What's your best freezer "secret"

[Cratchit]

Probably everyone already knows this but ... mine is that you can freeze whole chillis. Red ones retain the heat better than green ones, but both work. It also means you can buy those little packets in the supermarket, which are often cut price down our way, and not waste any... Sometimes I defrost them in the microwave too. Ohmagawd I'm so 21st Century, or tight and desperate ...

and you can freeze egg whites. Useful when you've made pastry or something with the yolks and don't know what to do with all the whites! I freeze them in fours and use them (defrosted) for pavlovas when I want to impress. And the 13 year old can make fab ones too now, unaided, great step forward! We have chickens so have lots of eggs!

When my sister and i were at school, (quite some years ago!!) we would make our own sandwiches and freeze them, wrapped up separately for each day of the week. Take them out of the freezer in the morning and put in your lunchbox, and they'd be defrosted by lunchtime. worked ok for most fillings except salad stuff and tomatoes etc.

Keep your gin in the freezer. It goes all syrupy and has a real kick to it. Fab.

fab thread - glad i found it nearly 2 years on!!

i'm not sure why you would freeze butter, cheese or vodka though!

when dd was a baby, i used to make meals, blend them down for her and put them into labelled ice cube trays... then just pop a few cubes out and defrost as i needed them! great for making sure she got lots of homecooked meals without too much hassle or waste!

Don't know if this one has already been suggested but you can freeze whole pieces of ginger then just take it out and peel the end and grate however much you need. Buy the time it is in what you are cooking it is defrosted and it is easier to peel when frozen too.

Soak and cook a whole packet of dried beans at once. Then parcel up meal size portions into into sandwich bags and freeze. Saves boling up small quantities from scratch every time you want a beanfeast.

can you freeze

mayo
salad cream
canned tuna/salmon
jam/lemon curd/marmalade?

Message withdrawn

If you freeze water, it turns to ice which is great for chilling drinks.

OMG i have the best freezer tip ever

when painting your house, dont bother washing the brushes and rollers. wrap them in freezer bags and put in the freezer. the next day, when you come to restart the painting job, take brushses/roolers out of freezer, wait 2- secs or so and HEY PRESTO they are ready to use
uses best ofr emulsion, but can work for gloss too but it takes ages to soften - more liek 30 mins

that should be 20-30 secs

nappy, the vodka doesn't freeze but it is perfect drinking temperature.

I keep all my vodka (jeez, I sound like a lush) in the freezer.

Currently have plain, lemon, coffee and vanilla.

Hmmm, maybe I need to make some room for actual food.

I used to have vanilla vodka in my freezer and I had to stop buying it. The only time I used to fancy it was when I'd already had far too much wine.

And because it's so yummy I used to pour huge glasses of the stuff.

Couldn't be doing with the hangovers!

I make my own.

Buy plain and decant into smaller bottles to flavour.

My top tip is to freeze homemade pizza dough. I use J oliver's recipe which make a massive amount and then freeze the rest.

When defrosted it makes pizza day far, far easier.

ah i don't drink vodka neat. always mix it with coke or lemonade from the fridge so it is cold anyway.

Not read the whole thread but I also freeze chillies and ginger.

When I have stale bread left over I make it into bread crumbs and freeze them. Also freeze fresh herbs in icecubes trays with water.

i freeze buns/slices of cake/muffins etc for school lunches. also all leftovers.

can you freeze left over rice?

oh i have another good tip - anything going cheap at the supermarket that you know you won't eat in time - chuck it in the freezer!

Well, I bought some yummy sundried tomato bread bread for about 30p as it was end of date and wanted it for lunch a couple of days ago but didn't defrost it in time so just chucked it in the over for a bit in chunks, it was yummy and crusty! But for sliced bread for sarnies I would get out in a few slices in a freezer bag.

Thanks for bumping this thread - it's ace

I defrost slices of bread by just leaving them on a plate for a few minutes. Turn them over when the top surface is soft and then they don't go soggy underneath.

In answer to nappyaddict:
mayo - yes (hellmans - homemade might separate)
salad cream - yes
canned tuna/salmon - yes
jam/lemon curd/marmalade? - jam/marm can't see why not. curd might separate. But they keep for ages anyway in jars!

nailpolish - that is a completely brilliant tip re painting brushes

I whizz up ends of bread that are stale (but not mouldy!) into breadcrumbs and freeze them for when I need breadcrumbs.

Did discover earlier in the week that you really shouldnt freeze a full glass bottle of milk. I showed dd the results so that she too will know always that it is not a sensible thing to do.

You did ask :

Bread/milk/butter/marg/veg/cake/muffins/cheese/rice/pasta/chilli/chillis/curry/yoghurt/pudding/ sauces/bulk meals/soup/marinade/wine for cooking.

3 freezers and a self confessed freezer fetish .