A few bits for the Freezer Part One
One of the things I love to do is to squirrel away lots of useful bits and bobs for the freezer that you cannot necessarily buy. These are usually items that adds to a meal or enhances it, or provides me with a useful ingredient from the freezer which does not limit my options. In particular I always check out the reduced items section for suitable items to get at a bargain price but which are more than useful for cooking generally.
In the past few days I have prepped and popped the following items away.
Little plum tomatoes. These are washed, dried up with a clean tea-towel and then bagged up as they are. I use these in sauces and soups, casseroles. I also fry them from frozen and serve them as part of a full English breakfast. They are very fresh tasting and OH is particularly fond of them. I just take out how many I need from the bag and then return the rest to the freezer. The bonus with this is if you grow your own you can get them straight from plant to freezer. Even more flavour and goodness. If there are any left at the end of the day (which is unlikely), they will be used up in general cooking or for adding to pasta sauce. I have five bags of these. It was buy a tray for £1 or two for £1.50. I purchased six trays and have kept one out to go with the salad.
I have prepared and washed Spring Onions, thinly sliced them and popped them into a small washed out soft drinks bottle. They can be used in stir fries, quiches, sprinkled on pancakes used as part of a Tortilla, in soups really wherever you need them. I found the idea for doing this on Pinterest. It recycles a drinks bottle or two that would end up in landfill and also supposedly stops the onion smell contaminating other food items. Also supposed to be good to use in the fridge! The theory works for me. Have since tried this and it works.
Mixed Sweet Peppers. I had orange yellow and red peppers two of each. I wash these, de-seed them and then slice them then lay them out on a baking tray, layering with baking parchment like I did for the courgettes. Then freeze. Once frozen I decant into a suitable container or bag. Pop back in the freezer and then when I want some pepper, just take out what I want and put the rest back in the freezer. Good to add to a home made stir fry or indeed the Hawaain Chicken recipe that I make.
Two cartons of Strawberries. These are washed, sprinkled with sugar and popped into a bag and then sprinkled with a little sugar. There are many ways of using these, even if you collect together enough and make a batch of jam from them. When I make Strawberry jam I always crush the Strawberries with a potato masher in any event so that the fruit is smashed and evenly distributed. They are lovely with meringues and cream and also lovely in the bottom of a trifle. Strawberries tend to lose their shape with preserving, but they still make a useful dessert. A taste of summer in the middle of winter. I have two small bags of Strawberries.
Blueberries I just wash, dry and freeze. I use them in Blueberry muffins straight from the freezer and also in mixed fruit purees, even a puree with yogurt on their own.
Cauliflower cheese a favourite here. I also make a version with both Broccoli and garlic which is yummy, but on this occasion it is just the plain cauliflower cheese.
Bread sauce to use predominantly with chicken, but if it is there ready made all you need to do is drag a pot out of the freezer. All I do is make a traditional bread sauce and then pot it up. I leave it to cool before putting in the freezer.
Courgettes, yellow and green. Always a useful standby. I wash and slice these, then straight on a tray lined with baking parchment and put the slices on. Stacking them upwards until I have used up all the sliced courgette interleaving with baking parchment. Once frozen take the frozen courgette off the paper and then decant into bags. I usually use both colours of Courgette in the one bag, to make it more appealing. Use in stir fries and also under Roast Pork - goes all nice and caramelised. Yummy.
I have also read of a method whereby you grate the Courgette and then freeze it into bags. This to me would be very useful for adding to Frittata and cakes. I am going to try this as well but this will be for next time..
I also bought some green beans to freeze as well. I have about four decent servings from two small packs of French Beans.
If you are lucky enough to come across some bargains, if you can please try and take advantage of this opportunity and squirrel away some good eating for you and your family. It does pay dividends in the longer run. Doing a bit every so often can save money and does not necessarily tie you to the kitchen sink. Not everyone of us has a bit of land for growing stuff but it does not mean that you cannot do a little housekeeping and plan things forward and have a security blanket in terms of food storage. Each of us is responsible for sourcing our food as best we can. Recent events has seen panic buying which in course has led to food shortages. With a little planning this need not happen. I fell foul as I had been in a position where the freezers were not working and I lost a lot of food and money whereas they are normally well stocked. So during the bulk of the pandemic I did not have the security and comfort of food to feed us without necessarily going to the shops. I do not intend this to happen again. Caught short by my own petard.
So little by little I intend to re-stock the one freezer I do have. I have been promised another deep chest freezer which I prefer soon. The aim is to "Put Down" what I can when I can to see us through the winter months into next spring, with the aid of the freezers, canning, bottling, drying, jam making, wines, curds, whatever method I can to ensure food security as best as I can. This includes keeping stock of puff pastry, margarine, butter and lard for baking and pastry making
There are more bits and bobs to do as I go along and I will pop up further posts in relation to this as they happen. I prefer to freeze my own stuff from fresh where I can, perhaps with the exception of peas.
Catch you soon.
Pattypan
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Very inventive freezer storage. I love the spring onions in the bottle.
ReplyDeleteSounds as if you are going to be busy, I use to do all of that and more, however, not any more. Having said that, I do buy specials and stock my cupboard and freezer. Hope you are both well, my family and hubby's are all OK.
ReplyDeleteGreat ideas, hopefully will have plenty of courgettes from the garden later in the year, I've never tried freezing them like that but will definately give it a try.
ReplyDelete