Quick questions on ANYTHING (see first post for Freezing, Reheating, Slow Cooker, +)

thriftlady_2

oliveoyl wrote: »

Hi, can someone tell me if it's ok to freeze baked beans please... it doesn't say on the tins.

Yes, it's fine to freeze them

oliveoyl

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

Never tried it ... but they keep OK in the fridge for a few days, so is freezing them essential?

I'm often away from home for a few days on the trot, so over the years I've wasted loads of half cans... I can't seem to bring myself to buy the small tins, so I thought I'd ask waste not, want not and all that.

Now, what about peas, sweetcorn, tinned tomatoes....

Savvy_Sue

oliveoyl wrote: »

I'm often away from home for a few days on the trot, so over the years I've wasted loads of half cans... I can't seem to bring myself to buy the small tins, so I thought I'd ask waste not, want not and all that.

Now, what about peas, sweetcorn, tinned tomatoes....

Oh heavens, I couldn't bring myself to buy small tins either! As for the other things: I can't stand tinned peas but can't imagine freezing would make them any worse, and can't see why tinned sweetcorn can't be frozen. However, I buy those two frozen and weigh out however much I want at the time: is that an option? I do buy tinned sweetcorn as well, that tastes fine, in fact my youngest prefers tinned (probably because of the added sugar :mad:). Tinned tomatoes, yes they'd be fine to freeze. Plus, I would quite happily throw frozen tinned tomatoes straight into the saucepan or whatever and not worry about defrosting them!

oliveoyl

I don't know why I don't buy bags of frozen veg... not as convenient for me I suppose as I haven't got a car, but the next time I order online I'll get some... it just hadn't occured to me (dur).

Only the tomatoes... I assumed I'd be able to chuck any of them into a pan from frozen?

Thanks for your replies

Savvy_Sue

oliveoyl wrote: »

Only the tomatoes... I assumed I'd be able to chuck any of them into a pan from frozen?

Sorry, should have made it clear, I'm sure you could, only the peas might go mushy - tinned ones are usually quite soft to begin with, aren't they? But then they'd go mushy anyway ...

Ignore me, bung 'em all in from frozen and let us know if it doesn't work! :rotfl:

Skint_Catt

When I last froze chopped onions and sliced mushrooms they went really watery and soft when defrosted. Should I not have defrosted them before using or is there a way of freezing where this doesn't happen?

weezl74

Hi,

Have any of you tried making and freezing roast potatoes up ahead of a big event like Christmas? I'd be really interested if they work as well as 'Aunt Bessies', and how long you cooked them for, before and after freezing. Thanks in advance for any advice.

Weezl

craftycrofty

Hi

I did ask this on the 'Ham thread' but so far no response.

Having family meal tomorrow and I have got a 5kg Gammon which I plan to cook in the slow cooker. As its much bigger than the ones I normally do in SC I wondered if I needed to cook for longer? Or is that a stupid question????

Also does anyone know how to work out how much veg & spuds to do per person? I'm cooking for 8 adults & 2 kids. I want there to be enough for everyone without there being too much left over!!

CC

Savvy_Sue

In the absence of wiser counsel from better cooks than me:

1. Skintcatt, I would only use defrosted onions and mushrooms in casseroles where the consistency wouldn't much matter. I wonder if the companies who freeze them do so in a very dry atmosphere? Or a lot faster than we can. Especially mushrooms.

2. weezl, no, but I can't see why not, have you got time to experiment in advance? I would not fully cook roast spuds before freezing, maybe just get them a golden brown. I am desperately trying to remember what my mum's trick was when we were doing Christmas lunch for 100 or so, but I think it was to leave Dad at home cooking them while we went off to the hall, and send a runner to pick them up once they were cooked. It may also have involved browning them under the grill if they didn't look brown enough ...

3. craftycrofty, hope this is not too late but it probably is! However, there's always a next time ...

So, I know that my SC has instructions for joints and gives a max weight of what can be successfully cooked. Do you have your instruction book and if not can you download it? I recently started a too large chicken in mine then transferred to the oven to finish off and brown: is that an option?

Also veg: bit of a black art unless you know how much everyone eats! I count out pieces of spud: 1 for me, 1 for DS3, 2 for DS1, 3 or 4 for DH, and 10 or so for DS2 ... With frozen veg (I know ...) I usually weigh it and allow 2 oz per person of peas and sweetcorn, fresh veg I do by eye in a similar way to the spuds.

But leftover veg is not a problem in our house: DS2 continues to 'graze' on cold roast potatoes if any are left, and other kinds I would mash together with raw egg and cook as bubble and squeak. Or in chunks as Spanish Omelette. Or leave the raw egg out and freeze for later ...

jobbingmusician

OK, here's a poser.

Recipe for non-alcoholic Christmas punch needed. There is a thread on here about non-alc punches, but they all seem to be summery ones!

Ooo, and just to make life more interesting, one of the main consumers of this concoction is allergic to oranges....:rolleyes:

TIA! :beer: