What foods do you freeze?

melanzana

Oh, and another thing....sorry, but I just cannot abide leftovers that have been frozen. Never know what to do with them!

So if there is food leftover from Sunday lunch for example, I will blitz everything together, meat, stuffing, gravy, veg, spuds (those spuds again lol), and make them into patties and freeze them. They are just fab when either reheated in the oven, or lightly fried on the pan. Just lightly dust with flour first, or if feeling extravant, dip in egg, then flour and breadcrumbs. Yum yum.

Smodlet

melanzana wrote: »

@Smodlet.

For me, mash freezes brilliantly. Trick I think is not to use any milk when mashing. I just use a bit of real butter and mash away then freeze it in scoops. So easy and so convenient.

Par roasted potatoes are good too. You can see a spud thing going on here!

Soups aswell, I use a ziploc bags for this.

Butter (make small portions from the block), cheese (It gets crumbly when defrosted), but great for toppings and toasties. And milk too.

Sandwiches....yes. When I was working I made them up on a Sunday evening for the week. Godsend.

I'm sure I will think of more, but I ain't opening the freezer tonight to check!

My freezer education has resulted in a HUGE reduction in waste which is a good thing.

Ah. I have never actually tried freezing mash, don't see the point, tbh, but was told by another batch cooker, "it don't work". Maybe the secret is real butter, not "spread"; I would never put milk in mash, personally, not to our taste. We live, we learn, especially on here.

Chacun a son goût.

melanzana

Smodlet wrote: »

Ah. I have never actually tried freezing mash, don't see the point, tbh, but was told by another batch cooker, "it don't work". Maybe the secret is real butter, not "spread"; I would never put milk in mash, personally, not to our taste. We live, we learn, especially on here.

Chacun a son goût.

Indeed, each to their own.

But as someone with Irish roots spuds are essential!

I just HATE peeling the beggars so I do it all at once and get it over with for a while!

Half for mash, half for roast. Then it's done for a while!

Smodlet

Guess we really are all different. Peeling veg is my "zen". It's the only bit of housework I actually enjoy.

Gem-gem

Linda32 wrote: »

Now I find that courgettes actually freeze fine. Granted there is rather a lot of water comes out when you cut them but they do have enough 'bite' left to use in mince type recipes.

I also use them on naan bread pizza, cut into chunks and they are fine.

Besides courgettes I freeze bread rolls, sliced bread, croissants, shop bought pancakes, the half of a tin of whatever, if I haven't used the whole tin. Not fish or cooked meat though.
Bacon, multi packs of pork steaks, cooked chicken, stew, bolognese, sausage, pastry. Everything apart from what Suki said

Regarding food safety, obviously bread based products will be fine. Freezing just stops them going stale before you can use them.

Everything else, you defrost in the fridge starting the night before you want it. Then either cook as you normally would, say in my case the pork steaks. Or if it is something that is ready made like the Bolognese, I re-heat at gas mark 6 for 30 minutes by which time its bubbling hot.

I've never frozen rice because there is a risk and because it is so cheap and quick to make a batch up anyway.

Another point on food safety, say chicken, cook once, freeze once, re-heat once. Stick to this and you will be fine, and don't forget it whilst its cooling down and leave it out all night. :rotfl:

You are quite right - cook once, freeze once reheat once. Man, many moons ago, in a previous life I trained as a chef and spent two years studying food hygiene. (I have a different profession now). We were also told that within 2 hours of cooking all uneaten food should either be in a fridge or freezer ( cook- chill).

I also add extra veg and stock to my stews. I then portion it up and then use the remaining veg and gravy to make scrummy soups. I feel like they are free lunches. Great to freeze.
We also freeze bread. Take out individual slices.
When the supermarkets have offers on tomatoes and peepers we buy them in bulk and freeze them. The tomatoes I then make fresh tomato soup or fresh tomato pasta sauces with. The red peepers I slice up and then use them when the price has gone back up. It is also a great midweek time saver.
When I make crumbles, if I have some crumble topping over I freeze it and it use it another time. It defrosts really well. Or I make an additional crumble and freeze that too.
When fruit is reduced or YS, I also buy lots of it an stew it down. ( I also grow soft fruits in the garden because they are so costly to buy and freeze it down).
I also make and freeze pies (meat and fruit); left over curry and chilli con carne.
Most herbs from the garden I freeze down.
I make and freeze cakes (if it was a dodgy sponge, I freeze and save it for my trifles).

[Deleted User]

I too use only butter when mashing and then freeze scoops of it Usually I make extra mash and the left over stuff gets scooped and frozen.I have as yet never had a problem with frozen mash I also do the same with excess swede and carrot mashed together In sainsbury's you often get offered for free the pats of flavoured butter garlic,lemon chilli etc I bring them home and freeze in a bag and when I have enough I use them for flavoured mashed potato every little helps I even freeze the left over bits of pastry from pie making until I have enough for another pie

Nowt gets wasted in my house If I buy a big block of cheese I will always cut it into four smaller blocks and freeze them that way I only get out enough for myself to be in the fridge at one time More economical to get a big block especially if its on special offer.
Not so much what do I freeze but what don't I freeze, probably lettuce, and strawberries unless I have a lot of excess strawberries then I will chop and mix them into plain vanilla ice cream and bung back into the freezer. Your freezer is your long term friend for saving you a fortune and means you don't waste anything at all

paddy's_mum

If I make a casserole, I'll frequently double up the amounts and freeze the second half into one portion takeaway containers which is a huge timesaver when life is really hectic.

A bag of YS potatoes gets mashed, portioned out with an ice cream scoop and frozen. Chuck a few straight from the freezer into the oven alongside normal roasties - lovely and even better if you remember to rough them up with a fork a few minutes before serving so that you get those little semi charred tips.

Anything tired in the veg drawer gets slung into a pan to make soup which I freeze in recycled one pint milk 'bottles'. A chicken carcasse gets boiled up and the stock frozen away in a 2 pinter as a base for soup, risotto, casserole.

My biggest timesaver is what gets labelled 'bol base'. Basically, prepared mince to which I add the appropriate seasonings and accompaniments on the day I use it so spagbol, chilli con carne, mice with mash etc.

I've even been known to freeze over-ripe bananas ready for a cake on my next baking day. They come out of the freezer looking brown and wet but I think that just helps the colour of the final bake.

I'm absolutely certain that the savings I make on avoiding waste and being able to deal with almost any item the Salmonella Shelf happens to have that day outweigh the cost of the electricity to run the freezer itself. I wouldn't be without mine.

Pollycat

Smodlet wrote: »

Don't freeze shepherds/cottage pie, though as mashed potato does not freeze well. Make the mash fresh every time for the best results. HTH.

melanzana wrote: »

@Smodlet.

For me, mash freezes brilliantly. Trick I think is not to use any milk when mashing. I just use a bit of real butter and mash away then freeze it in scoops. So easy and so convenient.

Smodlet wrote: »

Ah. I have never actually tried freezing mash, don't see the point, tbh, but was told by another batch cooker, "it don't work". Maybe the secret is real butter, not "spread"; I would never put milk in mash, personally, not to our taste. We live, we learn, especially on here.

I agree with melanzana.
Mash in the freezer is a must for us, I get it out if we decide to have bangers and mash or somethging similar at short notice.

I don't put milk in, just a bit of Olivio.
I'll add extra when it's defrosted depending what I'm going to use it for.
For Shepherd's pie, I tend to make it stiffer to stop the filling bubbling up over the mash.
I freeze the bases separately as it's easier to defrost them and the mash separately then bring together to go in the oven.

As for what I freeze, it's pretty much anything I have left or buy YS.
Cheese, butter, leftover herbs, limes/lemons for G&T, uncooked pastry.

I buy 2 packs of the 'TTD' or 'Best' sausage - typically 90% meat content and in packs of 6 - and open freeze them and rebag them.
We find that 2 sausages each are plenty so we get 3 meals out of 2 packs instead of 2.

I do big batches of chilli, bol, sausage & bean casserole, shepherd's pie (with all varieties of mince) etc and freeze in portions.

If I'm doing a stew in the slow cooker, I'll always do enough for 4 & freeze 2.

loocyloo

paddy's_mum wrote: »

I've even been known to freeze over-ripe bananas ready for a cake on my next baking day. They come out of the freezer looking brown and wet but I think that just helps the colour of the final bake.

QUOTE]


I too freeze my bananas, ( and any other fruit), usually cut into slices/small chunks, and then DH uses them to make smoothies with, along with a bit of milk.


I freeze pretty much everything!

lushlifesaver

melanzana wrote: »

So if there is food leftover from Sunday lunch for example, I will blitz everything together, meat, stuffing, gravy, veg, spuds (those spuds again lol), and make them into patties and freeze them. They are just fab when either reheated in the oven, or lightly fried on the pan. Just lightly dust with flour first, or if feeling extravant, dip in egg, then flour and breadcrumbs. Yum yum.

ooft that sounds lovely I will have to make a note and try that - especially around the festive period


I freeze just about anything! mostly because being a three person household (me, oh and littlie) there is usually enough left of most thing to make an extra portion either for me or for littlie. These then get used when OH is away or if me and him are having something littlie won't eat or if we are eating later than her always have cottage pie in the freezer and savoury mince (though not with a side). pasta bake, spag bol, lasagne. anything except water-y veg like cucumber, lettuce, stir fry mixes etc really.


we downsized our freezer a year ago though (from a big upright American style to a 'normal' fridge freezer and still struggle to adjust to how little it holds in comparison! I also like to keep drop scones/pancakes, scones etc in there for little one