What storage containers do you use to freeze?

Pollycat

I have a stock of those plastic containers with lids from Chinese takeaways.

They come in different sizes and are perfect for double or single portions of bolognaise, chilli, mashed potato, sausage casserole etc.

As they have lids it's easy to stack them in the freezer, I often take them out of the containers when frozen and put in freezer-proof bags so I can label the contents and re-use the containers.

If I'm doing Shepherd's pie, I freeze the bases and mash seperately.

Polly

Psykicpup

Pollycat wrote: »

I have a stock of those plastic containers with lids from Chinese takeaways.

They come in different sizes and are perfect for double or single portions of bolognaise, chilli, mashed potato, sausage casserole etc.

As they have lids it's easy to stack them in the freezer, I often take them out of the containers when frozen and put in freezer-proof bags so I can label the contents and re-use the containers.

If I'm doing Shepherd's pie, I freeze the bases and mash seperately.

Polly

aww you beat me to it lol - although I find they are not deep enough for my lasagna! so that goes into individual small plastic bags (same with soup & stock) & then into large proper freezer bags to keep them together

Primrose

Apart from square polythene containers which I use for freezing chicken stock, most of the other frozen meat dishes I freeze tend to be sauces of one kind or another (Bolognese, chilli, curry, etc) and I freeze these in freezer bags, or the zipped freezer bags from Lakeland as it's not convenient to have caserole dishes out of action for ages in a freezer. I thaw the frozen bags out either in the microwave or naturally and reheat the contents in a saucepan over a gas hob which I hope uses less fuel than reheating in the oven. The problem with having lots of polythene freezing containers is that they take up a lot of space in cupboards when not in use. I haven't yet seen a really good stackable "russian doll" set of square polythene containers containing 7 or 8 boxes which all fit inside each other for space saving purposes when not in use. Consequently when I open my cupboard doors, they all fall out where I've tried to squeeze in combination of square and round boxes !

beemuzed

Primrose wrote: »

Consequently when I open my cupboard doors, they all fall out where I've tried to squeeze in combination of square and round boxes !

Oh I am glad I'm not the only one! I have to position myself to catch things whenever that particular cupboard is opened!
We went through a phase of buying those plastic tubs of soup - I now regularly reuse these for freezing homemade soup.
What I really want to know is - where do the lids of plastic containers go??? It's like when you can't find pairs of socks in the wash - whenever I find a box the right size the lid seems to have vanished into thin air! What's the best storage solution??

paddy's_mum

Glad I'm not the only suffering from avalanche cupboards!

Two different systems work for my store of containers. If the lid is soft and bendy (as in previously mentioned plastic soup containers) I gently bend it and put the lid inside the container that it fits.

Alternatively, with denser plastics like Tupperware, I have an ice cream container into which anything which is a lid is put. That way, at least I only have one box to sort through.

lightisfading

I use the chinese takeaway style plastic containers - a mixture of saved from the takeout and bought from poundland (10 for 1). Generally theyre the same size (or at least have the same size 'base) so makes best use of freezer space. For things I want to reheat in the oven i simply run lukewarm water over the bottom of the container, which 'unsticks' the food from the plastic (same as with ice cubes), and just plop it in an oven dish. Uses much less space and honestly I don't have enough oven dishes to be storing things in them!

Oh and storage wise I store the boxes with the lids on them! It does use more room but luckily we have a decent amount of cupboard space... I got fed up with playing hunt the lid while making my packup at 6am!

Oh yes, and another hint - a whiteboard marker is great for labelling whats in the plastic takeout containers. It runs off easily but only when you rub it - stacking it straight in the freezer it will stay on.

angie_loves_veg

paddy's_mum wrote: »

Glad I'm not the only suffering from avalanche cupboards!

:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

Finally a name for my 'problem' (very glad to find that I am not alone!)