Hm wedges/chips - suitable for freezing?

katebl

Hi all, looking for your opinions please? Whenever I buy a sack of potatoes I end up throwing away half, and I regularly buy frozen wedges/ chunky chips at £1.50 or so a bag purely for convenience... I have a tefal actifry that I use for cooking frozen potato stuff in but was thinking to save time and money could I prepare my own wedges/chips and then freeze portions until needed?

Have seen conflicting views when researching this so thought I'd ask if anyone here does it themselves, does it compromise the quality of the food? Thanks in advance

Linda32

Hi, I've never frozen my own wedges, thats not to say you can't though.

What I would do is next time you make a batch for your meal. Make a few extra and freeze these and see how they turn out.

If I was doing it, the first way I would try would be to cook completely. Then open freeze and then bag up. The cook from frozen covered in foil. I say covered as you don't want them to burn. Thats how I would try it first.

See how you get on.

katebl

Thanks Linda... I have no idea how long I'd cook them for from frozen, how long would you allow for them?

meritaten

I would make the wedges - I like to toss them in oil, a teaspoon of herbs and a little garlic powder and onion powder (I bought the jars of garlic and onion powder to make stuff out of the takeaway secret and found that it adds loads of flavour to wedges).
Then part cook them (about 20mins til they are just softening) in a hottish oven.
then open freeze them on a tray and bag them once frozen - they then take about another 25 mins in a hot oven. and you wouldnt know that I hadnt just done them from scratch!

This_Year

meritaten wrote: »

I would make the wedges - I like to toss them in oil, a teaspoon of herbs and a little garlic powder and onion powder (I bought the jars of garlic and onion powder to make stuff out of the takeaway secret and found that it adds loads of flavour to wedges).
Then part cook them (about 20mins til they are just softening) in a hottish oven.
then open freeze them on a tray and bag them once frozen - they then take about another 25 mins in a hot oven. and you wouldnt know that I hadnt just done them from scratch!

I agree - that's exactly what I would have said.

krlyr

I freeze HM wedges or fries, have done for a while (like you, we were wasting too many half-sacks of potatoes before that)
I peel, chop and par-boil the potatoes for around 5 minutes. They're then drained, put in a bowl, drizzled with oil and herbs or spices (I tend to use garlic italian seasoning, or a HM cajun-y type spice mix) and mixed well so the wedges are all coated. Then I spread onto baking trays and open-freeze for a while before bagging up. Cooked for about 45 mins in the oven from frozen, no problem

wearside_2

I can see nothing wrong with freezing your own wedges. One thing we do when having lunch out at a pub is if the portion of chips is large, as they usually are, is take some home in a freezer bag and freeze them. When we want some chips, heat the oven, put a. Drop of oil on a baking tray and when hot add the chips. Turn to ensure they are fully heated!

Linda32

My oven is gas and I would do them on the middle shelf at gas mark 6 and see how they were after 15 minutes. They might need to be moved onto the top shelf.

katebl

Thanks to everyone - glad to see it's not an unusual thing to do! Will definitely give this a go next week and will let you all know how they turn out - The cooking time in the actifry and in the oven is comparable so will try both and see what comes out best! I usually make cajun wedges but will definitely try the garlic and onion too...

meritaten

Katie - if you want to try the garlic and onion wedges - a little of the powders goes a long way! when making full tray of wedges (about 4 large potatoes cut into 8s - I use a couple of tablespoons of oil (sunflower usually) and add just about a quarter teaspoon each of the garlic and onion powder. my OH doesnt like strong taste of garlic but he doesnt notice they are garlicky, yet says he prefers the way I do them now! I used to use salt and pepper - but find there is no need for them with all the herbs and powders!

katebl

Thanks meritaten, will definitely give those a go. I have a thing for adding cracked black pepper to everything I cook - not sure I can taste the difference but it makes me feel like I've made a real effort