Learning how to cook

itcanbedone_2

Hello everyone.

I'm 43 and although I can generally cook, I have no idea about what you can freeze, making things from scratch etc. I have always worked full time but I'm now working part time and we really need to save money, so this is one area to concentrate on (amongst loads of others).

Yesterday I slow cooked one of those round smoked gammons (ie, not on the bone, I guess it's been processed etc). There's loads left over and I want to freeze it. Is this possible and if so, what's the best way to freeze it (sorry, told you I don't know much!!).

Thank you xx

Soworried

Well done, that is a good start.:j
You can freeze it any way you like. When I cook a full joint I freeze some in slices to serve with an egg on top. Or freeze in chunks for flans, tiny bits for soup or carbonara. I just freeze it in freezer bags.

Jennie_2

Ditto soworried!:)

Take_it_like_a_man,_sonny

You want to freeze gammon. My gawd, Sonny would just get a couple of eggs, in frying pan, chips and a slice of pineapple, a glass of wobbleade and Bobs your uncle.

No, seriously, chop it up and save for flans as well!

sandraroffey

i freeze mine in bog-standard freezer bags BUT in 'one portion' sizes, otherwise you will have to eat it all at once, once its defrosted. eat it as it is, cold, or in omlettes or pasta. or heated through in a pot of gravy or sauce. yum.

itcanbedone_2

Thank you, I usually put it in the fridge, wait a few days, and then throw it away :eek:. Just like everything else. My friend has chickens and often gives me eggs, but because they don't have a red date stamp on them, I get worried after a few days and throw them away too .

Other things include:

'thinking' the four chicken breasts smell a bit odd and throwing them away
buying big bags of salad, using a little bit and then throwing it away when it goes rotten
Leaving sausages in the fridge and then throwing them away with the dish, bowl, or plate
Throwing away frozen veg just to make room in the freezer for something else

etc.

This is not only expensive but really wasteful and I'm not doing it any more (confessional over). :A

hilstep2000

You can freeze most things. There are exceptions. Eggs last for ages if you don't use them. You can use bags of salad to make soup too! Don't ever throw anything away, even two slices of bread can make bread and butter pud for one!
I have just bought another copy of this for my DIL:
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McKneff

Buy 'good' freezer bags, they do protect the food better or in plastic boxes.

babyshoes

Eggs: we also get eggs from a friend - though they stamp the date they were collected on them, which helps - pencil also works, so perhaps when you get them write a date on each so you know how long you've had them. Don't use permanent marker or other ink though, as the shells are permeable and will let some of the chemicals through! They do last ages though - we have used eggs a month or more later. To check if eggs are ok, put them in water. If they sink, they are fine. If they sink, but stand up end-on, they are safe to eat but need to be used quickly and cooked through properly - no runny yolks. If they float, they are off - the rotten egg gases which smell so bad also make it float!

*most* things freeze ok, with a few exceptions, such as lettuce which will turn to slime and very creamy sauces which have a tendency to separate. There is a thread somewhere on here for quick 'can I freeze this?' questions - no doubt someone will come along with the talent to find and link to it before long! You can always ask in there if you are not sure about any particular food.

Cooked meat freezes well, even if it was frozen when raw, as cooking kills the bacteria and kind of 'resets' the counter.

A good general rule when freezing things is to divide it into single servings as others have suggested, otherwise you will have the rest of it in your fridge needing to be eaten up quickly - and probably end up being chucked! Decent quality freezer bags are useful for this, as are old takeaway and icecream tubs.

GreenQueen

For safety, you can freeze things once before cooking and once as part of a cooked dish (e.g. if you buy fresh mince you can freeze it raw, defrost the raw mince and use it in a bolognaise and then freeze the bolognaise). If something is defrosted, don't then refreeze in the same state, especially meat.

And, make sure you label things. It's very easy to think you'll remember what something is, but stewed apple and soup can look remarkably similar in an unlabelled plastic box! It's also good to put the freezing date on the label and any other info (e.g. number of portions)

GQ

ajmoney

GreenQueen wrote: »

And, make sure you label things. It's very easy to think you'll remember what something is, but stewed apple and soup can look remarkably similar in an unlabelled plastic box! It's also good to put the freezing date on the label and any other info (e.g. number of portions)

My mum used to freeze wallpaper paste, it looks the same as stewed apple and she only realised the difference once it was defrosted!

I am reading this with interest as we are far too wasteful, I would keep things longer but DH is used to a background where his mum sent them to school with very stale bread, I am using September as the month to try and change things.