Which food, kept in your fridge, really saves time or wastage?

julie56

Hello, I'm newly retired and delighted to have time to cook from scratch as I did years ago. However, I wonder whether there are things I could do/safely store, perhaps on a weekly basis, to cut down on prep and aid convenience. What do you tend to do and how do you store such stuff - how long for? Any tips would be a great help to me! Thank you.

Ilona

Hello. I have been retired for six years, welcome to the club. I shop in lots of different places, a lot of my food is bought with yellow stickers on it at much reduced prices. When I go shopping I go with an open mind, no shopping list, I buy what's cheap but no meat, no fish, and no processed junk. I ignore sell by dates and use my own comment sense judgement as to what is edible or not. I buy out of date food from a cash and carry.

Every day I check my fridge, check the condition of the food, I eat it in order of going off, I never throw food away, I eat everything I buy.

I don't do much food preparation, preferring to cook from scratch. The only thing I prepare in advance is soups, stews and curries. I make a big pan full, portion it out into margarine tubs and freeze it. They are my ready meals.

I steam all my veg in the same pan, I have one of those holey umbrella type things. Takes a few minutes to prepare, and five minutes to cook. I don't use my oven at all, takes too much gas for one person, everything is cooked on the hob, or grilled, or microwaved.

Depends what you eat, if it's meat and two veg, you could make a weeks meals in one day and freeze them.

I don't like spending a lot of time in the kitchen so I make the simplest of meals. Don't menu plan. Don't make pies and pasties, nothing with pastry, don't make gravy, and very few sauces. Don't bake. I don't follow recipes, just open the fridge door and make a meal out of whatever is there, and use the food that is going to go off first, whether or not I fancy it. After all, it is food that I have paid good money for, I will not throw it out.

Enjoy your retirement, it's good fun.
Ilona

NewShadow

If I understand what you're asking...eggs, cooked chicken, potatoes and tomatoes form the basis of most of my meals.

I dont prep the same things each week, but at the start of the week i might cook a chicken - which then forms the basis of three or four quick meals (curries, stir fry, cold chicken salad).

Same with potatoes. If you cook two or three lots at the same time, you can make quick mash, twice baked, pan fried.

It really depends on what you like to cook - there are plenty of tips out there for making various christmas dinner items the day or week before, and lots of ways to make a Bolognese into a lasagne or chilli - stretching the meal without eating the same thing day in day out.

HappyMJ

julie56 wrote: »

Hello, I'm newly retired and delighted to have time to cook from scratch as I did years ago. However, I wonder whether there are things I could do/safely store, perhaps on a weekly basis, to cut down on prep and aid convenience. What do you tend to do and how do you store such stuff - how long for? Any tips would be a great help to me! Thank you.

If I buy a chicken or anything that's been minced or ground such as sausages or mince then I either freeze it or cook it within 48 hours of purchase. It's too dangerous to keep that sort of stuff too long. You could stretch that time out if you can trust your fridge to keep it very cold. Once cooked you can keep it for another 48 hours in the fridge or freeze whatever you don't think you'll use in the next few days straight away.

Once frozen you can usually keep it for around 6 months before the quality reduction really becomes noticeable. It's still edible and safe to eat but may become dry or tough.

I tend to purchase fresh vegetables but then prepare them for the freezer so they last a lot longer. I'll use some fresh and store the rest.

happilymarried2013

If you're looking for things to cut down prep time I would use your freezer rather than your fridge. Chopped ginger, chilli and garlic lives quite happily in there. You can make spice pastes and freeze them. Chopped onions, sliced mushrooms and peppers. Pre chopped celery, carrot and onion in bags. Frozen stuff is easier to portion control and prevents wastage.

Personally, I only tend to use my fridge to hold my milk, yoghurt and custard slices.

pigpen

peeled potatoes in water .. I have OH peel some for Monday and Tuesday so I dont hahve to do them.

Meat keeps a while and you can always cook it after 2-3 days and keep in the fridge longer.

Grated cheese.. in an air tight tub.. even if it goes bit hard it is fine for toasties or lasagne topping..

I often so casserole and save any left for OH.

Boiled eggs... I hard boil 6+ in one go and use them through the week oe at a time for egg mayo sandwiches for the smalls... if you keep the shell on they last ages.

Islandmaid

I,m not retired (I wish), but am now part time

Similar to Pigpen, I grate a big block of cheese, put it into sealable bags and freeze some, and keep a lock and lock box of it in the fridge.

I do the same with Parmesan.

I chop and freeze leeks, chop onions and keep them well sealed in the fridge.

I also make up flavoured butter ie if I want to make garlic bread, I,ll make up some out of a whole pack of butter, then mold into a sausage shape and store in fridge, cutting off a bit as I need it.

Blackbeard_of_Perranporth

What is this thing called a fridge. In the house of BoP, cheese is stored in the cheese dish. It does not last long enough to grow anything. Butter is stored in the butter dish. Curry and stews mature on the stove and are reheated before use. Been the same for fifty plus years and I am still here.

purpleivy

I have core ingredients that I always have in. I have pods of hm tomato sauce in the freezer that go on pasta, meatballs or for pizza topping. I have a row of takeaway trays in the little upstairs freezer with chilli, coriander, dill, parsley, ginger, garlic, thyme, rosemary and can't remember what else all ready prepared. I buy a pack, use what I need, then freeze the rest. Or use up what is in the box if there is some. I keep some chopped celery in the freezer to add to dishes that need it, purchase leeks when they are on super 6 at Aldi so that I can make soup quickly and cheaply.

You find your own ways based on the things you use regularly. I really try hard to purchase a back up of something once the last pack is in use. I hate to shop for one or two necessary items. To that end I keep UHT and powdered milk in the house for emergency use or so I don't need to go out if I'm busy or the weather is bad.