A new leaf, feeling incredibly disgusted with myself.

Pollycat

krlyr wrote: »

Also bear in mind (you may know this but I know some people don't) that freezer food keeps nearly indefinitely if packaged well. Don't pay any mind to use-by dates, once it's gone in the freezer, it's on pause. So if you bought fresh bacon with 10 days on it, and froze it, once defrosted you'll have another 10 days to use. However, you could split a big pack down into usable portions and only ever defrost as you need it - saving the worry about forgetting about the other half of the pack in the fridge.

I agree with the above but I do find that pork picks up an unpleasant sweetish tang when it's been in the freezer too long.
I'm not talking about a couple of months, I unearthed some bacon that had been 18 months ago and it didn't taste very nice.

I agree with monnagram - label stuff as you put it in the freezer.
One thing that I find invaluable is a list of what I put in the freezer.
date in, weight, what it is.

I have 2 lists, one with raw items and the other with 'ready meals' e,g, my home-made chilli, bolognaise, shepherd's pie bases, sausage casserole, beef stew etc.

AnnieO1234

Coming back to this thread later, just wanted to say a quick thanks to you all so far. Xxx

pigpen

lol... I thought you'd found a new type of lettuce ..

dandy-candy

Jackieo I've screen shotted your last comment so I can keep referring back to it, you have such great ideas! I'm guessing that if you freeze the meals in plastic containers then you microwave to reheat? I don't have a microwave but I think the poundshop has tin foil containers, I could use those in the freezer and bung them in the oven to reheat instead?

I will keep watching this thread for more ideas!

candygirl

dandy-candy wrote: »

Jackieo I've screen shotted your last comment so I can keep referring back to it, you have such great ideas! I'm guessing that if you freeze the meals in plastic containers then you microwave to reheat? I don't have a microwave but I think the poundshop has tin foil containers, I could use those in the freezer and bung them in the oven to reheat instead?

I will keep watching this thread for more ideas!

Jackie is our old style guru

splishsplash

pigpen wrote: »

lol... I thought you'd found a new type of lettuce ..

There's a thread on the relationship board titled 'buying a property with wider family'.

I thought it was someone looking for a house adapted to the needs of a 'wider' family...

OP: I would take inventory of everything that's in the freezer. It's a nuisance to do it the first time, but if you get in the habit of doing it weekly, it really does keep your mind focused when you go shopping.

I agree with others: plan your meals based on what you have and ONLY on what you have. Ignore bargains and doubling up of anything you already have until everything is used up, or at least until you have a clear vision and time-frame of how everything will be used up.

If your meal plan calls for half a pack of something, make sure there's another dish in the plan to use up the other half.

Your fridge should really only be full on the day of shopping. By the next day, most stuff should be portioned and frozen, or cooked, portioned and frozen. That includes all meats, fish (I fillet and de-bone before freezing so it's a pleasure to use when I want it) most veg, butter, and cheese. Things you can't freeze are few and far between - salady things maybe? Pretty much everything else can be kept indefinitely.

FWIW, I keep a spreadsheet with headings for fridge, freezer, pantry (tinned and dried goods); baking goods, herbs and spices, oils and sauces, condiments and beverages, misc (spuds and onions usually). I have two columns under each heading - one for item and one for quantity. I have conditional formatting on the qty column so that if anything runs too low for my liking, the number turns red. It means I can sort my shopping list in two seconds.

Also, as others have said, there's no point beating yourself up over what's happened as long as you learn how to avoid it happening again.

[Deleted User]

dandy-candy yes I use the microwave to reheat the defrosted meals and its fine.

candygirl : Thanks honey I'm no guru, I'm not even sure what that is just a normal frugal old lady who grew up watching the pennies as there always seemed to be too much month left until the end of the month ,or in my case back in the early 1960s when I got married it was weekly wages, and by Thursday we were on fresh air pie at times :):).I would make a 17/6d (80p) leg of lamb last for at least four days.and my housekeeping was for four of us £8.00 per week,that was myself my 6ft + OH and two small children.My meals were streetch to almost bursting point at times ,but we survived and lived through it Made you very mindful of the cost of food, when the prices started to shoot up :), after decimilisation prices seemed to double almost overnight:(.
I'm still alive and kicking though and although a darned sight better off today than I was then I am still a canny shopper and hate waste of any sort
JackieO xx

Lynplatinum

Annie

I am in the process of moving house and had to eat up my stuff so I had less to move. WOW did I find some food left in a quite small kitchen - let alone in the freezer.:eek:

So I would suggest that you get yourself an hour or so to list what you have already got and then make meal plans from that - and shopping lists from that!

Am now in the process of deciding what I actually NEED to have in so that should I be unable to get out or suddenly run short of funds I could survive for a week or so - its a strange reversal of the process!! :rotfl:

I was able to feed myself, apart from fresh stuff, for almost 3 months from stocks

Don't beat yourself up for over buying food or anything else - remember these commercial firms hire psychiatrists and psychologists to aid marketing firms in parting you from your cash!! Even I - an extreme cynic who has professionally studied these techniques gets suckered in by them occasionally! Forgive yourself and resolve to get back control using the excellent methods suggested by the folks above!
Nite all
Fruagling forward!

cheel

What a brilliant thread!


Its given me a kick up the posterior

Thanks, off to cook and freeze the mince we would have had for tea tonight. I've a vomiting son again (seriously its so often now I'm beginning to wonder if hes allergic to something) so we wont be having it the way id planned .

Thankyou JackieO in particular.

Cheel xx

AnnieO1234

Thanks all, I promise I am coming back to this, but I'm busy with the inventory! Xxx