Finally going to have a freezer after 7 years!

[LorelaiDanes]

Now we have three dc the time has come to get a freezer. It's coming next week have you got any tips for a well stocked freezer/best way to use it for lefetovers/batch cooking? At the moment planning to take advantage of frozen veg/fruit and ice cream!

Good for batches of curry, shepherds pie, etc.

When I go to the local farmers market I stock up on sausages, scones and bread and sling them in.

Emergency cook from frozen food like pizza, fish cakes/fingers.

Buy big lumps of cheese and freeze some.

Freeze chillies, I'm told you can freeze leftover wine but its never come up.

I freeze everything! Milk and bread are always good to have in the freezer...stops the top up trip to the shops that always end up with me buying much more than just bread or milk!

I do a lot of batch cooking. It's just me and 8 year old DS and it's really hard to cook just enough chili/curry/pasta sauce for one adult and one child so I usually do a big batch and freeze in portions.

Mashed potato freezes well. If I've got milk that needs to be used up, I'll make a load of cheese sauce and freeze that.

Frozen herbs/garlic/chili are great too, very convenient.

Ooh I hadn't thought about frozen herbs they sound good. Just don't want to end up with loads of bags of stuff that I don't know what's in them.

It's helpful to have loads and loads of different sized freezer-friendly containers.
Its surprising how many you need/use once you start batch cooking and freezing leftovers.
You can never have too many.

I mainly use old takeaway containers in the freezer. Those little ones the raita come in are perfect for freezing herbs! Or old baby food pots. I label with masking tape and a Sharpie. The masking tape sticks well in the freezer but is also easy to peel off for container so it can be re-used.

You can also cook and freeze beans. Dried kidney beans, chickpeas etc are much cheaper than tinned. Soak and cook them and stick them in the freezer and you can use them straight from frozen.

In my freezer I have:
Chapatis (from the frozen ethnic section in any supermarket)
Veg: petit pois, green beans, spinach, sweet corn, corn on the cob,
Fruit: berries
Herbs
Fresh pizzas

I also freeze fresh meat (especially when supermarkets do the three for £10 deals)

I also batch cook and freeze: bolognase, chilli, stews

I label stuff in the freezer - usually in plastic take-away boxes using a water soluble pen so it comes off.

I also have a sheet of paper and a pen stuck on the front and note when things go in & out which is useful for meal planning.

I freeze almost everything, I would be lost without my freezer. I try to freeze things in portions so that I can take out just as many as I need. When I buy a block of parmesan, I grate the whole lot and then portion it off and freeze it. I make a big batch of pizza sauce (with lots of veg blended into it) and portion that off. I do the same with the pizza dough. And I freeze mozzerella too! So if the DC suddenly decide they want pizza, I just take out two balls of dough, 2 portions of sauce and some mozzerella and we have pizza. I freeze chopped/sliced onion, peppers, slices of lime (to pop straight into my G&T!) bread (all sorts) Portions of meat that we haven't used yet (2 sausages - but they will feed one of the DC so better in my freezer than in the bin!) If I have gravy or sauce left over, I'll freeze it. Soup freezes well too.

I also batch cook and freeze so you'll find lasagne, curry, ragu etc.

As well as the frozen staples like oven chips, fish fingers, veg and ice cream

I use either tubs of various sizes or plastic food bags (which don't take up as much space so can be squeezed in!)

You won't know yourself OP

Thanks for all the great tips. There are a few there I hadn't thought of, just need to get filling now!