What am I not freezing that I should be?

[Born2BRiiiled]

On two threads tonight, I have read of things I would not think to freeze. Namely, brie and celery.
A whole world of freezing could be out there. Please amaze me!

Bumping again :)

Cannot believe you can freeze raw onions and mushrooms and I never knew!

What else?

Grapes, better actually frozen than fresh if you ask me

It's actually quite difficult to think of the things that don't freeze!

grate cheese in zip lock bags and freeze
parmaesan rinds. great in stews

I do a bulk load of onions, but fry them down first then freeze them in cubes. I hate waiting for onion to soften in the pan, so now I just stick a cube of browned onion in and defrost it in the pan. Hardly takes up any freezer space either.

Ooh, and you can freeze the ends of asparagus that you break off when cooking, then make soup when you have enough

Coconut milk freezes fine. Most of my recipes only need half a tin and it's so bloody expensive no way will I throw out half a tin. I put the left overs in icecube trays and throw it in in frozen cubes to curries, sauces etc.

I buy big joints of beef, pork and gammon. Cook and slice and freeze in batches of 6/8 slices and use instead of sandwich meats.

Blackcurrants - we have lots of bushes, stick them all raw in freezer at harvest time, stick still frozen in apple pies etc

Milk - freeze it every week

Chillis - but they aren't as hot as dried

I think frozen mushrooms are horrible, sorry! I only ever freeze them if they are in something like bolog or chili and I never like how they end up, they go all rubbery and tasteless.

I batch cook dried beans and freeze in portions. Dried beans are much cheaper than tins and you can use them straight from the freezer once cooked.

I also (when I remember) stew up fruit that's going a bit soft (esp apples) and freeze that in portions to have on cereal or with yoghurt.

In France the frozen food chain Picard is, unlike Iceland, very posh. It sells whole lobes of foie gras stuffed with figs, for instance. They have a huge veg section: chopped onion, sliced and griddled aubergine (done without fat), sliced green and yellow courgettes, chopped mix for ratatouille, all kinds of purees and mashes (often used as first foods for babies), sliced grilled red and yellow peppers, artichokes, all kinds of beans, potatoes in all their cooked formats, not to mention fruit such as berries, melon balls etc. They also do bags of mixes that you chuck straight in the frying pan, called poelées, eg paella, or local specialities like cubed potatoes with mushrooms and cheese.

I also need a bigger freezer.

You cannot freeze raw potatoes. I did it once by accident. On the same day I stored the ice-cream in the veg rack. That doesn't work either.

This thread is great!
I freeze cheese sauce in ice cube trays, which then either makes very quick pasta meals for the children (add frozen spinach when defrosting) or 1 cube on top of frozen fish filllet done in oven makes a really easy fish dish. (I mean 1 cube per fillet, ovenproof dish, foil over, oven for 25mins)

Coconut milk! Excellent. Only ever use half a tin. Soft fruits? Do you do anything or just chuck them in?
What about plain yoghurt, or Rachel's vanilla?
I'm trying to think of things I don't use up.

Frozen yoghurt is yum. In fact they sell it . Not sure what its like defrosted, mind.

That's what I wondered. So I could cook with it. You can't freeze cream can you? Or can you when it's whipped? Also, is the rule, freeze once raw, and once cooked?

yes thats right freeze raw and reheat then you can't rrefreeze.

As for frozen yoghurt I keep a box of those yoghurt tubes in the freezer for when the DC want Ice cream.

I freeze so much it riles DH there is nothing in the house to just eat when he feels like it!

Rice and pasta can be frozen when you cook too much. Vegetables freeze well for soup which is good for things like turnip and leeks which often require 1/2 the size of that which is available to buy. Always slice or grate before freezing. Cooked chickens from the supermarket rotisserie counter can be frozen and I use this in stir fries, sandwiches and all sorts. Usually pick these up really cheap near closing time. Fresh ginger I freeze and grate from frozen as needed.

Tinned tuna apparently can be frozen but I have not had good results. I have heard yoghurt can be frozen but cannot imagine it defrosts to the same consistency or do folks eat it frozen?

Left over bread can done into breadcrumbs freezer well.

Thanks sharond, loads of useful ideas!

We have little packets of frozen garlic, frozen red chillies, ginger and coriander - great for spinkling on a stirfry etc

Breadcrumbs are great - I have a bag that gets old crusts and the bits if i cut dd's sandwich into a shape...... then they get bleneded and sprinkled over fish, chicken mushrooms etc.

Someone gave me the tip of freezing leftovers in meal portion in a feezer bag inside the microvae bowl you'll use to reheat it. Then when its frozen take out the dish and store in freezer bag in that shape. It then fitsd when defrosting etc.

I've certainly enjoyed cooking 4 sunday dinners in one oven on an energietic SUnday then reaping the rewards on lazy sundays :)

I have a bag of leftover bits of veg in the freezer, broccoli stalk, cauliflower stem, asparagus ends, ends of carrots, green off spring onions etc that I cook and liquidize into a lovely soup when I've enough in.

Always freeze leftover mash - just saves time. I used to precook sausages so could just sling in microwave for quick buttie.

When I bake a cake always make 2 and freeze one unfilled ready to assemble when needed.

I freeze whole tomatoes when we have a glut then just chuck them in whole in any casseroles/stews

You can freeze cream, it's fine. We always eat the yoghurt frozen not tried to completely defrost it but can imagine it might separate.

Keep 'em coming folks! Thanks for all the suggestions. What about things like ham? Sliced meats in general.

Wow. Good tips here.

My favourite has to be freezing chopped onions . I use a lot of chopped onions- do a lot of curries, stews etc - so would be so much easier just to be able to whip a bag out of the freezer.

Also - the coconut milk idea is good!

Thanks - I dojn't have any tips of my own though - sorry.

Oh - I freeze soup often. When I used to go out to work it was v handy to just pick out a tub and transport it frozen. No splllage. I would leave it on the worktop in kitchen at work - and by lunchtime it would have defrosted a bit - just heat in microwave - and done.