Containers for batch cooking and freezing

Tigsteroonie

Chinese take-away tubs They hold enough chilli / curry for two people. Ours get used and re-used and re-used and re-used ... until they break.

Primrose

I can't help thinking that if one lived on a desert island al this plastic would be used, and washed and reused and washed until it disintegrated as a precious resource. Just sad that some people use these containers once and then throw them away

tiredwithtwins

I use whatevers to hand .. in my quest to use less plastic, I reuse any plastic container I can - so large yoghurt pots are used, margarine tubs, fruit/veg trays, anything ... if I need the container to freeze something else, I will take the frozen food out of the container and wrap it in greaseproof paper or put it in a larger container with other similar frozen meals ...

euronorris

A mixture, depending on what I've made. For portions of things like stew and spag bol, I use the reusable takeaway style tubs (and any other Tupperware I have in the cupboard). For daughters meal portions, I have a selection of small plastic tubs. I also use those for sauces/marinades, as they are good individual portion sizes. For things that go in the oven for reheating, like cottage pie, chicken pie etc, I use the foil trays as they are individually sized and can go straight in the oven so either one of us can have an easy and readily available meal to ourselves if the other is out (spag bol/strews etc I tend to freeze in batches of 2 portions) - or even if we just fancy something different from the other.


I bought the foil trays, and lids, in bulk from eBay months ago and am still working through them.

Gem-gem

I use a mixture:
Pies are frozen in the glass Pyrex dishes or baking cake tins both wrapped in foil.
I have different types of lock-stock containers which I I use time and time again - stews, bolognaise, pasta sauce, pizza sauces, soups and stewed fruit.
Other reusable plastic containers - whole fruit eg blueberries, blackberries etc
Zip lock bags (which came from MIL house - from emptying her house when she went in a home 3 years ago) - soups, sauces and whole tomatoes.
Lasagna, shepherds pies in the glass Pyrex dishes.
I like the idea of using old milk containers. I'm always happy when I manage to use single use plastic containers several times.
I am always looking in charity shops for more Pyrex pie dishes.
I will look out for the glass dishes with lids that you can freeze.

purpleybat

I have a variety of containers and bags I use.
I think the only ones I have actually bought were ice cube trays.I use them for odds of coconut milk, cream, lemon juice etc which get frozen solid then put into plastic bags to save space.
the bags are generally old bread bags that have been rinsed out and pegged on the line to dry.
tub-wise I tend to use old marg tubs, reusing until they break, these get used for general dinner leftovers.
leftover shep pie, lasagne etc get put into le creuset dishes (free with blocks of butter years ago)topped with silver foil ready to defrost and go straight in the oven.
soups get put in old milk bottles, easy to defrost and take to work.
soft fruits get frozen on trays and then popped into aforementioned bags.

i refuse to buy tubs for the freezer when stuff i buy already comes in handy containers

C_J

Primrose's idea of using 1 pint screw topped milk cartons to freeze soup in is just inspired - why on earth did I never think of doing that? Probably because I only ever buy 4 pint milk cartons ..... but we have a dozen or so 1 pint cartons delivered to our fridges at work every day (we are lucky and get free hot beverages). I have been carefully washing these out and ensuring they get into the recycling bin, but now I shall be bringing a few of them home to use instead. Brilliant. I make a large batch of soup every Sunday for my work lunches over the week, and freeze Wednesday-Friday's portions to ensure they stay fresh. I have been using ziplock bags for this, but no more!


I heart this site.

Emmel

I also use the take away style tubs from Amazon. I bought 50 500ml ones and 50 1000ml ones. I pop all butcher meat in them, Infact if I can i put everything in them, frozen veg etc, it helps keep my freezer tidy and we can see exactly how much we have. the 500ml tubs are perfect some freezing 2 portions of bolognese, 1 portion of lasagne. I do have other tubs but these all stack neat in my freezer. I bought 4 roasts last week, these are stored in freezer bags. I label everything with the contents and the date it was frozen (if fresh)

Primrose

C_J wrote: »

Primrose's idea of using 1 pint screw topped milk cartons to freeze soup in is just inspired - why on earth did I never think of doing that? Probably because I only ever buy 4 pint milk cartons ..... but we have a dozen or so 1 pint cartons delivered to our fridges at work every day (we are lucky and get free hot beverages). I have been carefully washing these out and ensuring they get into the recycling bin, but now I shall be bringing a few of them home to use instead. Brilliant. I make a large batch of soup every Sunday for my work lunches over the week, and freeze Wednesday-Friday's portions to ensure they stay fresh. I have been using ziplock bags for this, but no more!


I heart this site.

Thanks. I came across this idea by accident after formerly freezing soup in plastic bags only to tear one accidentally on the wired freezer shelves one day without realising and stupidly putting it into the microwave to defrost without first storing it into a bowl. Result: huge leaking mess which took ages to clear up.

Then I idly spied a couple of one pint milk bottles waiting to go into recycling and had a light bulb moment. I also use these to store homemade blackberry, black currant and redcurrant syrup in as it saves having to add Camden preservative tablets if the syrup is stored in a non freezer environment.

JIL

I use the plastic takeaway tubs, they are like the ones that island maid has posted a link to. I make quiet a lot of meals to freeze, including lasagnes, macaroni cheese, steak and kidney, chilli, mince cottage pie base.
I also have some pottery dishes, same size and shape as the takeaway tubs. Depending on what we are having I often take the lasagne, chilli, shepherd's pie base, and defrost it overnight decanted into the pottery dish. Then at tea time I can easily add a pastry lid, sliced potatoes, extra cheese to the top before baking it in the oven, add salad or veg to serve, quick and easy.