Freezers and Raiding the Freezer

Freezers for me are an essential piece of equipment in which to store your food supplies.  I have two upright freezers and a chest freezer.  If I had had more space I would have had a couple of more chest freezers one just for veggies, one for meat and the other for a miscellany of items probably the bulk of which would be fruit and stuff I could turn into preserves at a later date.

Once upon a time great store was set by the housewife in having a freezer and preparing a lot of stuff yourself to go into the same.  There was even a little magazine if I remember correctly called Home and Freezer Digest which included recipes for doing your own stir fry mixes, and all sorts of other cooking specifically aimed at the Freezer.  I had a few of those magazines but somehow or the other over the years they seem to have gone adrift.  It was one of those most useful publications that really helped the housewife look after her own.  I found this post relating to the Home and Freezer Digest here Home and Freezer Digest.  

Here are some of the publications currently available on Ebay

I do so wish that the magazine was available now as it would help so many people make the most of what comes their way and provide sensible meals for tomorrow.  As a young married housewife I found it incredibly useful as although I could cook and run a house preserving and putting things by was still incredibly new to me personally even though I had grown up with this philosophy.  Doing it for yourself is a whole new learning curve.  I remember specifically one of the monthly magazines dealt with making your own stir fry mixes - at a time when the Chinese cuisine was making a break through in British meal time.

As a result of that, encouragement within the family (both my Nan and mum had freezers) I learned how to put stuff up in the freezer.  Indeed there were specific freezer shops (Pre the likes of Iceland) that were used for bulk supplies and we also in Peterborough used to go to the Peterborough Co-Op Freezer shop where we bought the likes of whole gammons and had them butchered into the cuts we wanted.  The freezer shops in time have disappeared as the supermarkets have then absorbed a "freezer" section into their stores which is where things seem to have remained since then. 

As a result of those early experiments I found my own way of doing things and popping things up but in the long run I tend to buy the ingredients and do my own thing to them and package them in portion sizes so we can literally just grab and run when it comes to a meal.  It is a bit of messing around but it works just for a little bit of time and effort.  Preparing stuff this way has worked two-fold for us as I knew where the ingredients were coming from but I also had the security of knowing that there were plenty of meals to be had out of the freezer.  That is something i have kept up and which is not open to compromise. 

I buy what we want a little at a time one month it might be chicken breasts another time it might be stewing meat and other cuts but I have always tried to ensure that we are able to have a good meal of some kind or another.  If the freezers are really low then I save up and re-stock.  When the freezers are nearly full I just add little bits of this here and there but I always ensure that there is a mixture of items to be had however the meat is the most expensive so the bulk of the contents tends to be meat.  Being able to keep them stocked up I am also very blessed to be able to do that.  The majority of what is stored in the freezers is meat but I also put up fruit and also veggies.  Things like, parsnips, sweet potato, peas, etc. so that if there is not much time then a quick meal can be had its just all in the freezer and all the preparation is done.  

I am slowly at the moment emptying the freezers a little bit at a time in readiness for the next stock up. So we are having regular raiding parties with OH - my hands do not cope with the cold of the freezer so OH goes diving in there and getting out what we need. As the freezer goes down and it develops gaps I put things like bread into the freezer which I do not normally do.  

We really should have gone into the freezer yesterday as I was after a joint of some sort as I have quite a few in there for today's lunch.  However because we did not go raiding, instead of a joint tonight we have some minted lamb steaks to be served with fresh veg which is just as good as a joint in any event.  I also pulled out a home stuffed pork belly joint which will probably be had tomorrow night, this is a proper family favourite and good hot and also as cold cuts for sarnies etc.  We also pulled out some chicken breasts and a steak pie.  So we have plenty of choice for this week on meals together with everything that I prepared yesterday.

We had the chicken last night, OH has had more pasta with the sauce put aside for the chilli (I did not quite get there with that and had just put the sauce in a tub in the fridge to add the chilli and beans just before cooking).  He is taking Lasagna with him for lunch tomorrow - he is on lates so needs something substantial to keep him going.

So now that winter is here  - it is certainly cold  - at least we are getting some nice hot meals to keep us healthy and to keep us warm.

Out of curiosity do you just buy stuff pre-prepared from the shops or do you actually make stuff to squirrel away in the freezer to save time, money and also have a good tasty meal.

Would love to hear from you.

Catch you soon.

Pattypan

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