Frozen aisle inspiration past peas and fishfingers

[Ibleedibreedibreaatfeed]

I can't think of anything frozen fruit or veg that's really good to have in the freezer. Trying to save money and less waste. What is your ultimate frozen food for cooking. I'm not a brand snob so happy to try out cheaper if it's worth it! Not ready meals though 😃

I need to make a list from this thread and buy some of these.

@Ibleedibreedibreaatfeed

I can't think of anything frozen fruit or veg that's really good to have in the freezer. Trying to save money and less waste. What is your ultimate frozen food for cooking. I'm not a brand snob so happy to try out cheaper if it's worth it! Not ready meals though 😃

peas, corn, chips, bag of stir fry veg, qourn or soya protein .

Where do you get this range from I've never heard of it.

Soffrito for bolognese — Yorkshire puddings, onions, chicken Kiev’s, fishcakes and battered fish, itsu prawn gyoza (amazing) cauliflower cheese, scampi, whitebait, battered squid rings, the main thing I use my freezer for though is freezing reduced price ready meals

When I make Yorkshire puddings I make 3 times the quantity and freeze the rest. They freeze beautifully and I don't have to endure the hot oil smell quite so often.
If I see stuff reduced, (meat, fresh fish, leeks etc) I buy it and stick it in the freezer. Even potatoes can be frozen if you par boil chunks and spray with oil for roasting.
If I'm making spag bol or chilli, I again make 3x the quantity and freeze.
Aldis beef fat oven chips are gorgeous, but for the sake of the vegetarians in the family we buy Aldi skin on ones which are still passable.

Mediterranean veg mix is great to mix with cous and serve with fish for instance, the frozen cauliflower cheese is a great easy veg. Barbecue flavoured chicken drumsticks are available frozen, serve with frozen wedges and frozen corn on the cob (plus fresh salad and coleslaw ideally) . Frozen raw prawns cook from frozen too for quick pasta/risotto. Frozen pies often have raw pastry so taste better than refrigerated ones once cooked!

Keep an eye out for Co-Op meals - this week:

2 x large Goodfellows pizzas
1 x box chicken dippers
1 x bag McCain spicy wedges
1 x tub Oreo ice-cream

All for £5.00!!

And yellow sticker shopping is a great way to fill the freezer 😀

Just bought a bag of frozen trout fillets in Aldi, thjnk it was £2.50 for the 4x fillets. Not had them before so hopefully they’re ok.

I love my reductions! So my freezer has got a lot of meat in. Just wanted to broaden my horizons a bit! Only co op near me is a small one so normally doesn't have the freezer items on offer! Anyone here recommend any good potato wedges. I've tried making them and have failed spectacularly 🤣.

Tesco have a frozen paella that’s pretty passable. I also have one of their frozen Thai curries (with rice) in the freezer but haven’t tried to yet.

Also Lidl have a frozen Mac and cheese with lobster - it’s gorgeous.

Frozen onions, chilli's, garlic, ginger, spinach, sweetcorn, basil.
Also have raspberries and other frozen fruit to make smoothies or to flavour porridge or baking

Anyone here recommend any good potato wedges. I've tried making them and have failed spectacularly

I'm a very average cook but I reckon potato wedges aren't too hard to make. I just heat up oil in a roasting tin, chuck in the wedges (potatoes unpeeled, cut up and not pre-boiled). Turn occasionally and they're ready in 45-60 minutes.

I confess to potato waffles in my freezer though, so it's swings and roundabouts....!

@PartyPlan

I keep looking at the Itsu frozen gyoza. I would have those with a microwave rice pack.

Food of the gods!

Sorry Aldi not Lidl for the Mac and cheese.

Mediterranean veg mix is nice with eg a baked potato. Takes about 20 min to cook and no chopping 😍

Frozen onion + tinned tomatoes + cube of frozen spinach = v nice pasta sauce

Frozen veggie burgers / hash browns / croissants…

I'm never without frozen cherries. Great with yogurt, in porridge, with custard, in cookies or cakes, pavlovas etc etc. Tastier and much cheaper than fresh.

Frozen onion (haven’t chopped on in years) and frozen sliced peppers - both are really handy for batch cooking a meal.

Aldi do a really nice “fish and chip shop” beer battered cod (box of 4). It comes up lovely and crispy - was way nicer than what I’d get from our local takeaways.

They’ll never be as good as me doing it from scratch, but frozen roast potatoes and yorkshires mean that a roast can be thrown together fairly easily if I don’t feel up to doing it all myself.

I’m ordering meat from a local butcher. I slice chicken breasts into individual portions and freeze them - easy to get out and defrost required amounts to throw together a stir fry/fajitas etc. same with their homemade meatballs, bag into portions and take out what you need.

I keep a few frozen pies in there - not the healthiest, but I like them! And can be used as an alternative for a roast dinner.

Scampi is a favourite. And frozen prawns, which I bag into individual portions - handy for a stir fry, Thai curry, making a sandwich etc.

Fish fingers - easy meal (and can’t beat a fish finger sandwich!)

Meat that’s on offer - will nab it and freeze so that there’s choice for various recipes.

I batch cook bolognaise and curries so that there are always individual portions handy.

More for the summer, but I’ll always have some lollies to hand - and will never buy branded again! Aldi do great Valencia Orange lollies - 89p for a pack of four, way cheaper and just as nice as Del Monte etc. and their version of magnums are lovely, especially the salted caramel - again, around 89p for a box.

Greggs pasties from Iceland.Had a steak bake today for hangover purposes 😋

Ready made puff pastry can be turned into so many different things; a pie top for mince and veg, a turnover with savoury or sweet fillings, jam tarts, cheese straws, 'pizza' with tomato, mozerella and pesto.

I find having a bag of frozen risotto in the freezer very handy - Ocado do a lovely Picard one with asparagus in. Picard also do really lovely potato gratins in a posh little stack which cook in about 25 mins in a hot oven and look very impressive. Aside from that I try to add a bag of frozen Mediterranean vegetables every few weeks and a box of little moons (dumpling type things filled with amazing ice cream).

@TartanPyjamas

Not particularly cheap, but Tesco have frozen avocado which I use to make guacamole when having Mexican food. Too many disappointing moments of cutting into avocados that claim to be ripe and ready but are either black and stringy or much too hard. DH LOVES guacamole and thinks I have pulled out all the stops if I make some! Oh and I use frozen coriander, chillis and garlic in it too.

I’d never even thought of looking for frozen avocado - thank you! Will definitely be looking out for this.

Frozen garlic/ginger - most supermarkets either sell them in little bags, or for even better value from the international food section. You can get a bag full of cubes of garlic, ginger and sometimes the two mixed together - great for a curry

Frozen veg - I use the birds eye individual bags of mixed veg. Also usually have butternut squash, sweet pot and cauli in so I can make an easy veggie curry

Separate to that, we always have a couple of fish options - jumbo fish fingers, scampi, battered fish. A couple of potato options - chips and hash browns. A drawer of pizzas - 18 year old DS who works awkward hours to handy to have in. Also usually some ice cream/lollies

Forgot to add spinach!

I can do chips, gratin, rosti. But my wedges never seem to pass muster. And the kids don't eat them 🤣. But I know they have them at school so it must just be my cooking! I love cooking but I do prefer to bung them in the fryer. Never had decent oven wedges..