Meal building blocks for the freezer

Magpie.

Fab thread, have loved reading through it and have taken loads of ideas.

Guess what I shall be doing this weekend. Only thing is now I want a second freezer!!

GreenandThrifty

luckily I have 4 freezers!!!:money: Only got 2 plugged in though

mummytoash

theverylast wrote: »

Just a thought that your 'building blocks' comment gave me...

If you freeze the food in rectangular containers, you can pop out the frozen food into freezer bags, wrap them tightly and then label them on the sides - store them like books or videos in the freezer (if it's big enough), and you don't have to spend ages rooting around for them!

(Competition now to find the first person whose freezer is in alphabetical order...)

mine is in alphabetical and size order!!!1

ZoeGirl_3

THANKS SO MUCH for this thread. Am eating my way through freezer contents at the moment, because it needs more organisation.

Too often I cram stuff in so tightly I can't be bothered getting to the back lol and so have to do this every now and then.

This thread has given me some great ideas!!

I have to say I do a ready to rock and roll pizza topping, eg, grated cheese, chopped ham/ bacon, mushrooms, olives, etc never have problems with it.

Also, if I have the end of a block of cheese and a loaf of bread blitz bread in food processor (I grate it lol, no fp for me) and grate the cheese and freeze mixed together, great topping for savoury dishes like lasagne, makes cheese go further and really nice and crunchy.

wigwam

Wow - what a great thread. Will definately be clearing out the freezer over the next week and get more organised.

I thought I was organised - have started to cook extra portions and freeze in bags / foil in a plastic lock and lock container and remove from container when frozen so extra space is not taken up - and I don't need so many !!!!

Never thought of just making bases for meals - or freezing cheese of which I have 4 blocks in fridge. Will definately be making breadcrumb / cheese topping mixture tomorrow.

Thanks all:beer:

fedupandskint

What a great thread, wanted to say thanks to everyone who contributed. I've got loads of tips to try out and keep myself motivated in the 'no more ready meals' frame of mind!

zippychick

I think i need to finish reading it actually, but i made Bolognese yesterday so all ready to rock and can transform that into Chilli. In fact I think i'll read from scratch again so I absorb it all in. :T

Valli

This might have already been posted but I freeze

uncooked dumplings - make a double batch (obviously - I'm on here LOL) and freeze half ready to top stews/casseroles etc (I have a strapping 15 yo DS who is like a bottomlesspit)
'spare' baked spuds, halved, flesh scooped out and mashed with grated cheese
Mashed potatoes swirled out duchesse style
sliced whoopsied lemons - open freeze them polybox when solid (for gin, garnishes etc)
Left over tomato puree frozen in an ice cube tray then polyboxed - ready portioned to add to chilli, curry etc.

WASHER

thriftlady wrote: »

Caramelised onions and grated cheese are both brilliant ideas :T

I freeze the pastry ready to roll. I've heard of some people who roll out a round piece big enough to top a pie, and then store it rolled round a cardboard tube in the freezer -not tried that myself.

Firstly, I didn't know this thread existed until now and after watching that BBC2 programme tonight I am determined to use my freezer more, at the moment I have oven chips (which I fry cause I hate soggy oven chips)and frozen peas in there and thats it.

Can you really freeze cheese? How do you defrost it? How long does it last in the freezer?

I saw on the programme tonight the chef froze fresh chilli, has anyone here done that? again how would one defrost it or would you freeze it chopped and shove it in a receipe?

Sorry for my ignorance but I determined to get my food bill down, I spent £100 per week for 4 and I thought that was alot by the OS standards, I do think the budget on the programme was a little too much.

WASHER

WASHER

Westywoodpecker wrote: »

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:

I didn't know that either, my mother always told me that you couldn't reheat rice otherwise you get food poisoning, I literally throw alot of rice away a week cause I cook too much each time.

I'm off to get a glass of wine and read this thread from the first page:D