Help me with my herb problem

MrsE_2

I've recently fallen in love with cooking again & as such I'm using lots of fresh herbs.

These are very expensive to buy the pots in the supermarket & they don't live long (I kill all plants:o ).

Now I know I could prob grow some in the garden & some on the kitchen window if I was to make a real effort.

BUT I don't want to come home in the dark & have to go out into a dark wet muddy garden & start looking for herbs:eek:
Nor do I want pots of herbs cluttering up my kitchen window cil (I HATE things on window cils) & my kitchen is more sleek modern than country kitchen style & it wouldn't look very good.

BUT I WOULD PROB KILL THEM ANYWAY.

I've seen those tubes of herbs in Tesco, are they as good as fresh herbs, I use a lot of corriander, basil, parsley, mint, etc

Dried never seem to be as good & I have real problems judging the amounts from recipe books as they give the quantity for fresh. Any online conversion charts for herbs

Grateful for conversion quantities & any experience of the tubes for the green herbs.

Thank you:beer:

clutterydrawer

If you can buy the fresh ones in bulk cheap, eg from a market or on special offer, then chop them up really fine and freeze them in ice cube trays. I know it's not "fresh" as such but it might be better than dried.

MrsE_2

clutterydrawer wrote: »

If you can buy the fresh ones in bulk cheap, eg from a market or on special offer, then chop them up really fine and freeze them in ice cube trays. I know it's not "fresh" as such but it might be better than dried.

I know it sounds like I'm making excuses but my freezer is not huge (its an Amercian style one & the fridge is huge, but the freezer sides aren't on them) & the other thing is the amounts are often quite a lot in recipes (like a bunch) & I think icecube trays would be a bit fiddly, plus I need lots of different ones & I would end up mixing them up:o

But thank you:beer:

kamperkat

hiya

I freeze mine too, I usually wait until the ready picked herbs in bags are reduced to 5p at Mr A on a sunday at about 3.45pm and buy everything they have - I leave them in the bag so they are flat(ish) and bung them in the freezer and and break off bits when I need them...it's so nice to have them to hand and although i have three herbs growing in pots on my windowsill they are mostly dead :rotfl: so frozen ones are a gret back up and you can have a much wider variety!!
Kkxx

HariboJunkie

You could try growing your own and picking them when it is daylight?

Or grow your own and freeze as others have suggested. Failing that, buying them cheap when fresh would do.

As for dried versus fresh, it's usually recommended that for every 1 tsp of fresh you need 2 of dried as the dried have a more concentrated flavour.

MrsE_2

kamperkat wrote: »

hiya

I freeze mine too, I usually wait until the ready picked herbs in bags are reduced to 5p at Mr A on a sunday at about 3.45pm and buy everything they have - I leave them in the bag so they are flat(ish) and bung them in the freezer and and break off bits when I need them...it's so nice to have them to hand and although i have three herbs growing in pots on my windowsill they are mostly dead :rotfl: so frozen ones are a gret back up and you can have a much wider variety!!
Kkxx

So you freeze the bag ones, bag & all?

Do you freeze leafy ones?

I can see that would work well for rosemary.

Rikki

I chop and freeze mine in ice cube trays , once frozen I wrap them individually in cling film and store them in a labelled freezer bag .

MrsE_2

HariboJunkie wrote: »

You could try growing your own and picking them when it is daylight?

Or grow your own and freeze as others have suggested. Failing that, buying them cheap when fresh would do.

As for dried versus fresh, it's usually recommended that for every 1 tsp of fresh you need 2 of dried as the dried have a more concentrated flavour.

Its dark when I get home in the winter, will be a while yet before I'm home in daylight.

You can never get the ones you need cheap:mad: They are always the only ones NOT reduced:rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

Thanks for the conversion, I guess you are saying half if dried?:beer:

kamperkat

Yup - just buy 'em and bung 'em in the freezer as they are...with regards to leafy ones i've bought basil, coriander and parsley and frozen them all, they obviously can't be used for garnish as they go all floppy but chopped up and bunged a meal they keep their flavour.
Kkxx

MrsE_2

kamperkat wrote: »

Yup - just buy 'em and bung 'em in the freezer as they are...with regards to leafy ones i've bought basil, coriander and parsley and frozen them all, they obviously can't be used for garnish as they go all floppy but chopped up and bunged a meal they keep their flavour.
Kkxx

Brilliant, I never thought of this.

All labled, no messing about, "fresh" herbs:beer:

HariboJunkie

MrsE wrote: »

Its dark when I get home in the winter, will be a while yet before I'm home in daylight.

You can never get the ones you need cheap:mad: They are always the only ones NOT reduced:rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

Thanks for the conversion, I guess you are saying half if dried?:beer:

Yep... Most herbs freeze really well and I often get coriander reduced to 10p. I grow my own too but we use alot of it. As above, I freeze the bag flat and tear off what I need. It does go a bit mushy but it tastes fine.