Help a newbie!

melt71

Hi All,

Very interesting board - I've been reading through all of the posts on here to help me to try to cut back this month. I've worked out that my income will probably be less than my bills this month so I have to cut back on grocery shopping.

I'm doing the 'use up your freezer/store cupboard' thing and I'm making a list of items that will enable me to cook from scratch to go with my exisiting store cupboard items. So far so good....

However, I'm not the most confident cook in the world and also I don't really want to have to spend hours doing it every night, so if I could freeze portions for later in the week and only cook for half of the week that would be ideal - how do you freeze food that you have cooked? Is it ok to just put it in an ice cream tub or a plastic container?

Also, I've looked at the recipe threads which are a great help, but how do I know what is suitable for freezing? Some of the recipes are for 6 people and there is only me and my 8 year old daughter so if they could be frozen that would be great.

Any further tips/easy & cheap recipes welcome!

Thank you

pawpurrs

Is it ok to just put it in an ice cream tub or a plastic container?



Fine. Most things will freeze fine, al the spups, stews, curries etc, spag bol sauce, chilli etc all fine to freeze, most meals made up, really wont have a problem being frozen.

you can frefreeze previously frozen meat too, once you have cooked it up, (allowing to cool first)

HTH

squeaky

And if you're not sure about a given single item there are quite a number of things listed under "freezing" in the link below.

[post=675243]freezing cooked items[/post]

LITTLEMISSFLOWER

You Can Get Freeza Bags In The Supermaket In The Bit Where Dented Tins And Open Packets Are Theres Nothing Wrong With Them Apart From A Tear In The Outer Packet About 50p For 100.

melt71

Thank you. I'll dig out all my old tubs in preperation

I wasn't sure about freezing meat that had previously been frozen so thank you for clarifying that.

Mel

Curry_Queen

I recycle any plastic containers I get such as ice cream tubs, cream pots, the plastic tubs you get chinese take-away in etc, to use for storing meals in the freezer, and if I'm running short I often put things in freezer bags then place them into a tub to freeze so they retain a good shape for storage, then re-use the tubs again

melt71

Thanks very much for all your replies!

Very useful information.

My bf's mum keeps old take away containers so I may have to nab some of hers, they are see through and would be a lot better than my ice cream tubs.

Chipps

You can re-freeze meat that has been frozen as long as it was uncooked before it was first frozen, then cooked, then its ok to re-freeze it.

It is a good idea to "double up" when cooking a meal, eg. when making spag bog, do double then freeze half for another day, or even triple & freeze 2 extra helpings. It's not much extra work. If I do this I have to make sure DH doesn't do the dishing up, cos he will just use the lot!
Make sure the portions for freezing are allowed to cool down before putting them in the freezer.

melt71

Thanks Chipps, this is exactly the type of thing that I intend to do.

I'm also worried about the portion sizes, especially if my fella is there as he's a right gannet and will scoff the lot!! He doesn't live with us though so it's not a problem for most nights.

hilary1

you can get some great freezing books from the library. I wish I'd done it years ago as (stupid me) I've always thrown away left over foods and I didnt really think about freezing anything I'd made myself.


I definately freeze loads now and as my OH is a big man I portion his on a plate then tub or bag it.

No more wasted food in our house!

HOLsale

i don't know if you have one but if you do, use your slow cooker! you don't have to be a confident cook to make good food in the slowcooker, honest!

we have the mega indexed thread here

a good tip for using up every last thing

when you're peeling potatoes (if you don't use them for yummy snacks) topping and tailing carrots, peeling the skins off onions etc collect these bits in a freezer bag or a tub in the freezer.

i also add fat, skin, bones, leftover baked potatoes (if we don't eat them for some reason) bits of juice left in the bottoms of jars (except vinegar based) etc everything goes in this. when it's full i chuck it in the slow cooker but you can put it in a large pot on the hob. fill this up with water and simmer for several hours.

then, put a colandar inside a large bowl and pour the contents into the colander
the stock will go in the bowl and you can throw away or compost the leftover veg bits. though, if you have anything with bits of meat left on it then you should allow the entire lot to drain and cool first then pick the meat off and toss it into the stock

i bag mine up and freeze it in 6 ladle full portions (this is about how much we use for making up cous cous etc) you can do whatever suits you best

use the stock for cooking rice, cous cous, making soup etc it will always taste a little different but it's such a good way of getting every last bit of goodness and value out of what you buy


another thing, money's tight this month so you'll have to wait but if you can get to an ethnic grocer you can buy spices very cheaply. spices makes such a difference to cheaper foods and can make the difference between a meal you tolerate because you're hungry and a meal you happily make again and again