A Freezer to Fill

DebtFreeMrsC

babyblooz wrote: »

I also put a sponge cake mix over the top of stewed windfall apples, blackberries, rhubarb etc. I double up on quantities and bake it in big yorkshire pudding tin in the oven then section that up and freeze it away for the winter. There's nothing like home made pud with hot custard for perking you up when you come in from work on a cold winter evening. Especially when its homemade and you know exactly what went into it.

MMMmmmmm! Sounds lovely, and might be able to convince mum to make an apple pie or two to go in!! Stupid question - but can you freeze custard once its made up?

VoucherMan

DebtFreeMrsC wrote: »

We have one a few miles away - but we get leaflets through the door. WIll have to dig out the coupons. Assume you can double them up (i.e. use two £5 ones if you spend 100?) Or I suppose just split the shopping and pay twice!

If you can't find your vouchers you can print them off. http://www.farmfoods.co.uk/includes/Vouchers/org/Vouchers.pdf

And yes you can use more than one.

rachbc

Rather than filling with ready made meals I would fill with what thriftlady on OS board calls 'meal building blocks' - things to make assembling a freshmeal easy.

Dried beans soaked and cooked then open frozen - can take as much as you need at a tme to add to a chilli, bulk out a dish. I'd do kidney beans, chickpeas, and a white bean (haricot etc)

'Veg Hash' onion, carrot and celery chopped en masse in food processor then frozen in lumps to make the basis of a soup, stew, chilli, spag bol etc

HM Curry paste - again made in bulk a frozen in portions - cook from frozen with adiced chicken thigh/ veg/ chick peas for instant curry - add tinned toms, coconut milk or yog etc to mix up the flavours. Far more interesting than just making 1 vat of the same curry (see mortgagefreeinthree.com for a fab recipe and ideas for uses)

make a massive batch of pastry and freeze in disks, same with pizza bases, also crumble topping freezes really well, ready to be sprinkled on tinned or on its way over fruit for an instant pud.

I wouldn't be without chopped chicken thighs, frozen raw prawns, lamb and beef mince, rump steak and lumps of pork shoulder and bacon lardons in my freezer.

See this post for inspiration

http://thequincetree65.blogspot.co.uk/search?q=freezer
frozen berries to add to porridge or yog for easy and healthy breakfast

babyblooz

DebtFreeMrsC, I am afraid I take the easy option with custard. I buy those small tetra packs of ready made. Most of the time there's only me and hubs so these do the job without messy pans and jugs! When I come in from work I like things to be really easy!

I also freeze whoopsied fruit when I have cooked it down and then thaw it out when I want to make it into a pud. I have chucks so sometimes I have a glut of eggs that need using up and cakes are a good way to do this.

cheltenhamgal

I do the batch cooking about once a month, I do Shepherds Pie, Fish Pie, Chicken Curry, Fruity Veg curry, Spag Bol, Chilli. I also freeze leftover mash which is fine when defrosted and reheated.
It is also really easy to make homemade soup. You can use any variety of veg, eg broccoli, beans, cabbage, carrots, onions, cauliflower, add herbs and a veg stock cube, add water and cook until soft. Puree then freeze. Some of my daughters favourites are Broccoli and Stilton, Carrot and Coriander, Leek and Potato and Pumpkin. If you like a thicker soup, add potatoes, the starch will thicken the soup. If you like a thinner soup then just add some milk before you reheat.
You can get some fab containers which the takeaways use 10 for £1 in Poundland. They stack on one another too and you can put stickers on with what is in them on.
Your local veg shop/market stall may reduce fruit and veg before the end of the day. I use the veg to make soup and the fruit I puree, put into ice cube trays then use to make breakfast smoothies

cheltenhamgal

A cookery book I love is Economy Gastronomy which uses the notion(similar to that mentioned above) of having a base which can be used for different meals e.g. mince = shepherds pie, chilli or spag bol. You can get it quite cheaply on Amazon.
Another idea is to have a basic curry paste which you can freeze then use to add to different dishes when needed.

Korma paste
2 cloves of garlic / a thumb-sized piece of fresh root ginger / ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper / 1 teaspoon garam masala / ½ teaspoon sea salt / 2 tablespoons groundnut oil / 1 tablespoon tomato pur!e / 2 fresh green chillies / 3 tablespoons desiccated coconut / 2 tablespoons ground almonds / a small bunch of fresh coriander
Spices for toasting 2 teaspoons cumin seeds / 1 teaspoon coriander seeds

Jalfrezi paste
2 cloves of garlic / a thumb-sized piece of fresh root ginger / 1 teaspoon turmeric /½teaspoon sea salt / 2 tablespoons groundnut oil / 2 tablespoons tomato pur!e / 1 fresh green chilli / a small bunch of fresh coriander
Spices for toasting 2 teaspoons cumin seeds / 1 teaspoon brown mustard seeds / 1 teaspoon fenugreek seeds / 1 teaspoon coriander seeds

Rogan josh paste
2 cloves of garlic / a thumb-sized piece of fresh root ginger / 75g roasted peppers, from a jar / 1 tablespoon paprika / 1 teaspoon smoked paprika / 2 teaspoons garam masala / 1 teaspoon turmeric / ½ teaspoon sea salt / 2 tablespoons groundnut oil / 2 tablespoons tomato pur!e / 1 fresh red chilli / a small bunch of fresh coriander
Spices for toasting 2 teaspoons cumin seeds / 2 teaspoons coriander seeds / 1 teaspoon black peppercorns

Tikka masala paste
2 cloves of garlic / a thumb-sized piece of fresh root ginger / 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper / 1 tablespoon smoked paprika / 2 teaspoons garam masala / ½ teaspoon sea salt / 2 tablespoons groundnut oil / 2 tablespoons tomato pur!e / 2 fresh red chillies / a small bunch of fresh coriander / 1 tablespoon desiccated coconut / 2 tablespoons ground almonds
Spices for toasting 1 teaspoon cumin seeds / 1 teaspoon coriander seeds

Vindaloo paste
2 cloves of garlic / a thumb-sized piece of fresh root ginger / 4 dried red chillies / 1 tablespoon turmeric / ½ teaspoon sea salt / 3 tablespoons groundnut oil / 2 tablespoons tomato pur!e / 2 fresh red chillies / a small bunch of fresh coriander
Spices for toasting 1 teaspoon black peppercorns / 4 cloves / 2 teaspoons coriander seeds / 2 teaspoons fennel
seeds / 1 teaspoon fenugreek seeds

To make any of the above curry pastes
First peel the garlic and ginger • Put a frying pan on a medium to high heat and add the spices for toasting to the dry pan • Lightly toast them for a few minutes until golden brown and smelling delicious, then remove the pan from the heat • Add the toasted spices to a pestle and mortar and grind until fine, or put them into a food processor and whiz to a powder • Either way, when you’ve ground them whiz the toasted spices in a food processor with the rest of the ingredients until you have a smooth paste

The above curry pastes are Jamie Oliver's, if they aren't hot enough add more chilli's etc if they are too hot then just add either creme fraiche or fruit juice to cool down, or even tomato ketchup

flippin36

If you are not a batch cooker, you could do an extra portion with each meal you cook. If I'm cooking from scratch I always do double the quantities. I stretch the second portion out a bit with extra veg or tomatoes, then freeze it. On the last week before payday we will have a living out of the freezer week so I feel I have one less shop a month to do plus I don't have to bother cooking.

I really want to buy a chest freezer, but I can't afford one just now, in order to buy more yellow sticker foods. Last night I was in Morrisons and it was very quiet. I had the pick of the reductions but I only had so much room in my freezer. You could really take advantage of yellow sticker meat (be careful to inspect it carefully) and bread (I haven't spent more than 19p on a loaf of bread in six months!). YS cakes freeze well plus low fat yoghurts can be frozen when on offer - I have experimented a bit with yoghurts and it seems the lower the fat content the better they freeze.

Cheese freezes well too - I freeze a big block in portions. You can freeze milk too if you see any bargains.

Having a large freezer not only means you can stock up on good deals, but it also means you may not have to keep going out to the shops and effectively spending more money. You can shop in your own home.

Good luck with your debts.

edit: don't forget you may need masking tape and a permenant pen for good labelling.

DebtFreeMrsC

WOW! So many amazing ideas - you guys are brilliant!

We are both loving the idea of meal building blocks - it feels achievable for me. I will ask mum to do an initial batch cooking day with me which should see me through a month or two, but at the moment I cannot imagine a day when I will feel well enough to cook everything, even though I know its a brilliant way to approach cooking.

I've realised I also need to build up a stock cupboard alongside the freezer. That way if I have choped veg, chopped meat, and a bag of sauce in the freezer I just need some noodles for a really good meal. And husband can throw that together I'm sure.

Thank you all so much for all the amzing ideas - and keep them coming! Mum has started a shopping list already, so all I have to do now is pick a freezer and get started!

DebtFreeMrsC

rachbc wrote: »

Dried beans soaked and cooked then open frozen - can take as much as you need at a tme to add to a chilli, bulk out a dish. I'd do kidney beans, chickpeas, and a white bean (haricot etc)

Sorry to be thick - what does 'open frozen' mean?

babyblooz

Open freezing means freezing items on a tray separately without any packaging etc, then when they are frozen solid, tip them into a bag to keep them together, well, that's what I mean by open freezing lol. I think that way you don't end up with a big solid block of something so end up having to take it all out at once.