Things I learned recently and made my life easier

[user1471523870]

This place is awesome for finding out new tricks!

What I learned so far that I have also implemented successfully:

• you can buy chopped frozen onion. Revolutionary! I then discovered I can buy chopped shallot (feels very posh) and that I prefer the M&S chopped onions as cut finer than others.
• you can buy mashed potatoes and it tastes really good. Not as life changing for me, but super useful for when my toddler decides he wants his tea now, not in 20 minutes after I boil the potatoes.
• on the same trend, I now buy sliced frozen sweet peppers. Great for my fajitas. I always keep frozen chicken and a box or two of Fajitas kits for emergency.
• my latest frozen discovery is stir fry veg. We have a stir fry every other week-ish but I have to make sure to plan it carefully as the bags of fresh ready made veg only last few days. Not anymore now! Frozen veg, frozen salmon, packs of sauce/noodles and ta-daaaa.

Any other suggestions that work for you?

Iceland do a frozen salmon risotto. Really tasty & you can bulk it out with another piece of salmon (we love teriyaki salmon) on top.

Mashed potato freezes brilliantly. I make a huge batch every now and again, and freeze it in individual portions. Once defrosted it tastes exactly the same as fresh.

Dried soya mince. I discovered it last year when DS1 went veggie and it has revolutionised mince based meals. So quick and easy, far cheaper, easy to store and nobody knows the difference.

@JuneFromBethesda

Mashed potato freezes brilliantly. I make a huge batch every now and again, and freeze it in individual portions. Once defrosted it tastes exactly the same as fresh.

I can improve on this... you can microwave it from FROZEN. Oh yes you can! Just do it in bursts and I usually start on something like 70% of power. Nuke for a minute, stir. Nuke, stir. As it gets defrosted you can nuke for longer at a time.

Thank me later!

I can use a few tablespoons of hoisan sauce, with a little water as a sauce for stir fry. Fry veg, remove. Then fry meat/chicken, add hoisan and 2 or 3 tablespoons of water. Bubble for a few seconds and tada! Has changed my life. I then squeeze some lime and a few splashes of soya sauce over the lot. [Maybe everyone knew this. But I didn't].

Jars/tubes of ginger, lemongrass etc are so much easier than the real thing if you don't use them often.

Frozen veg is so much easier. I currently use frozen onions, frozen chopped garlic, frozen peppers, frozen carrots (bulk out meals like spag bol and chilli), frozen mushrooms and frozen mash as well as the usual frozen peas and broccoli.

Garlic paste in a tube. I wasted hours of my life every night for twenty years fiddling with sticky, papery garlic skins, unable to get the scent off my fingers then discovered garlic paste in a tube.

Amazing suggestions thanks! I need to try the garlic/ginger paste, garlic in particular as we use it quite often and always a pain. Ginger we don't use often and probably would sit at the back of the fridge anyway.

I make a big batch of caramelised onions & freeze in portions.
Ditto tomato sauce, onion gravy

There a lot of condiments that go off when stuck in the fridge for any length of time - things like preserved lemons, pesto, miso etc.
I freeze them in tiny plastic pots - I think you get 5 or 6 for £1 - as they're more convenient than ice-cube trays.

You can freeze whole chillis, ginger and garlic and use them from frozen. Just grate what you want.

I use jarred garlic. Game changer.

Wireless headphones while cooking.

Lazy garlic, Lazy ginger & Lazy chilli. Save hours!

Ahh great suggestions again. I do freeze larger amounts of food in small portions and it's very satisfying not having to throw it away because forgotten at the bottom of the fridge.
Last year I have been giving a huuuuuge jar of artichokes in olive oil (think restaurant-type supply). I just use them as pizza topper or for pasta sauce, so when open, even if preserved in olive oil, it went off in few weeks. This lovely lady gifted me another one only the other day, but this time I decanted them in smaller portions using glass yogurt jars with lids I saved and put them in the freezer. Perfect portion size and no more waste!

@HasaDigaEebowai

Dried soya mince. I discovered it last year when DS1 went veggie and it has revolutionised mince based meals. So quick and easy, far cheaper, easy to store and nobody knows the difference.

Do you have a preferred brand?

Idahoan mashed potato - I learned about this on MN and tried it very dubiously.

It's amazing. I still find it hard to believe that instant mash from a packet can taste so "real".

Garlic paste in a jar is much cheaper and you get more than a tube. Plus you can recycle the jar.

Do you have a preferred brand?

witches yes I use the holland and barrett one. Its cheap anyway at £1.99 a bag (which would do 4 of us 3 or 4 bolognese type meals) but often its on buy one get one half price too.

www.hollandandbarrett.com/shop/product/holland-barrett-natural-soya-protein-mince-60082699

For all the lazy garlic fans, you can also get frozen garlic and ginger from the world food freezer section in some large supermarkets (or the Indian grocer if you have one nearby). It comes in bags of individual cubes so you can just add a cube of garlic or ginger to whatever you are cooking. No wastage at all.

Hang on.... you can freeze ginger?? Whole and raw?! The ginger we’ve wasted because I use a ‘thumb sized piece’ once a month!

I absolutely second frozen veg, onion, butter nut squash chunks and all greens are a regular in our meals. Especially helpful with a weaning baby who just has a couple at a time. Those bags of tiny chopped veg can go into anything, chicken pie, pasta, minestrone soup and just make everything so much easier!!

Hang on.... you can freeze ginger?? Whole and raw?!

Yes! I grate it straight from the freezer and put it back in after.

Buy garlic and ginger pastes from the world foods aisle in the supermarket. SO much cheaper. Also if you use a lot of particular spices like paprika, dried chillies, curry powder...you'll find those in big bags, for half the price they are in the spice aisle!

@PurpleDaisies what a game changer, thank you!

[quote OddshoesOddsocks]@PurpleDaisies what a game changer, thank you![/quote]
No problem at all! I’ve got a box in the freezer with garlic, ginger and various chillis in it. I haven’t binned any odds and ends since.

That M&S tinned soups are delicious. And a lot cheaper than the 'fresh' made soups.

The dhal soup is my favourite, very filling and tasty (and £1).

Oh wow, I am loving the frozen ginger.

I ordered ginger on my online shop a couple of weeks ago and got a whole bag full.

Love it that I can freeze it!

Do you peel it first?

I haven’t peeled ginger for years.