What’s so great about using frozen food? Tips anyone?

[lucycooks]

One of my friends is very organised and preplans meals, using lots of frozen ingredients which she says saves her loads of time and money.
I normally buy fresh veg etc and I suppose I could save a lot of time in the kitchen if it was already prepared in the bag!
Is anyone else an advocate of frozen food? Any handy tips?

the other thing is herbs etc - Waitrose even do frozern ready-chopped garlic, and shallots

I don't really like frozen veggies as texture not the same.So dreary too-most Brits just dish out boiled mishmash of watery stuff.

Soy beans are the only frozen things I do and they are great-either in salas, stir fries or as they are.

Cn't see that chopping a carrot or cabbage is that time consuming myself.

I do freeze meat and ready dishes and stuff like breadcrumbs and milk thoguh.

Frozen peas, beans sweetcorn and spinach are great!

I put a small amount of spinach in tomato pasta sauce.

I also freeze curry leaves from the Asian Grocer.

Cabbage, carrot, etc all are better fresh imo.

I cannot believe you use frozen garlic? It takes moments to crush a garlic clove!

agree re the waitrose frozen herbs - they're brilliant.
Peas/sweetcorn etc yes. Anything else is fresh. Frozen peppers etc are good for stews. not tried frozen spinach yet, but will go now - always buying the mahoosive bags in supermarkets for curries and only end up using half

Pah! People always say it takes moments to do xx. They're not counting the time it takes to wash the chopping board and the many, many times you have to wash your hands to get the smell off. And then the cream you have to apply to treat the contact dermatitis from the washing. Still, it's a lovely opportunity for some to feel smug, so go ahead.

Frozen chopped chili is great because you can just shake it out of the pack and don't need to touch it.

The best thing about frozen shallots/garlic/chili is that it's always there and lasts for ages, which means you can whip up something tangy without too much forward planning.

I think it depends.

We live 10 miles from the shops so i like to do a weeks shopping (no popping to the shops in the week unless i really have to), most fresh food only lasts 2-3 days (veg, meat) so i have to buy some frozen to save me having to drive to the supermarket and spending more money then i have too.

So we have fresh at the begining of the week and frozen at the end.

I keep various frozen herbs... just buy it fresh and stick it straight in the freezer (parsley, coriander, thyme etc). then you can crumble/chop it straight into dishes for cooking. wouldn't work for a salad obviously!

Thanks, I never really knew you could get veg such as spinach and peppers frozen until recently, they're getting quite expensive fresh these days so will def be checking out the frozen aisle!

I sometimes make it down to my local food market for bargain deals, it's great as i can buy a bucket of a specific veg for a pound or so. the only thing is i never manage to get through it all and i hate throwing away/ wasting food!!

I read on a blog a couple of weeks ago how one mum froze frube yogurt tubes to put in lunchboxes which acted as an ice block keeping the lunch cool and the yogurt defrosted by lunchtime. I thought that was such a great idea!
has anyone else got any novel ideas like that?!

lucycooks - yes, frubes are great for that. I always have someone ask me about them when I'm out with DS - it's not like they're a rarity in the shops is it?

Our nearest grocery shop is a car drive away so I freeze bread and butter.

A good time saver (if you like Indian food) is to chop a whole load of garlic and ginger at the same time in the food processor then flatten and freeze in a plastic bag. You then just snap off and defrost the bit you want.

Frozen veg means you can have local stuff out of season. French beans for example. They are only in season for a few weeks here and then they import them from Kenya!

Frozen stuff good if you don't meal plan, if you want choose what to eat on the day. Less of the 'we must eat X whether we feel like it or not because the Y needs eating up'.

i use fresh veg in the beginging of the week, and use the frozen towards the end.

i use frozen peas/sweetcorn/spinach/orkra/corn on the cob/mushrooms/pepper strips.

We get through bag loads of frozen berries, esp raspberries in the winter.

I freeze milk and bread every week.
( MIL introduced me to this )

I make double the amount of pizza dough and freeze half. Also freeze breadcrumbs, egg whites, unused glasses/dregs of wine both red and white for use in cooking. I freeze glut veggies and fruit I have grown, as well as Seville oranges I buy in Jan/Feb.

I always buy frozen peas, except when we have our own during the few precious summer months.