Meal building blocks for the freezer

Westywoodpecker

What a fabulous thread, thank you :j

Well I never knew that you could freeze cooked rice That's the dog missing out then :rotfl:

thriftlady_2

Breadcrumb cookie recipe here. This recipe is from The Tightwad Gazette. I find the cookies fall apart easily -this may be because I use butter where the recipe calls for shortening (Trex or similar). I store them in the freezer as it keeps them 'together'.

purpleivy

I've just thought of another 'Building block'. It's home made shortcrust pastry. I buy a pack of Trex, get the food processor out and follow the directions on the trex pack. Make 4 lumps one after another, so there's only one lot of washing up to do. Use 1 lump and stash the rest in the freezer. it's so quick to do them. If it's something with pastry I hate to start off by making pastry. Makes it such a long job.

Justamum

purpleivy wrote: »

If it's something with pastry I hate to start off by making pastry. Makes it such a long job.

I know what you mean, even though it doesn't really take all that long to make pastry. I've been thinking of making a pie for a few weeks now, but can't be bothered (lazy mare :rotfl:) so I might have a go at doing this and treat the family!

moanymoany

When I make bread I make extra for pizza bases, roll it out to fit my tray - on baking parchment - roll it up and freeze it.

It thaws out well.

Justamum

moanymoany wrote: »

When I make bread I make extra for pizza bases, roll it out to fit my tray - on baking parchment - roll it up and freeze it.

It thaws out well.

That's a really good idea. I've made it before and frozen it in lumps, but doing it ready-rolled is a much better idea.

purpleivy

I freeze my pizza bases 'half baked'. that way they are easy to handle.

ragstoricheswannabe

Just wanted to say what a great thread!!!! going back to work soon and was looking for ideas to leave with oh for him and ds1 whilst im at work!!! just got a massive bag of tatties so will be par boiling and freezing them., Anyone know if it works if you chip them and par boil for feezing?? With the veg, do you have to par boil that too or freeze them raw?? think i may see the local fruit and veg stall in a whole new light as there stuff always goes off fast....

igaveupnowimback

just got a massive bag of tatties so will be par boiling and freezing them., Anyone know if it works if you chip them and par boil for feezing??

Years since I did this, but I just used to chip them and lay single layer on a tray that would fit the freezer - at that time I had a fast freeze bit - freeze for couple of hours then pack in bag etc. They stayed separate and didn't clump. Hope I'm remembering right, but I'm sure that's all I did.

Olliebeak

I used to blanch everything before freezing, but have been getting VERY daring recently and freezing without. I think it matters more if you're growing lots of produce and are looking to freeze stuff for a matter of months, rather than weeks . I do open-freeze veggies though before bagging them, just so that they don't go into one huge lump.

However, when it comes to onions, I just peel, chop, bag and freeze - inside 2 bags - cos of the smell! Just take out one or two handfuls when needed - they soon defrost. I buy the large bags of SmartPrice onions - they are a bit on the small side but I don't mind that at all. I've lost track of the number of BIG onions that I've bought and then found that the middle of them has gone all manky and can't be used :mad:.

I also peel, divide and freeze garlic bulbs/cloves - got really fed up of bulbs drying out before I could use them all up. I freeze the individual cloves whole and just let them defrost before slicing, chopping, crushing or just leaving whole - depending on the recipe.