Store cupboard challenge

globetraveller

I have a freezer in the kitchen and one in the garage - both upright ones. Both are jam packed and my kitchen freezer is in desperate need of a defrost. I've no idea when I am going to manage to do that. Am on dietchef just now and just before I decided to go on it I filled up my freezer with lots of diet foods I can't eat just now. Must persuade OH he will love all those meals:rotfl:

hollyh

Kaz i have serious freezer envy. I want to live in your house with all that lovely food.:D

I could do with joining in. My freezers don't need defrosting but they're both pretty full. I did a shuffle and inventory the other day. Tuesday i used mince from there and diced courgettes to make a lasagne and now there's 2 portions of that in there. Yesterday i took out chicken and base curry sauce to make curry and now there's 1 portion back in there.

Small fridge freezer freezer

3 loaves of bread
2 Packs of cheese
2 x 1 portion lasagnes
1 pack of sausages
2 tubs of butter
1 Pack of ham
2 x 6pts of milk
1 portion of curry & rice
About 40 bananas

Big upright freezer

1.5 packs of fish fillets
1 pack of prawns
21 burgers :eek:
1 pack of beef sizzle steak
2 pks & 0.5 a bag of mince
3 chicken style fillets
6 x chicken nuggets
1 pk chinese chicken drumsticks
2 whole chickens
0.5 bag of diced courgettes
0.5 of a bag of spinach
0.5 bag diced apples
1 portion of chilli
1 portion of chilli & rice
1 portion of rice
1 portion of fish pie
2 portions of sausage casserole
27 bread rolls :eek:12 finger rolls
9 pitta breads
1 pk of bagels
4 muffins
2 crumpets
15 wraps
2 slices of bacon
4 pks of bacon
1 bag of oven chips
1 bag of peas
4 fishfingers

kazmeister

hollyh wrote: »

Kaz i have serious freezer envy. I want to live in your house with all that lovely food.:D

I could do with joining in. My freezers don't need defrosting but they're both pretty full. I did a shuffle and inventory the other day. Tuesday i used mince from there and diced courgettes to make a lasagne and now there's 2 portions of that in there. Yesterday i took out chicken and base curry sauce to make curry and now there's 1 portion back in there.

Small fridge freezer freezer

3 loaves of bread
2 Packs of cheese
2 x 1 portion lasagnes
1 pack of sausages
2 tubs of butter
1 Pack of ham
2 x 6pts of milk
1 portion of curry & rice
About 40 bananas
Big upright freezer

1.5 packs of fish fillets
1 pack of prawns
21 burgers :eek:
1 pack of beef sizzle steak
2 pks & 0.5 a bag of mince
3 chicken style fillets
6 x chicken nuggets
1 pk chinese chicken drumsticks
2 whole chickens
0.5 bag of diced courgettes
0.5 of a bag of spinach
0.5 bag diced apples
1 portion of chilli
1 portion of chilli & rice
1 portion of rice
1 portion of fish pie
2 portions of sausage casserole
27 bread rolls :eek:12 finger rolls
9 pitta breads
1 pk of bagels
4 muffins
2 crumpets
15 wraps
2 slices of bacon
4 pks of bacon
1 bag of oven chips
1 bag of peas
4 fishfingers

How many :eek: and I thought I was bad with about 12 .... lol

hollyh

I don't know if there's 40 i didn't count them but i wouldn't be surprised, they take up a whole drawer.:eek: I'll count them tomorrow and see.:cool:

mummyyof5

Hi all,would love to join as I have a huge chest freezer which is full to the brim,doesnt need defrosting but I would like to create some space....

Note to self.....keep away from the bargains....

Also have an American style fridge freezer which is stuffed full..

Would be impossible to post an inventory but will let you know if I manage to use up some stuff...can see some unusual meals coming up ....lol...xx

pink_numbers

I'm so pleased to see I'm not the only one in this predicament It's so lovely to be joined by all you lovely ladies.

Does anyone have anything they are really not sure what they are going to do with, that other ladies could offer some ideas?

I'll go first, I have stacks of sugar free elderflower cordial that I made this summer. Unfortunately, with the summer being so cold, I didn't need a 'refreshing drink' Now I'm stuck with loads... do you think it'd make a nice hot drink? OH is very sceptic about this... any help would be much appreciated!

babyshoes

About defrosting the freezer - I think the best time to do that is around January, when the outside temps are very cold - snow is even better. Obviously if you can 'run down' the freezer first, that makes things easier because there is just less 'stuff' to handle. The remaining food goes into a series of poundshop cooler bags with ice bricks, which are then zipped up and stored outside for a few hours - ideally at night when it is coldest. Defrost the freezer as quickly as possible with bowls of boiling water placed under the build up of ice so the steam melts it, and don't forget your old towels and newspaper to catch the drips. The food should still be frozen when you put it back and will help to get the freezer cold again quickly.

Obviously, if you take a while to defrost it, some of your food could defrost slightly, so check it before putting it back and if in doubt use it up instead of re-freezing.
If you have too much defrosted food to eat up immediately, cook it all and then freeze it cooked.

mineallmine

Evening all,

I found your thread pink_numbers!

Now I feel a bit guilty as there isn't as much stuff in my freezer as some of you guys here. But I have some real odd things left. Like a handful of frozen chips. A handful of brussels. It's going to be really hard to avoid temptation and refill the ruddy thing! But the drawers are not opening properly - the bottom one has always been hard and this year we managed to snap bits of it off. So a new fridge freezer is needed really but a defrost of this one will have to do for the time being.

I binned some out of date stuff today. Just need to get my thinking cap of with a mixture of things like:

brussels
vegetable samosas
tikka masala (ready meals so not too bad)
parnips
asda own make roast pots (very nice too!)
12 rolls
syrup pudding
green beans
peas
corn on the cob
yorkies
choc ices

so not too bad then I guess. I can see an indian meal there plus some sunday roast type bits. I had a big sort out of the fridge the other day and was shocked at how much out of date congealed stuff was in there, yuck!

misscousinitt

Not doing very well so far. Got in at 9.15pm and didn't feel like cooking so DH went to get Fish & Chips - SO the LO Chicken from Wednesday has had to go in the freezer so as not to waste it! Also bought some salami to go on top of our HM pizzas tonight - too many slices in the packet! so will have to portion up and freeze.

Might see if I can tempt DH to lemon drizzle cake and custard after pizza - then at least I should be back to square one again rather than -1!

However, so as not to get totally dis-hearted I have to take pleasure in the fact that my mealplan this week will get rid of:

1 x bag haddock fillets
1 x HM Spag Bol
2 x Chicken Breasts

plus - sausage rolls are going to my firend for the kids party!

Winged_one

I am working on emptying mine too - it's a half of the fridge type one but I cram LOADS into it. I have a load of soft fruit and veggies from the plot in there too to use up, as well as various strange small tubs of things. And bits of meat that are single portions so I can never find a use for them.

I used up a tub of strawberries from (last) summer the other night, with an old banana from the sitting room and some apple juice to make some delish smoothies for DD and I, and I had the remainder for brekkie the following morning.

But I need to use up loads of beans and baby turnips now that stew weather is hitting again. And use the rest of my soft fruits for something. I am thinking of an apple pie at the weekend, and we have used a fair bit from the freezer the past 2 weeks for dinner (I've bought on average 1 meal of meat per week) and will do the same for the coming week.

I want to defrost too, and also make space for more batch dinners so that I KNOW I have options now that work is getting busy again.