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?

I've never made mash or pissed about with my potato ricer since discovering m and a ultimate mash!

@Housing101

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).

I just added a couple of tins to my Ocado shopping, included the dhal one. Can't wait to try them. Thanks!

I always make more than I need. For example with a roast dinner I steam loads of veg then freeze for additional roast dinners😊

@steppemum

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?

If freezing And grating ginger leave the skin on. If you ever need or want to peel fresh ginger use the side of a teaspoon rather than a knife as just needs scraping and you sacrifice a lot less of the ginger that way

The thing that has made my life easier recently is a silicone cup cake tray as we have one veggie in the house so use it to freeze veggie batch or leftovers then easily push out into a freeze bag. Easy for one portion at a time rather than an entire tub or dish of something.

Frozen onions yes.

I also buy a head of celery and a bag of carrots, chop them into small chunks and freeze on a baking tray, then bag up in the freezer. I throw a handful into everything when I use the frozen onions.

Frozen mushrooms are OK but not as good as fresh - so I buy a fresh punnet, chop them up and keep in an open tupperware box in the fridge. Again I'll use a handful as above, also useful to add to omelettes, toasties etc. They last about a week, if they need using up I'll do fried mushrooms instead of peas/beans/corn.

Good thread!
I can add:

Frozen limes. I quarter them and freeze. Perfect for a G&T or the odd recipe that needs lime juice.

Frozen soffrito from M&S or Waitrose

Frozen chopped parsley

Waitrose ready made cheese sauce. For some reason I cannot make cheese sauce or any flour/butter based sauce. So this is great and freezes well.

You can freeze hummus!

Part baked bread - amazingly (worryingly?) long shelf life and always fresh and delicious

Marigold bouillon powder - you can use however much you need rather than a whole or half stock cube

Tiny bottles of wine for cooking

Lexloofah the silicone cup cake tray is genius. I use ice cube trays for freezing sauces but they are a bit too small for anything more solid, but a whole tupperware is less flexible as you have to defrost the whole lot. A cupcake tray should be just right. Off to order one now!

Kitchen scissors. I use them to chop so much, pretty much any meat (cooked or raw), any leaves, herbs, spring onions, pizza etc.

YY to M and S tinned soups! They formed the basis of my Brexit/lockdown emergency larder!

Freezing fresh herbs. I freeze them straight out of the packet into the takeaway type tubs, then just cut off what I need when cooking straight from frozen. Saves wasting anything you don’t use fresh. I’ve got parsley, coriander, chives, mint etc.

I freeze quite a lot of things too. I usually buy them fresh and then freeze extra not being used in ziplock bags:

Rosemary
Lemongrass
Lime leaves
Chilies
Ginger - I usually cut it into thumb-sized pieces, put all pieces in a ziplock and grab one, and grate when needed.
Basil. It goes to bits but I use it to make pesto.

I find that freezing other fresh herbs such as mint, oregano, thyme doesn't really work. It is too small.

I squeeze leftover lemons and then freeze them in ice cube trays
I make pasta sauce and freeze it in large ice cube silicone trays (each is about 5 tablespoons)
Bananas (without skins)
Any type of berries
I puree leftover apples and freeze them in large ice cube trays for porridge
Any leftover spinach is frozen (buy this instead of lettuce so no waste) and when I have enough I make a spanakopita or a palak paneer
We don't eat much bread so I buy a sourdough and cut it in half or a wholemeal leaf in freeze it in 4 slices.

I bought another freezer during lockdown so have more space to freeze now.

Can you make and freeze soffrito? Or, did I just see that you can buy it in Waitrose freezer section? I hate the wastage of buying loads of celery.

Also, frozen onions? What about the water? Doesn't it go mushy?

@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?

I haven't chopped an onion since I discovered this! Also chopped frozen garlic - the ones in the Asian cookery frozen sections

I freeze most of my bread and toast from frozen.
Also to prolong pesto, either freeze in ice cube trays or squish all the bits from the side down and top up with olive oil.

Also grate any cheese that is coming to the end of it's life put in a freezer bag and add as much as you need onto pizzas/ sauces as you need it.

Gonna blow your mind...Sainsbury's does frozen fajita vegetables - onions, mixed peppers, ready spiced. Waitrose does frozen chopped soffrito, garlic, jalapeño, semi-dried tomato, coriander, ginger. You can get ready chopped frozen stewing vegetables mix. Its all brilliant for those of us who can't use our hands properly anymore.

The frozen ginger and garlic is so much better than the jars or tubes, no vinegar taste in cooking and much more economical.

@CommanderBurnham

The frozen ginger and garlic is so much better than the jars or tubes, no vinegar taste in cooking and much more economical.

I agree, I’m not a fan of the jars because of whatever it is the garlic/ginger is in.

Yes to the frozen chopped onions,red and white and frozen sliced peppers.
Also buy garlic paste chilli paste and freeze pesto.

Buy the frozen fajita chicken mix from Aldi and then Chuck more frozen peppers and onions into it.

I've yet to find a way of keeping salad fresher and although we get through a ton of it a week we also end up throwing out loads

This article where they tested the best way to store fresh herbs - mine always go brown before I can use them up.

www.thekitchn.com/we-tried-5-methods-for-storing-fresh-herbs-and-found-a-clear-winner-23031250

If you want a small amount of mash potato (ie kiddy supper or mash for one), microwave a potato (stab it and wrap in kitchen towel and cook for 2-3 mins). Scrape out and mash the middle with a fork. Voila.

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

If you put it in a plant pot surrounded by compost it will actually grow.

Spring onions, chop an inch or two above the roots, put the roots in water and they regrow.

Frozen shallots are really handy

1)Pasta with a knob of butter and finely grated halloumi stirred in - so quick.
2)Orzo to bulk out tomato based stews.
3)Turning the roasted chicken upside down to rest so all the juices run in to the breast.

What about chopping up herbs like oregano, parsley, etc. and either freezing them in water or olive oil in an ice cube tray?

Would that work?

You can poach halved chicken breasts to juicy perfection off the heat in 20 mins:
Boil water in kettle, pour into saucepan, bring back up to boil on the hob. Drop in chicken. Bring back up to the boil. Turn off heat. Cover. Move it to the countertop.
While the chicken cooks itself I make a sauce with frozen mushrooms, parmesan, cream (or condensed milk) and chicken stock.

Tomato passata thickened with a few tsp of onion gravy granules makes almost instant easy pasta sauce, (sprinkle of dried oregano or Italian mixed herbs if you want) , without the extra sugar etc in jar sauce.