I'm not the only person who serves "random brown shit" for dinner am I?

[PyongyangKipperbang]

Because whenever I freeze leftover stew, soup, pasta sauce, chilli etc OF COURSE I am going to remember what it is so I dont need to label it, right?

So 6 weeks later when I defrost it .,.....well lets just say that we have occasionally had chilli with pasta and bolognaise with rice. But thats ok isnt it?

Tell me I am not the only person who does this!

It's freezer lottery and perfectly normal 😂

Freezer surprise. I used to meticulously label, but then I had children, lost the Sharpie and convinced myself I'll remember. Spoilers: I never remember.

I defrosted stewed apples thinking it was chicken curry. Regularly mix up Bolognese sauce and chilli.

I'm shamelessly nicking Iceland tapas too.

Curries are order of the day here. DH is Indian stock and absolutely adores exploring his mum's recipe book.

DS is 6 months and we made a batch of baby friendly (so nothing hot but all the regular spices) curry for him.

Last night we defrosted it, sat us all down to share, and I couldn't help myself - DS had a GIANT prawn and I couldn't help but nick it. Thank fuck I did because we'd defrosted the wrong curry, and DS was seconds away from smashing his chubby fists into a VERY spicy experiment that even brought tears to DH's eyes. (Why we kept it I don't know, think he was convinced yoghurt might fix it 😂).

We ended up stirring vats of yoghurt into ours while DS had scrambled egg on toast.

I love this but I suspect you all have bigger freezers than me - mine is tiny - you could not lose a ladybird in it.

I did though once when elderly Dm was ill go and see DF and Dm & make them a whole lot of batch cooked meals and put them in their big freezer in the garage - did not label them. DB raised an eyebrow.
They are still here now. ( My parents - not the meals )

@BasiliskStare

I love this but I suspect you all have bigger freezers than me - mine is tiny - you could not lose a ladybird in it.

I did though once when elderly Dm was ill go and see DF and Dm & make them a whole lot of batch cooked meals and put them in their big freezer in the garage - did not label them. DB raised an eyebrow.
They are still here now. ( My parents - not the meals )

This is us as well, we don’t have a lot of freezer space so any left overs get eaten very quickly as either a lunch the next day or another dinner that week. We very rarely have time to forget what everything is.

We do often do the random meals made up of all the odds and ends from frozen beige stuff kids seem to love.

@AmandaHoldensLips

We call these UFOs.... Unidentifiable Frozen Objects.

And we call it ‘indescribable’ 😆

@ThinWomansBrain

six weeks? correct gestation period in the freezer is 3 years - YABU

Absolutely 😂

My friend once told me a “spell” to get people out of your life that involved writing the person’s name on paper in a certain way and freezing it in water . I can imagine someone’s face if they defrosted that for tea!

I had the same issues until, in despair, I found these!! Cheap as chips and they stay on EVERYTHING but peel straight off when you’re done.

Innoveem Freezer Labels Easy Peel Off - Frozen Food Storage Labels That Leave No Sticky Residue After Use - Perfectly Sized (6 x 3cm) Easy to Write Surface with Any Pen or Biro. [100 Pack] www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07SN3L8XG/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_48F1CPS5BY2P0BB35CH7?psc=1&_encoding=UTF8&tag=mumsnetforu03-21

Definitely done it here.
When asked what's for dinner, the answer is "a surprise".....I too will also be surprised!

I am not freezing meals so much as I think a lot of meals don't freeze well except small bags of cooked mince that I add things too.

This thread has made me realise that I need to invest in some incontinence pads - I haven't laughed so much in ages!! And I'm just about to rummage in my freezer for a UFO (love that!) for tea tonight...wish me luck...😂

I once made a lovely beef pie with pastry from the freezer.

Sweet pastry :-(

I do sometimes get confused as to what things are (I use Tupperware and sometimes the labels fall off) but I’ll either change the side to fit, or alter the main, eg if it was taco filling I can turn it into chilli.

OP why not cook the right carb with the meal?!

YANBU - I serve "probably curry" with rice because that goes fine even if it turns out to be chilli. If it seems more like bolognese when defrosted I bung in some chilli powder.

I started to defrost a bag of diced mango to put in some home-made yogurt only to sniff and discover it was actually swede...

We do this too, convinced we will definitely label everything next time and then still end up with freezer surprise and mystery meat.

Last night I was suspiciously checking frozen containers and assessing the shade of orange to guess if it was curry, bolognaise or just pizza sauce without having to open each one.

The freezer surprise shelf. I know the upright one is lasagne and the orange one is a vegetable stew. The rest of it is indeterminate brown. If in doubt do jacket potatoes, they go with everything

I do this

Mashed potato and curry (particularly lamb rogan josh) is lovely.

We've had chilli with spaghetti for the same reason. Kids tolerated it reasonably well...

My box of labels sits right there on the top of the fridge/freezer but still, I tell myself; "well this is quite clearly beef stew/chilli/whatever so I won't take the 15 seconds to label it."

Will I ever learn?

It's not freezer related but DH still goes on about the christmas eve, about 10 years ago, when he saw a large tupperware on the side, clearly labelled "cupcakes". He decided to sneak one, only to find a load of peeled/prepared sprouts. I've never seen a grown man more disappointed.

@Run4it2

We've had chilli with spaghetti for the same reason. Kids tolerated it reasonably well...

Nothing wrong with chilli and pasta 😄

I label mine but they always come out looking like rbs.

I end up cooking the wrong carb because I am cooking said carb while the RBS is in the microwave hence chilli with pasta and bolognaise with rice!

And I am always convinced I have got the right one....yeah,....that works.....

The eternal optimist. Now it makes sense.

The phrase said most in my house?

"How bad can it be?!"