I want to empty the freezer

[Wiloswisp]

I have a definite idea of what I want in it but can’t seem to get shot of stuff. I didn’t shop for a couple of weeks and we ate from freezer but now I’m back to the same problem. I offered my mum the fruit but she’s still not taken it four months later.

I thinking of throwing stuff but feel so bad. I just seem to have lots of really random stuff filling it up when I want my batch frozen meals in it.

I was thinking similar thoughts today.

I have a lot of chopped onion, chopped pepper, chopped leek, mash potato, peas, broccoli, etc and not many actual meal items. The idea was I'd make soups and stir fries with the veggies but I've not wanted them. 🙄

It seems a fortunate first world problem doesn't it, but I need space for Christmas food at some point soon.

You could offer stuff on olio op.

Everyone round to @Wiloswisp for dinner..
Always willing to help out! :-)

My mission over the next two weeks is to eat as much as we can from the freezer. I am meal planning in a big way, including desserts (ice cream, Mochi, stewed fruit etc). Ours is a big 6 foot high one. I batch cook a lot and am regretting it!

You’re welcome, might be a rather odd menu 🤣🤣🤣

Soups, that’s a good idea. I think I probably can make a few vicar Of dibley inspired soups. Whether DH will eat them I’m not sure 😊

I am doing this too. I confess there are some things that I have just chucked. I found a bag of frozen avocado that's been in there at least three years. I'm close to being finished now although we have quite a lot of meat to use up over the next few weeks (we're moving and I don't want to take it with us).

If you have frozen fruit, make crumbles? Lovely winter warming food & avoids waste.

Frozen veg in soups and frozen meat use for a meal plan

We have a big bag of frozen berries and cherries that are about 2 years old. Will they still be safe to eat?

Nigella allegedly keeps a log of whats in the freezer. Mostly I bin leftovers. Could fruit be frozen for a smoothie?

We defrosted ours today and I confess that one or two things were binned. Some ice cream had got freezer burn, so had to go.

I have just made crumble from all the leftover fruit in the freezer. Nearly tipped in a bag of spiced red cabbage but realised just in time! The turkey and pigs in blankets are in the freezer already. Just need to make enough room for extra bread. I’ve been trying to use one thing up a day but also a good reorganise usually frees up some room.

I think the only way to do this is take everything out and make a list of exactly what you have. Then write a meal plan incorporating as much as possible. Or list it on here for people to give you suggestions.

Safe, yes. Possibly a touch past their best but I would think they'd be fine cooked or in a smoothie.

a good reorganise usually frees up some room

Agreed! I never bother much with labelling what goes into the freezer. This is a bad habit, but I don't freeze it if it wasn't nice to start with. We've had the odd really surprising Freezer Surprise, but mostly it works out OK.

I'd have thought so. What kind of leftovers do you bin? I love leftovers and often have them for lunch the next day. Failing that, I would usually freeze them.

When we defrost the fridge freezer, which is a few time a year as it ices up quite easily, we make a 2-4 week meal plan which uses up everything in the freezer and then have a few days of packet-and-tin meals, with a few fresh bits from the corner shop, until it's done and restocked. We buy in what we need to "go with" the stuff in the freezer, even if it is frozen itself, and then use it all up.

If there is anything really strange, leftover and you really didn't like it the first time, or looks dead, obviously chuck that.

Olio is good if you don't want to do the above but stick to the storage times for the food especially home-frozen as meat and fish can go off and chuck anything older.

Next time don't order in random things for your freezer in the first place.

but I've not wanted them.

Eating what you have and not what you want is a discipline; how fortunate that you can choose to do it, or not, rather than being forced into it by economics. If you don't want to eat it why did you buy it?

I tend to put leftovers in the freezer and never fucking eat them so I threw them out along with some old fish fingers that I can't eat and no child WILL eat I think my freezer is too big

I need to sort our freezer, pre Christmas. We seem to have the similar problem that there’s not enough of anything to eat a meal (unless it’s a very strange meal 🤣)
we have got a drawer full of fruit, must make some crumbles. Oh and gooseberry fool!

Bin it.

Then only ever put ready to go things in there.

I only have things that are edible as soon as defrosted so the bolognese, the curries, flat bags of very buttery mash, fish and shepherds pies in glass freezer-to-oven dishes.

the only other things savoury are frozen diced onion, frozen whole leaf spinach and frozen peas. Plus breakfast frozen croissants

I used to have so much junk in there. Life is easier now!

I have a lot of chopped onion, chopped pepper, chopped leek, mash potato, peas, broccoli, etc and not many actual meal items. The idea was I'd make soups and stir fries with the veggies but I've not wanted them

Theres a stew in there! Get some beef and carrots and make a stew.
Buy some tinfoil cartons , like the takeaway ones and put them in the freezer, ready to.

Then buy some chicken and make some Chinese noodle stir fry and put it in the freezer ready to go.

Going against the grain here, but we never freeze leftovers. We mostly cook our necessary meal size. We do this by the cook checking in along the lines of "I'm thinking of making this dish. Fancy it? How hungry are you?" And then we cook accordingly. On the occasion there are leftovers we keep them in the fridge and have them over the coming days. The freezer then only has frozen uncooked items, and the fridge just had cold uncooked items. Easy to see what's what and plan meals.

Our freezer causes many rows between me and my husband. He freezes everything. Carcasses for stock, but it’s bloody full of bags of stock. Random bags of meat and unidentifiable things. Egg whites and bananas that get forgotten about. I periodically throw stuff out. It’s usually so stuffed, you can’t see what’s in there. I discovered half of last year’s Christmas cake in there the other day. That’s gone in the bin.

I love the idea of some sort of log. Really I think our freezer should just have crappy things for when he can’t be bothered to cook. Chicken kievs/garlic breads/fish fingers and frozen peas. That’s all we need.

Make jam?