Blackcurrants and dead freezer

Eliza_2

Got up this morning to find my fridge freezer has died. I thought it wasn't as cold as normal yesterday but didn't think any more about it. Above the pizzas, meat, fish, icecream I value the several tubs full of blackcurrants, picked laboriously but full of food value which I'm loath to waste. I can only think of jam to make with them, hopefully I can use my pressure cooker as I don't have a jam pan or a big saucepan so will get some sugar today and get jamming after work. If anyone has a simple recipe that would be great, otherwise there are plenty on the net.

Anyone have any other ideas of things I can do with them? And anyone know the best place to get a new fridge freezer? It's lasted 12 years which I suppose is quite a long time but I always expect things to last for ever!

Thanks, Liz

Eyeore

Hi Eliza, what an absolute pain! Easy jam recipe from 'Pam the Jam's ' book is:
1k blackcurrants
1.5k golden granulated sugar

Put currants in pan with600ml water , put on low heat slowly bring to simmering. Simmer for 15-20 mins or until fruit is soft but not pulp. Add sugar and stir til dissolved then bring to rolling boil. Boil for 5 mins then remove from heat and continue to stir for a couple of mins to reduce the temp. Let the jam cool a little so the currants are not bobbing on the surface and then put in to sterilised warm jars and seal.

Re the freezer, it would be worth looking on freecyle and similar sites, local paper ads sometimes have them too. If you have to buy use one of the cost comparisons sites to get the best deal!

Eliza_2

Thank you. Bubbling away as I type, smells gorgeous and much better than the pizza I had for breakfast! I had to throw away the fishcakes which had been defrosted for too long, but the pizza is ok as no meat on it. So pizza for breakfast and cooked cold pizza for packed lunch at work. Oh well!

It's heartbreaking to throw food out, I've so conditioned myself to never do it, and other than a few bits of frozen celery, which I can just about bear to chuck as I've a garden full of the stuff, I may be able to save everything else.

Freecycle etc in this area isn't very good for items like this, just for left over tiles or bubble wrap etc. Argos has a reasonable basic fridge freezer so I will start saving the pennies now. There is one in the local paper coincidentally but it's nearly as much as the Argos one. Till I have enough in the penny jar I'm back to genuine old style ways of keeping food fresh.

Thanks for the recipe.

Anne_Marie_2

Try to get a frost free fridge freezer when you save up enough, unless you can of course get a freebie one from somewhere.

torbrex

Add a couple of dessert spoons of lemon juice at the same time as you add the sugar.


If you want to make your berries go further you can make jelly as well as jam.

Just drain off the liquid after boiling the berries up and set aside, add about the same amount of water back with the berries (slightly less is better) and repeat the first stage then continue and add the sugar.

For the jelly.
Measure the juice in ml. and add the same amount of sugar in gr. then bring to the boil slowly and rolling boil for about 10 minutes, test for set on a cold plate using the finger wrinkle test, then allow to cool

dorothyjeffery

appliances online is good for a new fridge freezer. and same day or next day delivery. my son ordered an oven at 3pm in the afternoon and the oven was there at 7.30 the next morning.

iris

Can you claim on your house insurance?

Farway

Try John Lewis, not the first thought that comes to mind, but often the better option. I have just bought new JL washing machine from them, good service etc

Farway

iris wrote: »

Can you claim on your house insurance?

There is usually an excess applied, which may cancel out any claim

Eliza_2

Farway wrote: »

There is usually an excess applied, which may cancel out any claim

....also I don't have contents insurance, which also cancels out a claim!!!

The freezer is 13 years old so it wouldn't be worth claiming anyway.

Have made a load of blackcurrant jam from the above recipe, also found some stewed apples and some gooseberries so have also made some blackapplegoose jam, ran out of sugar so it will probably be more like a pourable sauce but what the hell. Better than wasting it. Big pot of veg soup also simmering away now, smells a bit cabbagey but if I put enough curry powder in I won't notice and am not likely to drop dead of a bit of gone-slightly-off cabbage.

The soup I'll divide into portions and put into works fridge, sadly no freezer but it will do a few days I reckon. So that just leaves a bit of thawed tuna and I think the cat and dog will get that - I never fancied it much when I bought it so no great loss.

Thanks for the ideas folks, lots of great help as usual to be found here.