Building up my freezer

catz4m8z

Longwalker said:

It was bread that really was my problem. If I started a loaf, Id be up and down all day stuffing my face with it, buy a French stick, it would be gone in a couple of hours.

I love my bread! I make loaves in my breadmaker then portion them up and freeze them straight away so I cant stuff an entire loaf in my face!LOL Its so much nicer then the processed stuff, even out of the freezer.

Also I like to keep greens in the freezer too. Leafy greens are very good for you but I dont like the bags you buy as it tends to be '1 lump or 2?'. SO I get bags of fresh spinach and kale, wash it and freeze it uncooked. Then I just crumble it all up and it makes it much easier to just add a handful to any dish.

DigSunPap

Miser1964 said:

Have a look at the websites for "Hello Fresh" and "Gousto", they publish the recipes for their food boxes online, no need to buy anything from them. The recipes are all quite simple and easy to prepare with the ingredients obtained at any supermarket and give a welcome variety from the usual spag-bol/chilli-con-carne/curry. The quantities are for two but TBH I find that's optimistic and generally freeze a third to have as a lunch another day with a baked potato.

I have considered switching to one of these food service companys for a while not but have been unsure. I live a fairly busy life and sometimes it is hard trying to think of new dishes for each week. Just want to know if it is worth the price for the change?

ka7e

DigSunPap said:

I have considered switching to one of these food service companys for a while not but have been unsure. I live a fairly busy life and sometimes it is hard trying to think of new dishes for each week. Just want to know if it is worth the price for the change?

It's maybe worth doing for a few weeks with their introductory offers. They give you a printed recipe card for each of the dishes you order, so you can replicate your favourites. They also have different ways of cooking things, like saute/steam veg with garlic and quick sauces that you can add to your repertoire. If you cancel after a few weeks, they try and tempt you back with more offers. Full price, I think they are an expensive way to eat!

andyfff

Iceland discount

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Suffolk_lass

I think that what you put in your freezer also depends on where you live. If you are near the shops, why would you pay the supermarkets to store their food for them?

Running your freezer though, does imply you like to be prepared and the yellow sticker meat, or offers from your butcher are great. There are two of us and I bag some things into raw meat portions and freeze them, and I always have SM peas, spinach, sweetcorn and broccoli in the freezer. I prefer the raw ingredients stored rather than the mystery boxes I always think I will remember and then don't, or the labels fall off...

I grow fruit and veg so if I have a glut of things like courgettes, I chop and bag these in 3s so I can make a batch of courgette soup to use for lunches over three to four days (two onions two carrots, mixed herbs, a veg stockpot and two chopped frozen chillies are the other ingredients, cooked, then blitzed). I always freeze chillies whole, as preparing them while frozen avoids the perils of residue on your fingers. Things like tomatoes and fruit? I cook and bottle them as if I were making jam, into hot sterilised jars and the tops pop - much cheaper to store than in the freezer, and already at room temperature when you want them. Oh, I do blitz crumble topping and keep a bag in the freezer, so I can open a jar and top it with crumble rubble and cook when the oven is on and only a pudding will do

As others have said, a few takeaway boxes reused to store your portions from a batch cook is good. I tend to make a meat-based ragu and then I freeze some and we have it with pasta, or adding beans and chillies for a filling chilli. 

Personally I don't like defrosted milk but a pint is fine in case (and through a tea strainer), and I keep a loaf of bread in there in case. Along with a packet of crumpets, and a packet of butter. Err, enough said.

DigSunPap

ka7e said:

DigSunPap said:

I have considered switching to one of these food service companys for a while not but have been unsure. I live a fairly busy life and sometimes it is hard trying to think of new dishes for each week. Just want to know if it is worth the price for the change?

It's maybe worth doing for a few weeks with their introductory offers. They give you a printed recipe card for each of the dishes you order, so you can replicate your favourites. They also have different ways of cooking things, like saute/steam veg with garlic and quick sauces that you can add to your repertoire. If you cancel after a few weeks, they try and tempt you back with more offers. Full price, I think they are an expensive way to eat!

Thanks for the tips! I think I am going to give it a go for November - hello fresh taking my fancy the most. Will keep the thread updated on how I get on!

London_1

there is a really nice bakeries near to me, and as I don't eat much bread I do like the occasional soft roll.So I buy half a dozen and individually wrap them in either foil or cling film and freeze These go in odd corners of the freezer and I can defrost one at a time as required. I do make a good deal of batch cooking and HM soups so a soft roll with some soup for lunch is delicious on a cold winters day. I peel and dice carrots ,broccoli ,leeks, even cabbage and open freeze on trays then bag up, I steam veg when cooking and never have had a problem I boil and mash spuds Using an ice cream scoop or just a table spoonful and mould into ball and open freeze then bag up. microwave once defrosted. My freezer is my best friend for left overs or reduced price stuff from the supermarkets 
JackieO xx

Rosa_Damascena

London_1 said:

there is a really nice bakeries near to me, and as I don't eat much bread I do like the occasional soft roll.So I buy half a dozen and individually wrap them in either foil or cling film and freeze These go in odd corners of the freezer and I can defrost one at a time as required. I do make a good deal of batch cooking and HM soups so a soft roll with some soup for lunch is delicious on a cold winters day. I peel and dice carrots ,broccoli ,leeks, even cabbage and open freeze on trays then bag up, I steam veg when cooking and never have had a problem I boil and mash spuds Using an ice cream scoop or just a table spoonful and mould into ball and open freeze then bag up. microwave once defrosted. My freezer is my best friend for left overs or reduced price stuff from the supermarkets 
JackieO xx

In retrospect, I now realise what a mistake that is. The gamechanger for me was Chris van Tulleken quoting the Brazilian scientist Fernanda Rauber as saying: “Most UPF is not food. It's an industrially produced edible substance.”

So little of what I had in my freezer is food. I am giving it away gradually and replacing it with HM treats, even if they are loaded with cream.

bouicca21

The reduced price stuff in my freezer is not UPF because I don’t buy UPF, with the very rare exception of treating myself to ice-cream.

LadyWithAPlan

I have taken loads of cookery courses in many different cuisines and it has transformed my cooking. 

 I also divide large meat packs eg chops into smaller portions.
I also make stock and then freeze portions ready to for soups and stews.

I make gf muffins and freeze those individualy and then pop together.

You can also freeze in muffin cases excess coconut milk and then just add a small portion to liven up stews.