Freezing - Tips and Quick Questions thread

Homeagain

Have to agree, I freeze anything that I get 'reduced' - I think the only thing you can't freeze is fresh(ish) vegetables, flour, tinned stuff (obviously), bread rolls can be a bit hard after freezing but not bread, basically everything especially meat and chicken etc..

Greenqueen_2

Use that freezer gal!
By shopping for yellow stickers is the way I manage to feed my family for £40 per week. Take advantage whilst things are available and then plan future meals around whats in the freezer. In my thirty married years I have never caused food poisoning.

[Deleted User]

There is very little that I don't freeze to be honest ,especially if its been reduced.Great way to live well for less I think.I always think of freezing as 'suspended animation and something frozen has just stopped dead until you need to use it :):)

BrassicWoman

my freezer is stuffed with piles of fancy pizzas I got for 50p each and so far they are tasting awesome.

(I know that sounds greedy but there was only me and one other person left in the shop, and being veggie I left all the meat for them!)

if in doubt cook and freeze the fish!

Lilyplonk

My Meal Planning is usually based around on what's available on the 'whoopsie shelf' - then padded out with veggies that I've previously bought reduced, took home, prepped and frozen.

Needs must when rising prices outstrip pay/pension/benefits.

If I was still shopping as I did around 20yrs ago, we would have had to stop having an annual holiday - and buying clothes/shoes - a long time ago .

Savannah02K

I think the only thing you can't freeze is fresh(ish) vegetables, flour, tinned stuff (obviously), bread rolls can be a bit hard after freezing but not bread, basically everything especially meat and chicken etc

===== Not so, of course you can freeze fresh veggies, I very often buy reduced bags of veggies, prep them and then freeze, you just then use them as 'normal' frozen vegs, might just need to open tray freeze or freeze in portion size as industrial freezing process stops them from clumping together.

And tinned and 'jarred' stuff - as a singleton I find that freezing that stuff saves me a fortune. It's cheaper to buy say a big tin of beans or mushy peas, use some and then decant the rest into plastic containers and freeze those. I also do that with the Homepride type pasta sauces, curry sauces etc.

And re the bread rolls being hard after freezing, defrost for a few mins, just run under cold water tap, shake off excess water and pop into hot oven for a couple of mins, brings them 'back to life.'

I freeze practically everything as the shops always charge more for single sized portions and I don't want to eat the same thing a few days running. Some things, e.g. cream cheese or humus 'split' but a quick stir round with a knife sorts that out. I bought a 500g pack of humus reduced last night to 15p, got home, portioned it up into smaller sizes and then froze those. Me sorted for humus for the next few weeks. Just get one portion out the night before and leave it to defrost in the fridge.

I even have a container in the freezer that I throw all ends of (uncooked) veggies and salad leaves in at the end of the week. When that container is full it goes into saucepan of water and stock cubes, add some lentils and hey presto, (almost) free lentil and veg soup. As long as you don't defrost the salad leaves before putting them in the stock, they cook just like any other vegs.

BTW, I've learnt the hard way though, anything I defrost in the fridge, I put the container inside another one, quite apart from the water melt off the container itself, you might have as I did, a plastic container that cracked in the fridge (whilst on the top shelf) and leaked defrosting soup down over the other shelves. Not what I wanted to find after a hard day at work LOL!

jlhmd666

Yes, I would say you can freeze all of those and they will be fine to eat. My issue is making space in the freezers so that I can buy more ys stuff to go in them.

buddiebabe

Can anyone help can you freeze homemade chicken and rice soup?

Linda32

Hi, its the rice that worries me. Its never wise to cool and re heat rice. The chicken would be fine, oddly enough.

Mojisola

Linda32 wrote: »

Hi, its the rice that worries me. Its never wise to cool and re heat rice. The chicken would be fine, oddly enough.

The reason that rice has to be handled carefully is because of the greater surface area available for bacteria to grow on but, if the rice is in a liquid, that wouldn't be a problem - the surface area of the soup would be the same whether it was rice, beans, meat or vegetables in the soup.

I would be happy to freeze chicken and rice soup - keep it covered and cool it quickly and then freeze.