/f. I think we must have 500-600 litres of storage between us, and then of course there is the overflow into OH's DS's freezer! A small amount will be used over Christmas, but it would take months to run it down...

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Freezer Jenga!

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