Bought a new chest freezer - Give me good ways to fill it!

chalkysoil

I top up our chest freezer with slabs of polysterene, the stuff comes around new white goods etc, the freezer itself had loads! We just heave it out when a new batch of bargains come along. I've bought some net bags ( reduced to 14p each in Sainsburys) really they are "toys in the bath storage bags" but it helps to haul out stuff from the bottom and make sure it gets rotated. Rice is a handy thing to cook then freeze.

I freeze some milk in vitalite marge containers - for the cat, he can drink straight from them when it's thawed.

caramacgirl

If we have chicken I freeze the carcus, when I have 2 or 3 I make a nice stock from them.

Enterprise_1701C

If you have left over stock you can freeze it in ice cube trays and get out as much as you want. Lasagne freezes very well - I used to make a massive one and cut it up into portions and freeze them individually.

When freezing the milk don't forget to leave plenty of room in the bottle for expansion.

My freezer is currently full of home-grown fruit, cheap veg from Aldi/Lidl (chopped up peppers are very useful to pop in with a tub of passata to make a very tasty pasta sauce!), and I have a whole draw full of home made chestnut soup (our absolute favourite) - got a bit carried away collecting chestnuts as usual!

Also handy to make up some pastry, roll it into sheets, cover with baking paper and roll up (using the baking paper cover to separate the sheet in the roll, like a swiss roll), and freeze that - ready make pie case!

lynzpower

Ive found summer fruits freeze quite well. If I get some cheap eg strawberries/blueberries etc in te summer, I just put what we dont use into tupperwares.

Ive made a really lovely sauce from them ( pancakes/ Icecream) and thrown some in with apple crumble etc.

I would love a chest freezer!

pink_numbers

I just got a big freezer too, although mine is upright. I never thought I would get excited about freezers, but my gosh, it's exciting isn't it!?

You don't actually have to chop/blend herbs, like coriander & parsley, before freezing. Just pop them in a bag and freeze them. Once frozen, you can scrunch the bag, which will make all the herbs shatter as if they were finely chopped

If you are going to portion your food, keep a stock list so you know how many of what you have. That way, you won't lose anything, and it makes it easier to know what you should prioritise to eat.

oh and of course, label, label and label!

invisiblecabbage

geordie_joe wrote: »

Like me today, I had to pass on a £16 joint of beef (the biggest I have ever seen) reduced to £7 in Morrisons today. Because it was far to large for just me and my freezer is full to the brim.

I can fit it in my freezer if you want to pop back and get it!
:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Leah-WW

Soup is easy to make, cheap, quick to heat up AND ideal for freezing I used to make a batch of soup on a Sunday, decant into tupperware containers or strong freezer bags, freeze and then defrost daily during the week for quick & satisfying lunches.

bettybeaver

I have both a chest freezer in the garage and a fridge freezer in the kitchen and use the big one for bulk buys and 'full' packets. The small one one is for all opened packs which means no peas running arround the bottom of the chest freezer . I also make extra portions when cooking meals and freeze one (or two if I get carried away!!!) for a later date. This works well when hubby has to fend for himself :j

Tired_Mom

Hi Two things I have found good are the small reuseable bags from M&S or such place to split items into i.e. bread bag, veg bag etc means everything doesn't slide to the bottom. I also make a huge batch of mashed potato and freeze it down into portion sizes, cheaper than buying ready done.

If you live anywhere near a tesco and can get there easily (not sure with a 3 year old that is possible) but it's great to go at about 3.00pm on Christmas eve. Masses of bargains to be had and with a chest freezer you should have the room for them.

Kimitatsu

I have a massive chest freezer (21 cu ft) and I would be completely lost without it!

I buy bread on offer all of the time and freeze it (great for when the kids come in and want soemthing to eat - toast is wonderful) I can freeze cheese, butter, milk, leftovers of all manner (rice is great, mash potato) chicken carcasses for stock, breadcrumbs from stale bread (great for making home made burgers or for use with stuffing). I buy freezer packs of meat from our local butchers and get them to cut it into portion sizes - so I will buy half a pig and get them to butcher it into what I want (sausages, bacon, joints mince etc) and its a cheap way to buy it. Look out for offers on chickens too, possibly not the first place you would think of but M&S do a lot of offers on meat, 3 chickens for £10 etc and you dont have to roast them you could cut them up into portions and freeze them seperately instead.

I bought several pyrex dishes from TJ Hughes which have been worth their weight, they are the freezer to table ones, so leftovers go into them, pop the top on and then straight into the freezer - then they can go either in the microwave or oven when they come back out. More expensive to buy initially but they last for ever!!

As others have said, make larger portions of everything, I tend to bake whilst I have the oven on as well, so I often put in banana bread whilst I am cooking a roast (and freeze at least one).

Non food wise I tend to freeze body butter from Lush so that it lasts longer too (buy it in the sales after Xmas when it is cheap) and bones for the dogs which come from the butchers (I know they are food but not human food IYSWIM!!)