to ask what you keep in your freezer?

[CakePops]

Watched a Gordon Ramsey programme where he said he kept sliced frozen bagels in his freezer, so he's always got a quick brunch.

This had never occurred to me so I wondered what other freezer tricks I am missing out on.

To kick things off these are normally to be found lurking in my freezer:

Frozen veg (fast food for the dc when I can't be bothered to cook)

Fishfingers (See above)

Pizza base - Made in batch. And frozen for a quick pizza when I can't be bothered to cook (I see a theme emerging ...)

Banana bread, flapjacks etc - made in batch for after school snack.

Ice - For alcohol.

Frozen onions - For when I can be bothered to cook but not cry.

What do you keep in yours?

I can never find cheap frozen meat ..

I've just done a freezer and fridge 'stock take' code for broke and have to wait for payday to buy food so what can I rustle up from freezer contents so I can tell you exactly!
Bag of spicy wedges
Potato waffle cross cross things
Onion rings
Oven chips
Breaded fish portions
Chicken burgers

• Disclaimer - all of the above is DHs that he sometimes takes to work for lunch. I hate stuff like that so would rather not have it!

X2 packs pork steaks
X1 lamb breast
X5 chicken breasts
X2 packs of oxtail
X4 small packs of minced beef
X4 sausages
Shoulder of pork
X3 Chinese takeaway tubs -x2 with ratatouille and 1 pea & ham soup
Bag of bread buns left over from a BBQ (will probably never use these)
Box of mixed ice creams (fab/feast type things)
Bag of frozen peas
X4 ice packs

Sliced lemon for G&Ts. You mean you can put other things in there ? Oh yes, a bag of sloes for making sloe gin. And vodka. And ice cubes.

Herman cake
Fish fingers
Birds eye chicken quarterpounders (these are so good)
Two portions of curry
Apple and apricot sauce
Ice cream
Pitta breads
Wraps
Sweetcorn
Raspberries
Ice
Pastry
Chicken breasts

I think that's about all just now.

Chips!!

Vodka doesn't freeze at freezer temps,.it is just very cold :)

Cakepops no I don't freeze them individually but there's 7 of us so once a packets open it goes within a day or 2 but if our family was smaller I would.They all freeze fine we just get them out the evening before so they defrost for the morning although bagels cook well from frozen.

No frozen veg in the freezer the fresh is in the fridge.I cook straight from frozen.If you can get hold of fresh veggies cheap then you can blanch them leave to cool down and then freeze.

Chicken fillets
salmon fillets
frozen basil, parsley, coriander, lemon grass, lime leaves
frozen chopped shallots
ready minced portions of garlic and ginger
fish fingers
prawns
squid
white fish portions
ice cubes
ice cream
frozen spinach, peas, green beans and okra

sweet corn
Peas
Spinach
Oven chips
Croissants
Mini baguettes
Portions of bolognese sauce
Prawns
Butter
Stocks (fish, chicken, beef)
Coffee beans
Egg whites (always have some as I make loads of ice cream)
Ice cream x 3 flavours
Frozen berries
Korean dumplings
Curry sauce
Shortcrust pastry
Puff pastry
Filo dough
Cookie dough
Parmesan rinds (for soups)
Chicken carcasses (for stock)
Chicken kievs (DS's guilty pleasure)
Apple compote (loads due to recent harvest)
Various sausages
Salmon fillets

Cake, check out the butchers counter and the clearance section of the chilled aisle for meat and ready meals that are on their sell by date.

As long as they go in the freezer ASAP they're fine.

Thanks Jenai, I need to work out which is the best times to hit the supermarkets for the best reductions.

Yes you can make banana bread from frozen bananas (DP often does this, I don't know why she doesn't just make the banana bread rather than freezing the bananas first)

Frozen Vodka is 'cos you don't then need ice to get a nice cold drink - it's still liquid - you can sometimes get some of the vodka to freeze if you have a very cold freezer which will also mean that the vodka you then drink is slightly higher in concentration, but not so much as to matter in a domestic freezer.

Some people freeze fresh ground coffee because it goes off really quickly once you've ground it. However it's a bad idea a dark cool dry place is probably better. Grinding your own beans even better.

@CakePops

Thanks Olivia, moving it to Food will kill the thread for sure

Not necessarily oh ye of little faith...

Gin
Ice for gin
Frozen veg
Meat
Fab ice lollies
Fresh ginger (just grate a bit off when needed, it stays fresh forever!)
Questionable leftovers - we have a "freezer tapas" night every so often when we're really skint, often necessitating some imaginative and some downright nasty combos

How long to defrost bread? Anyone?

Bread
Milk

(Lots of both)

Fish fingers
Bacon
Steak (for casserole)
Sausages
Ice lollies
Frozen spinach - but I have no idea what I do with it

Soditall I have freezer envy
I read that anything previously frozen (chips, peas etc) should go middle/bottom of freezer and anything that goes in fresh should go at the top.
I've read about freezing grapes, might try that.
And I'm glad it's not just me that doesn't label stuff thinking I'll definitely remember it. Bolognese sauce with rice just wasn't right .

Bread will be defrosted by lunchtime Wheresmypopcorn.

Is gin like vodka (doesn't freeze)?

I put frozen spinach in most one pot meals as an extra source of iron for the dc, no ones noticed yet.

I keep meaning to grate ginger. I read that on MN but keep forgetting.

The butter wrapper idea is genius!

From top to bottom we have:

chips
peas
cauliflower
last of the damsons from last years harvest
blackberries from this year
own brand cornetto's
bread
ice
ice cream
bags of bought frozen fruit for smoothies, jam making etc
burgers
sausages
salmon
smoked salmom trimmings
herbs
cake (3 types)
english muffins
biscuit dough
parmesan cheese
bacon
portions of various casseroles
mince
whole chickens
chicken thighs
leg of lamb
pizza bases

plus a load of unidentified single bags of ice crusted bits and pieces!

have all the usual stuff in mine in addition to lots of pancakes for crispy duck and won ton wrappers. i like to cook a lot of chinese food so stock up at the oriental supermarket.

i am in the process of getting to know my new fridge freezer, in addition to the fridge, and the freezer section (which is in drawers, love them!) i also have a chiller drawer which is set at 0 degrees (fridge is 3, freezer is -18), but not sure what i should be storing in it.

I have 2 freezers - a regular one, and a small chest freezer (same size as a regular fridge or freezer). I find them to be my best time and money saving devices. Spread between them is the following:

Meat - half a lamb purchased from local farmer (already butchered into cuts, much to DH's disappointment ), pork chops x 2, chicken drumsticks, gammon joint, chicken breast fillets x 2.

Fish - Last portion of trout from half a fish, packet of frozen pollack fillets

Bread - 2 loaves, couple of scones, pack of chocolate muffins, 'endy' bits of bread that were going stale for ducks at park

Herbs - about 5 different sorts

Veg - pack of mixed veg, diced swede, chopped (by me) carrots, chopped (by me) onions

Meals - 1 each cottage pie & fish pie from my bulk cooking, 1 chicken stew brought down by MIL

Fast food - 1 pack each of fishfingers & chicken fingers, cornish pasties

Other - grated (by me) cheese, mashed potato (deliberately make too much & freeze), leftover gravy, leftover fish pie sauce. Ice packs. Ice lollies.

I also sometimes freeze milk & butter if I see it reduced but already have enough in fridge. Plus I forage & will freeze blackberries, apples & plums for puddings or purees or sauces

All of this was bought from reduced shelf of Tesco/Co-op, I never buy anything costing more than 50% of original price & rarely anything costing more than 25% of original price. Having 2 freezers means I can freeze bargains as & when I see them.

I [heart] my freezers & live by the motto that you can freeze just about anything

Whenever I see supermarket reductions, its only a tiny amount off the full price.

I didn't realise you could freeze left over gravy. I always have left over gravy and never want to make it mod week, now I don't have to.

CakePops I make a point of going to Tesco about once every 3-4 weeks at 7.15 pm & hang around until they do the last reductions (usually between then & 8 pm). I take the DC (ages 3.10 & 18 months) with me & they just have a later bedtime that night. It is a faff & time-consuming, but it saves me 75% plus on my meat & fish bill & means we can eat much nicer food than we would otherwise!

The gravy that I freeze I usually use for casseroles etc, but there is no reason why it cannot be reheated for roasts, mash etc [drools]

Thanks jenduck, I think I should do that as well. Although could only do it on Friday as eldest is in reception and needs sleep otherwise we all suffer

My nearest supermarket is morrisons so might try and work out their reduction times first.