Frozen veg

[vinoandbrie]

Advice welcome on which frozen veg are recommended.

This is particularly in light of the Port of Dover having closed, I’m concerned about a lack of fresh veg!

I tread fresh Same as fresh veg, frozen veg retains a lot of the nutrients as so quickly frozen
Is there likely to be supply issues?

Thanks, good to know! Apparently there are fears for the supply of fresh food over Christmas

I’ve got peas, spinach, broad beans and sweet corn because that’s what people here eat. DD has a bag of chopped mixed veg she adds to soups and sauces.

Lol, I don’t tread fresh veg, that’d be v odd. All that broccoli..
I always have bags of frozen chopped onion, just so useful

Freeze herbs too

Frozen carrots are also fine, we switched to frozen mainly about 6 months ago as the fresh carrots kept going soft. Runner beans are ok too, just don’t cook them for too long or they go mushy.

Can anyone one confirm. I heard that you can simply chop fresh bell peppers and freeze them straight. No other prep required. Is this true or do they go a bit weird.

Peppers are fine to freeze, don’t retain their crunch but fine to cook with

I prefer to freeze my own peppers, as the pre frozen ones are sliced so thin they tend to disintegrate and I can leave out the green ones. I also have peas, spinach, leeks, mushrooms, roast potatoes and chips. Sweetcorn I prefer canned, find frozen has an odd texture. Cauliflower and broccoli tend to have too much water in for things like cauliflower cheese if you make from frozen, but are fine boiled/steamed.

Onions! Can't make anything without them.
Whatever veg you eat, would be the best answer.

Can you dice and freeze onions or do you buy them ready done please?

Yes, you can. I do it all the time @still

You can also buy the ready frozen. Very easy. I have frozen mixed veg and peas mainly, as they take up less space than cauliflower/broccoli.

Mixed frozen veg
Frozen broccoli
Frozen green beans
Frozen chopped onions
Frozen peas

Had all that before we had ever even heard the word covid 19!

Whatever you will eat. I have cauliflower, mixed peppers, butternut squash, petits pois and coriander. I have dried mushrooms, tinned tomatoes, sweetcorn and heaps of beans/lentils/chickpeas. I will stock up on fresh root veg.

We have peas, green beans and spinach as a matter of course to stick in curries, risotto etc.
I buy a Sainsbury's stir fry veg bag for stir fries.
I always chop and freeze celery for cooking.

Sweet potato fries are nice (although not sure where they lie health-wise).

Dennis frozen cauli/broccoli is good in curries, also good to make cauliflower cheese from frozen. Put the frozen florets in an oven dish, cover with thick cheese sauce. Bake for an hour.

It does release water, but either the water stays at the bottom with the cheese sauce above so you leave the water in the dish when you serve, or the it mixed with the thick sauce making it a little thinner. I always do it that way.

@Whenwillow perfect thank you. I happen by chance to have a spare freezer so I may as well fill it. We eat a lot of veg and are vegan so I think I'll try to stock up more. I was doing well but I find it hard to give up my fresh habit.

Frozen spinach is great for curries

I don't know if you've seen the other threads still but if you have a cool area/an outside, some of us are storing root vegetables which last well.
I also accidentally discovered that Chinese leaf lettuce lasts for ages in the fridge. I have a cool box outside containing a frozen block which I change 2x daily, and sprouts, carrots, swede, turnips, parsnips in. Onions are in a bucket of sawdust and potatoes are in a sack. We have enough salad in fridge to last perhaps 10 days.
Fresh is so much nicer, I agree, but we have tinned veg (yuk but tolerable if cooked imaginatively) as well as frozen, to cover all bases. There will only be wastage if the freezer conks out due to no power (otherwise we'll cook up a storm and feed all the neighbours!)

I also discovered that celery lasts longer if you take out of packaging and wrap the bottom in foil, and carrots (and probably other veg) can be pre prepared (sliced) and stored in airtight container in water (change water daily) I do it to prepare for the week, but I'll do it in the next little while as fridge empties, in order to rescue slightly soggy veg and to ensue rotation and no waste.

Great tip, @Whenwillow re the carrots and celery, thank you. I assume you mean raw carrots?!

My cool box is quite wet inside - kept indoors in a cool place - so will have to keep an eye on that.

Yes raw, lol! And obviously as fridge and freezer stuff gets used it will make space for what's outside to go inside (I'll make stew from thawed meat +older veg then batch freeze.)

@Whenwillow great, thanks!

Shop bought (all organic)
mixed veg
Green Beans
Mixed Peppers
Mediterranean mix
spinach (with & without cream)
peas
sweetcorn
Also fruit
peaches, mango, wild blueberries and mixed berries.

Frozen after bought fresh
broccoli
onions
mushrooms
leeks
also anything else that turns up in weekly box we don't eat within 4-5 days gets chopped & frozen.

Frozen tomatoes are great! Tesco do frozen chopped tomatoes and they seem to be a cooking variety that has the melting texture when they're heated up. Obviously no use in a salad but good to cook with.