Full freezer, how to freeze anything on a tray.

[Togetheragain45]

When you watch tv cookery programmes, the chef always has an almost empty freezer, and slides in a tray of raspberries, meatballs, etc, with no problem.
My freezer is always full to bursting, so it's impossible to find enough space for freezing anything on a tray.
Has anyone found a solution to this. Does wrapping in cling film or foil work? Or should I just buy another freezer? (Not possible really as the kitchen is too small).

Ha yes, their freezers are so unrealistic. If I ever need to freeze anything like this, I plan ahead to free up a bit of space, and rearrange things a lot so I can balance a baking tray with the stuff on, on top of the peas and sweetcorn, or the ice cream or whatever. Then when it’s frozen I bag it up.

What's in your freezer? Do you use and regularly rotate what's in there?

Mine always used to be full then we had a freezer month and ate (in some cases binned) all of the stuff that had been in there forever. Now I can freeze on trays . . . (Tbf it is a 5ft one with 5 drawers so I should never have had this problem . . .)

When I buy minced beef or lamb I flatten it out before freezing, anything in cardboard boxes I take out, fish fingers, sausages, pigs in blankets, pizza etc. and put in bags, although I do try and put a sticker on them as sometimes, I cannot see what it is once frozen.

If I'm freezing a curry or chilli that I've made I decant into large food bags and press it flat before putting into the freezer. Then pile these 'layers ' up.

Whenever I clean out the freezer I get enough space back again! Keeping it organised makes a big difference. I use up the inventory more when I can see all the veg together, or all the meat.

Or time it for when the cat food is nearly used up (delivered monthly) and/or we only have half a bag of chips in!

How do you defrost them?

I put mine into tubberware containers and then defrost in the microwave.

I have frozen prawns in my freezer in the packaging they came in ie plastic, for months that I cannot figure out how to defrost without giving us food poison!

Leave the plastic tub in the fridge and it defrosts slowly? Or you can often just cook prawns from frozen anyway - they defrost so quickly.

I defrost by leaving in the fridge overnight ( in the bag) on a plate or on the worktop for a few hours. They defrost quickly because they contents are spread so thinly

Yes same OP, they always have a pristine shelf, wide and tall to put things in, no bits of frozen pea or sweetcorn in the corners with the odd bit of frozen chip

Same with fridges, they've always got a shelf free to chill a massive cheesecake on a stand, and yet have tons of ingredients to hand at any one time!

Our freezer is always packed but I don't have problems getting a baking tray of small things like blackberries in on top of one of the drawers even if it looks full to bursting. Use a sheet of bacoglide or baking parchment so they don't all weld to the tray.

Defrosting prawns - just open the bag, tip them into a bowl, cover with cold water, change it a few times at 5 min intervals while breaking up clumps of them with your fingers.