Anyone freezing & stocking their freezer with this 5p veg?

[Eggybreadwithnuts]

If so....how you doing the following?😀

Carrots
Parsnips
Brussells
Swede
Potatoes

Ive never done it before, wondering if you just boil it up, cool then freeze???

I’m not. Basic supermarket veg is always pretty cheap anyway so couldn’t be arsed with the level of prepping this would involve personally.
But good luck, hope you have a lot of freezer space!!

Not the veg alone but I’m planning a bit of a mass cooking session!
I got some better than half price beef from Tesco so I’m doing a pulled beef in gravy and making potato, carrot and swede mash then freezing it as individual ready meals

Nah, veg are always cheap - it's rather use my freezer space for half price meat and fish when i get hold of it.

Watching with interest, carrots I usually just cut up and freeze raw for things like bolognese, stews etc but I don’t think parsnips would freeze well like that?

Par boil then freeze!

I’m planning on making some batches of carrot and lentil soup and parsnip dahl. Individually portioned for the freezer, means I don’t to think about lunch on in office days 😊

I usually do but haven't run the freezer down enough to make room this year.
I buy carrots, parsnips and swede, slice the carrots and parsnips and cube the swede and then freeze together raw in bags portioned sufficiently to make a casserole.

The prep is a bit of a pain (especially the swede) but it provides some quick and easy meals for later. I find a 1kg bag of carrots, 2 x 500g parsnips and a large swede usually makes 4 bags.

To use, I take a bag out the night before to defrost in the slow cooker pan, and add chicken, onion & casseroel mix in the morning when I put it on.

The Tesco deals are pretty decent at the minute

No because I'd rather people who genuinely needed to do that for financial reasons got the chance.

That’s silly. The poorest people probably cross section very little with the people who have the skills, energy, resources and time to batch cook.

Eh?

I'm not doing anything now because fridge and freezer space in at a premium so anything that can stay out of them is doing so. But when I have some free time at 'twixmas' will probably just make a load of soup. I won't be doing a big "batch cook" as some people make it sound like quite a big deal - I'll just make the soup as and when I would make it for a quick meal anyway, but in bigger amounts and freeze the extras.

Tomato and red pepper (with a bit of carrot/onion)
chicken (or possibly turkey!) with veg (pretty much anything around)
spicy parsnip
Potato and leek/broccoli with cheddar and bacon/ham

Individually portioned in freezer bags so don't take up much room, ideal for quick/work lunches throughout Jan!

I also stick a load of carrots and onions in a food processer blitzed very small for a sort of 2 out of 3 mirepoix thing - freeze in small amounts (using an old ice cube tray), then pop out when needed for the first stage of casserole, bolognaise, etc.

It's not so much about saving money for me because I agree that veg is cheap anyway, but saves time and washing up, and the thinking/shopping/prep work of remembering you make sure you have one or two of each veg for those types of meals every time.

You need to blanche them. That means slicing them up then cooking them for about 8 mins then plunge them in freezing cold water to cool rapidly. I used a mixing bowl with ice water, strain veg then pour into icy water. After a minute fish the veg out, bag up and freeze immediately. I am blanching sprouts as seasonal not bothering about carrots as those are around all of the year. I will make a few batches of vegetable soup though and freeze that. I'm freezing the very cheap huge leg of pork from Aldi. I got a huge one for a little over £10. I will cook it for New Year day when I'm hosting. I got a very large beef very reasonable priced in Aldi too. I've frozen that for New Year day too.

To be honest by xmas eve my local supermarket is usually giving it away, massive bins of it by the exit with signs to help yourself, it's better than being wasted!
Your supposed to par boil, then drop in cold water to chill quickly before freezing but I always chop carrots, celery and peppers up and simply freeze as is for bolognese, chilli etc. Did freeze some sprouts as they were last year but not very successful, they go soggy when cooking but ok for some recipes. Potatoes I've frozen as mash to use for fishcakes or a quick reheat meal but not tried any other way.

it might cost more in freezer bags than it would to buy full priced veg fresh?

Was this the veg that there was a 4 bag limit on?

@Mummyslittlegiraffe Parsnip dahl sounds gorgeous. Recipe please 😀

i reuse my freezer bags. thought everyone did.

I use this one and replace the butternut with parsnips. I like the ease of the slow cooker.

https://www.tamingtwins.com/slow-cooker-dahl/

Yes
We’ve batch cooked
curry
Moroccan tagine
and cottage pie
so far

I freeze blackberries we’ve foraged and are left over from making blackberry brandy. Wash, lay on a baking tray and put in the freezer. When they’re frozen bag up

I think veg has to be flash boiled first though
so I’m going to give that a try. Lay it all out on a tray and bag up.

Laying them out on the tray ( separated ) stops them from freezing together

( we’ve got three freezers though so plenty of space )

Yes
Aldi has the four bag limit
Lidl a three bag limit
Waitrose are doing it too but I don’t know what the limit is

Carrots, parsnips, sprouts, potatoes peeled, chopped, blanched, frozen...with blanching liquid frozen as a base stock for my Xmas gravy.

Oh, also made up red cabbage, mashed potato, sauteed mushrooms to freeze. Some for Xmas day, some for other times.

I make mash potato and freeze it. Veg I tend to make huge pans of soup and then freeze it. I have bought extra carrots for carrot and coriander soup but not sure I have freezer space.

I got 1 set from Aldi and made into a veg curry & froze for lunches in Jan. Got 3 of each from Lidl and I put carrots & potatoes in a pillowcase in a dark, cool place to use in Jan/Feb. Will make Delia’s curried parsnip soup and the brussels I shred & fry in butter with shallots to serve with pasta & blue cheese. I also make soffritto (got reduced celery in Tesco) and freeze in small batches. The veg keep for ages whole in the salad drawer.