Meal building blocks for the freezer

thriftlady_2

Ooh thanks guys Can you win more than once?

ZaZa_3

Not alphabetical, but I do have seperate shelves for puddings, veg, meat/fish and bread (including a bag collecting all the crusts from loaves that no-one wants to eat) which I then make into bread pudding.

BTW if you don't have a full freezer box-ful of something, put it in a bag in a small box and when frozen take the bag out of the box. It'll store flat and take up less space.

ZaZa_3

If you've got loads of parsley and garlic left over why not make some garlic butter. Soften a pack of butter, finely chop garlic and parsley, stir together then plop onto cling film or silver foil and roll into a sausage shape. Put it in the freezer (for a couple of hours or overnight), when it's firm cut into slices and pop in a bag and freeze so that you can use individual portions. Great for homemade chicken kiev, on top of steak or making garlic bread. Or use it to saute mushrooms - yum!

mrs_frugal_3

My sister makes Welsh cakes and freezes them on trays - when visitors come or neighbours pop in for a cuppa, she cooks them straight from frozen on the griddle (heavy frying-pan will substitute). They cook in 4-5 minutes, so are ready by the time the tea's made!
Welsh cakes are the SINGLE MOST BRILLIANT sweet thing EVER (well, my sister thinks so...), because they are more than a biscuit and not quite a cake; and eaten hot one is never enough....

Have to go, just need to pop round m'sister's......

Churchmouse

mrs_frugal wrote: »

My sister makes Welsh cakes and freezes them on trays - when visitors come or neighbours pop in for a cuppa, she cooks them straight from frozen on the griddle (heavy frying-pan will substitute). They cook in 4-5 minutes, so are ready by the time the tea's made!
Welsh cakes are the SINGLE MOST BRILLIANT sweet thing EVER (well, my sister thinks so...), because they are more than a biscuit and not quite a cake; and eaten hot one is never enough....

Have to go, just need to pop round m'sister's......

Brilliant! You are saying she mixes, rolls out, cuts and then freezes the cakes raw aren't you? Wouldn't want to risk messing them up, I loooooove Welsh cakes (think of you every time I make them Kazonline if you're reading:D ) The timing for cooking is the same as I use to cook them not frozen iyswim, so that's what is confusing me slightly. (and after that tortuous sentence I expect you're confused too:rotfl: )

HariboJunkie

Well done Thriftlady....What a great thread!!:T

I have 2 larder freezers neither of which fits things like lasagne in so I freeze the bolognaise mix and it's much easier to prep the lasagne then. I also freeze cooked mince and onion as a base for chilli and cottage pie.I prep all sorts for the freezer when I get them cheap and regulars are grated cheese, breadcrumbs, crumble mix, chopped mushrooms, peppers and onions. Yesterday I got five tubs of cream reduced to 10p each and made 2 tubs of pepper sauce and 2 of rich cheese sauce and refroze them in the cream containers.....Last night I got 2 bags of button sprouts for 10p and have just prepped them and put them in the freezer ready for Christmas day. Herbs are often reduced (and I grow my own) so I just freeze them in little bags until I need them. The crumble mix has been a great standby for quick sunday lunch puds.

I followed Pink-winged's example too of freezeing single portions of soup so we don't all have to have the same soup on soup night.

I might try your idea of freezing the pulses though as I'm always forgetting to soak them. :rolleyes:

Thanks again

Ladygrim

Thanks for some great ideas - am getting shopping list ready for the weekend so I can do batch cooking.

love the idea of garlic butter.....mmmmmmmmm garlic

LG

chardonnay_2

haribo could you tell me how to make the pepper sauce and cheese sauce? we usually buy the pepper sauce mixes that you add butter and milk to for steak etc and your way sounds cheaper.

HariboJunkie

chardonnay wrote: »

haribo could you tell me how to make the pepper sauce and cheese sauce? we usually buy the pepper sauce mixes that you add butter and milk to for steak etc and your way sounds cheaper.

Oh flip Be warned that I don't do the whole measuring thing.

Pepper sauce.....Reduce a decent splash of brandy in a pan....add a cup full (ish) of beef stock (half a stock cube), or any meat juices if your cooking that at the time... add cream or half cream and creme fraiche and simmer. Add freshly ground black pepper to your taste.

Cheese sauce.....melt butter in non stick pot and remove from heat.....add flour or cornflour and whisk like a woman possessed until you have a roux (thick gloopy mixture). Stir in a little bit of milk and return to heat. When this becomes thick add some more milk, repeating until you have the amount and consistency you like. Add tonnes of grated cheese and turn heat right down until melted. I add a teaspoon of mustard to bring out the flavour of the cheese.

Good luck. Like I say my cooking doesn't exactly go by the book.

thriftmonster

sooz wrote: »

How do you turn frozen par boiled potatoes into roast ones? Do you need to defrost them first?

No - they're frozen peeled, par boiled and cut into the right sized chunks, so you just stick them straight into the hot fat and give them an extra 10 mins cooking time