Freezer tips

[TiddleTaddleTat]

Have just invested in a large chest freezer.
Plan is to batch cook and prep a variety of meals so that these can be cooked on work weeknights in the autumn and winter.
Any tips about how to store frozen food?
Organisation ? Just seen a recent thread on using plastic crates and having a display listing what is in the freezer with dates.

If I make something like shepherd’s pie filling or a pasta bake, I put it in a ziplock bag and freeze it in the casserole pan it’ll be cooked in. Once it’s frozen I remove the casserole/pan and just freeze the bag, then when I take it out to defrost it’s in the right shape and I decant it into the pan to defrost, then cook.

You can freeze most items; cheese (grated), milk (for about a month; although bear in mind it takes ages to defrost so you might want to freeze I pint or 2 litre bottles), butter,

Thanks - great tip on using the pan to 'mould' it.
Will definitely have a go at freezing grated cheese - can do this in bulk using food processor.
I've heard eggs in ice cube trays are good.
Any other ideas?

‘Roast potatoes’; par boil and freeze flat on a tray, then decant into a large bag. When ready to use, heat your oil as usual and add frozen to the pan. Just add extra 10/15 mins to the usual cooking time. I used to just do this to save jobs at Xmas, but now I always do double spuds and freeze some, as it means a minimal effort midweek roast is easy and you can buy up potatoes when they’re on offer/reduced.

Another tip I read somewhere is to take food like chicken or mince out if the packets to freeze; I’m guilty of just throwing the whole packet in but half of it is air and wasted space.

Always freeze stuff in individual meal-size or smaller portions. I’m a family of four so I freeze sausages or sliced roast meat into either twos or fours, so it’s easier to just take out what you need

I haven’t tried the egg one yet but I’ve heard it works (you just need to break the yolk slightly before freezing)

I learned from the preppers board here to freeze things in bags laid flat. Called the book method. It has made a big difference to the amount I can freeze and ease of fitting it in.

I have done eggs in silicone muffin tray, easy to get out and fits a whole egg. Beaten together first, so yolk mixed in. They are in freezing well and certainly tired me over in the time when we couldn't get hold of eggs.

Pizza fits in well without the box. I take a photo of the cooking instructions, so easy to hand when cooking later on.

Freeze anything that you want to use individually on trays and them decant into bags or tubs. Then the moisture contentment doesn't stick them together and you can get the amount you want out. So you don't have to use the whole pack at once.

If your recipe needs lots of fresh herbs you know you might not use in the days to come, you can freeze them for later. Use an ice cube tray and put some cut herbs into each section. Top with water, and freeze. They're great for throwing into soups, stews and other dishes to add flavour.
Next time you buy a bunch of grapes, put some into a freezer bag and pop them into your freezer. They'll chill your glass of wine without diluting it. They're also pretty tasty.
We usually get too many chips when ordering fish and chips from the fish and chip shop, so I freeze the surplus, reheat in oven, often better second time !!

Similar to removing the pizza boxes - I'm pretty fast and loose with cooking times for convenience foods, so I always remove the cardboard packinging/boxes. So things like chicken nuggets, crumbed oven fish, spring rolls, dumplings all come in plastic bags inside boxes. Saves a lot of room.

These are brilliant ! Thanks

My top tips from the school of do as I say, not do as I do.

Don't freeze what you don't eat. If the family will only eat peas and carrots then a bag of spinach is a waste of space no matter how cheap it was.

Label everything. No exceptions, no "I'll remember what it is", "it's obvious what it is", "I'll be using it next week". Mystery items are passed over and become a waste of freezer space.

I take breaded fish and the like from the boxes it comes in but I freeze it in my own bags having cut off and included the cooking instructions from the box.

What others have said, put things in the freezer as you will want to take them out - I buy a kilo of chicken and freeze it on a baking tray before bagging it up. If I only want a couple of pieces I have the option then, I won't always be using the full kilo in a recipe.

I use a lot of ginger, I keep it in the freezer and cut bits off it as I need it. I used to buy frozen processed ginger but I don't have the space for that now.

@Knotaknitter Does freezing chicken (and fish fillets) on trays before putting into bags leave the chicken ok? I’ve always used special tear off plastic sheets from Lakeland to individually wrap items before freezing, but I’m now wondering if I’ve been missing a trick here. I freeze small items (sliced over ripe banana...) on trays, but not larger things.

I imagine if you left it then it would get freezer burn but as it's only in there long enough to set hard it's not an issue. I do put some things spaced out in a bag flat on a tray, mostly more delicate items that I don't think will survive my impatient use of a fish slice to release them from the tray. I split up a big tray of wafer thin ham yesterday, portionned it into enough for two sandwiches and froze it.

Bandol Yours is the "proper" way and will avoid dehydration in long term storage but it's rare that I have anything in my freezer for longer than six months, I don't think I've got anything in there now that is from before lockdown except for a turkey.

@Knotaknitter I will start freezing on a tray and then transfer to a bag the next day. We don't have a massive amount of freezer space (yet) and I'm quite disciplined so food gets rotated and used up within a reasonable amount of time. I like your idea of freezing ham - I've never thought of doing that!

I peel ginger and cut into pieces and freeze. Also freeze whole chillis.
Herbs are chopped. Put into ice cubes with water and frozen, then popped out into a labelled bag.

If I buy a bag of onions and know I will not use them them all, I copy them ( usually by machine!) and freeze them. Great to not waste plus often I just want a small amount for the children’s dish.

Chop - not copy even.