The all new using what you have from your Freezer, Cupboard or Shed (Barn)

Cherryfudge

RightyTightyLeftyLoosey said:

Haven't been on here in ages, but am getting organised for winter and emptying out the freezer. Tonight is a slow cooker lamb curry, using diced lamb and the remainders of a bag of frozen onions.

Breakfasts this week will be the frozen croissants/pain au chocolat that are lurking in the bottom freezer drawer 😂

I like it when there are treats that have to be finished up.

I sorted out my freezer yesterday, giving rise to a highly unlikely but quite tasty lunch of pumpkin with melted crowdie!

I've listed the main things on the whiteboard and the rule is I have to get through at least a few before they are wiped off. I rescued potatoes and leeks and finished up the onions making four portions of leek and potato soup which gives us dinner tonight and another night.

Tricky ingredients are a large backlog of cooked greengages and raw blackberries - and this year's are ready to join them! Dh is eating greengages as a snack and I intend to treat us to some cooking apples to go with the blackberries. There are also two packs of not-very-tasty sausagemeat  - I need to find things to add to make it interesting. Ideas so far are smoked bacon or sage - any further ideas welcome please!

joedenise

Could mix the sausage meat with some finely chopped rosemary and red onion and use to make a coating for scotch eggs - the rosemary and red onion works really well in the Linda McCartney sausages so why not with not-so-tasty sausage meat!

Could add sage and onion and make into meatballs to have with roast dinners or serve in a sweet and sour sauce or even in a curry sauce.  Both these ideas would probably work without flavouring the sausage meat at all as would be masked by the sauce!

carinjo

For the sausagemeat @Cherryfudge you can make sausagerolls. I like adding a layer of whatever chutney i have going onto the pastry before adding the meat. That could help with the taste too. 
For the glut of blackberries, why not start on christmas gift planning and do liqueurs. Although probably best to wait another month before starting on those. I got some very cute fliptop bottles from w1lko last year for that very idea, but my rhubarb gin was an epic failure. 
Can also simmer it down and freeze it as ice cubes. Add to water and also porridge in winter. Purple porridge rocks! 

machasraven

I made melt in the middle meatballs by putting a bit of cheese inside. I do sausagerolls with chutney in them too, the nicest was with rhubarb chutney and I add a small amount of the chutney to the sausagemeat as well as on the pastry.

As soon as I make space in the freezers my DP manages to find a YS bargain so they never go down and also because we have 2 free fridges near us.

I batch cook for the week so it is only at the weekends that I can find the oddments for a smorgasbord type meal.  

Cherryfudge

Thanks for all those lovely ideas, people! I'd forgotten that a friend passed on a superb sausage roll recipe a while back, but I like the idea of rosemary and red onion too. Perhaps I could combine the two? With chutney! I love chutney.

We picked up some baking apples today (a 'help yourself' box at the edge of a car park so very MS) and cooked some of the blackberries in it: an almost-free dessert and good for us too. Dh has cooked a batch of this year's greengages too, as they go 'over' quickly once they're off the tree. He will probably eat his way through these over a few days - I might help him!

Cherryfudge

carinjo said:

For the glut of blackberries, why not start on christmas gift planning and do liqueurs. Although probably best to wait another month before starting on those. I got some very cute fliptop bottles from w1lko last year for that very idea, but my rhubarb gin was an epic failure. 
Can also simmer it down and freeze it as ice cubes. Add to water and also porridge in winter. Purple porridge rocks! 

I love the idea of purple porridge rocks! I could make a sort of 'fridge jam' and freeze it as ice cubes to add to my overnight oats, much cheaper than blueberries, too.

JIL

I recently used some pork meatballs in a  tray of toad in the holes (muffintin), then put oven roasted onions on top before serving. They were well received.  

joedenise

JIL said:

I recently used some pork meatballs in a  tray of toad in the holes (muffintin), then put oven roasted onions on top before serving. They were well received.  

Love that idea.  I used to do mini toad in the hole like that but using cut up bits of sausage - the children loved having the individual "toads" rather than a piece cut from a large tin.  It's a good way of using up odd sausages.

Cherryfudge

Out: mackerel, chicken.

In: sweetcorn (I saw a space beginning to form and panicked and filled it ).

carinjo

In: cooked gammon sliced, hm plum compote
Out: pork mince for hm burgers