Great 'food items that freeze (and those that don't)' Hunt

Former_MSE_Debs

Great 'food items that freeze (and those that don't)' Hunt

When researching the Cathedral City cheese glitch last year, we were surprised to discover cheese can be frozen. In light of this revelation, we want to tap MoneySavers' collective knowledge on other food items that freeze well, and those which definitely don't.

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Jamsi

I have always frozen cheese and butter.
I don't think Mashed potato freezes very well, goes very mushy and watery when thawed.... Unless I am doing it wrong

lisakay_2

boiled rice, yogurts and cream all freeze well, pasta really doesn't.

Afmh

I use the ice cube bags and freeze left over home made stock into cubes. Then when I just need a little bit I can just pop a few cubes in. Very handy!!

building_with_lego

Bread! I freeze almost out-of-date-bread (have an OCD OH who thinks it all turns to poison on The Best Before Date) in two-slice portions. When I need to make sarnies I put the fillings direct onto the frozen bread and they're defrosted by the time I put them into the lunchbags. If it's for toast they go under the grill frozen and come out as toast! Brill.

melanzana

Jamsi wrote: »

I have always frozen cheese and butter.
I don't think Mashed potato freezes very well, goes very mushy and watery when thawed.... Unless I am doing it wrong

Hi Jamsi,

If you search, there are lots of threads on freezing things. You will get lots of ideas!

As for mash, I find it freezes great. But I just mash with a bit of butter and a splash of milk, then into ziplock bags and squeeze the air out. I find microwaving after defrosting is best. Then you can add more butter etc. yum!

I think the trick is not to have the mash too "creamy" before freezing. Well that's my experience.

melanzana

Sliced or chopped raw onions...get the tears out of the way all at once!

They can be a bit soggy when defrosted, but great for soups, chilli, lasagne etc.

No more tears, exept on the day you chop!

Softstuff

Everything apart from lettuce and cucumber, as long as it's not very oily (liquid oil) or very alcoholic. The consistency changes somewhat, so the use might have to be different (it'll be better cooked), but it all freezes.

When something gets frozen it tends to expand and break the cell walls, this means a few items when defrosted are mushier. So veg is best frozen when lightly blanched then used in cooking later or frozen after it's been cooked in something, , fruit like bananas can be smoothied from frozen or used defrosted in baking.

Cheese, bread, muffins, milk, entire meals all stay as they are and are fine.

And I disagree about the pasta, we freeze it regularly - homemade lasagne, pasta bakes, fresh pasta ready to cook, ravioli.

The golden rule with freezing is you can freeze an item once in each state, that means with meat, you can freeze it once raw and once cooked, don't refreeze.

lisakay_2

oh yes, forgot about lasagna and bakes, should have been clearer. I find that dried pasta that has been boiled doesn't freeze very well, it tends to break into pieces and have a not very nice texture.
we always freeze bacon, but my mum and brother refuse to eat it if it has been previously frozen, say it tastes funny.

cazpost

Many years ago I shared a house with someone who worked in a large Supermarket.Not only did they get Staff Discount,but they also had first dibs on all reduced items.Hence our grocery bill was quite small and we had a freezer full of all kinds of items. He literally used to freeze everything, bread, cakes, cheese, ham, bacon etc. all seemed to be fine as well as the obvious things like meat and fish. Milk ,cream ,fresh custard all freeze well. Egg whites or egg yolks freeze ok if you have left over ones from baking. Odds and ends of vegetables can be frozen and thrown into soups and stews.Homemade soups or stews portioned up and frozen are brilliant,as are individual portions of stews,casseroles,shepherds pies,left over mash and so on. Bakery products such as crumpets and muffins work well too.
My grandparents grew a lot of veg and fruit and my Nan used to spend hours blanching and freezing things like beans,peas,strawberries .It was a lot of work,but saved them a fortune!

mancmum

Just put in transparent aplastic bag. Normal digging and churn in the chest freezer breaks it up. Then use to sprinkle on curries etc.