What do you enjoy from your freezer!

jhan, Aug 27, 6:06am
At long last, I have a chest freezer. I read that any family recipe can be frozen for later so its good to make twice the amount and freeze it. I have a mental block about leftovers though, maybe because they seem to lose flavour and look unappetising.

In your opinion, what are the best meals/cooked foods to put into the freezer!
jessie981, Aug 27, 6:52am
Almost everything, except roast vegetables. Pastas, stews, casseroles etc are fine.
davidt4, Aug 27, 7:17am
Wet food such as moussaka, lasagne, cottage pie, stews etc.
rachbabe, Aug 27, 7:25am
Chicken noodle soup :)
shop-a-holic, Aug 27, 9:20am
Whitebait for Christmas Day.
glenn-ellyn, Aug 27, 9:32am
Lamb shanks cooked in a crockpot.As there's just the two of us, i always freeze half then when thawed out take the meat off the bone, mix up with the gravy/veges, put in lasagne dish and put a cheese crumble mix on top.Yummy.
korbo, Aug 27, 9:39am
love my freezer for buying in bulk, and when bread is a super special, like yesterdays bread 4 loaves for $4.cant go wrong.
as there is only 2 of us, half a batch of muffins go in the freezer, same with baking a large cake or fruit cake. put half in, take it out a few weeks later, when no time to bake.
good luck with it.
jhan, Aug 27, 10:33am
I saw a couple of blog pages extollingcooked shredded chicken as a good standby in the freezer for enchiladas and chicken pasta salads. Sounds like a good idea having half the meal cooked to put together. Same with meat balls and I could see myself doing that.

Thanks for all your comments.
punkinthefirst, Aug 27, 11:29am
I live on my own, so, rather than adapt all my family recipes, I cook the usual amount and freeze the rest as single portions. I even plate up roast dinners on plates covered with gladwrap, remove the plates and bag up the contents when they are frozen. They thaw, then heat in the microwave.Roast potatoes are not all that successful, but they can be replaced by mashed potatoes, which freeze well.
Buying specials in bulk makes your money go further. Make sure you package and freeze them as your usual cooking amount, though.
Buy fruit and tomatoes in season, and freeze them til you are ready to make your jams and pickles and chutneys and even home-made wines, or use the fruit to make pies or other desserts.
When I'm baking, I bake extra and freeze it.
You'll work it out. It's all just common sense, really. Good luck
toadfish, Aug 27, 7:31pm
Me too, I especially like RTC Foccacia's as I split these down the middle and they make 2 great pizza bases to have with soup.

I love buying bulk meat when its on special and never pass up a good "reduced to clear".My freezer is full of "good deals".
This week snitzel was on special at Pak n Save so I brought 8 meals worth of those plus couldn't pass up 2 huge trays of reduced to clear crumbed chicken ($7.50). Can't remember when I last paid full price for any meat.

Also a Banana Box sits nicely on the bottom and this fits 12 loaves of bread perfectly.I take my banana box to the supermarket and this way it gets packed straight into it from the bread trays and freezes and defrosts better as it has never been "squished" into bags. I then never run out of bread and don't have to buy it every week. Plus they say its more economical to run a full freezer and this helps fill it up.

I have also brought several casserole dishes at op shops or garage sales (paid between $2 & $4) . In these I make cottage pies and lasagnes.I bring them out of the freezer in the morning pop them in the oven frozen. set the auto oven timer and come home to dinner done.

I like to use ice cream containers as these stack nicely on one side (over the motor bit).In them goes, Soup several varieties. meatballs. nacho mince. Bolognaise Mince.

I also make sure there is a spare Mixed Veg, and Peas.

Thats how I use my freezer.
lythande1, Aug 27, 8:54pm
I hate chest freezers, leaning over rummaging in a pile. Upright with shelves, clear and easy to get at it.

However.
I freeze everything. Buy meat in bulk - or on special. Way cheaper. Freeze veges from the garden.

Meals, at present I have some bacon bone soup, a creole lamb and rice in there. 2 home made pies. Leftover cream. Tomato paste, parsley, swede, half a can of berry fruit (used for the last lot of muffins), half a can of cannelini beans.

Anything like that (cause there's only two of us) left over when making a meal goes in the freezer.

Plus any leftover meals, handy for those days you're rushed and need a quick meal when you get home.
jhan, Aug 27, 9:16pm
Ah, those rushed days and a quick meal!My days are not rushed but I run out of inspiration or just get lazy, then its 5.45pm, people coming in the door expecting tea - panic!
rainrain1, Aug 27, 9:44pm
We would have enjoyed porterhouse steak if I hadn't left a basket out of the freezer by mistake a week ago.a couple of wild cats have massive tums and shiny coats now.
toadfish, Aug 27, 10:05pm
Each to there own.I had the choice of an upright and chose the chest.I like the fact i can put 12 loaves in the bottom, you would struggle to fit those in an upright and there are 4 Adults in this house,I am super organised though.The 3 large baskets in the top have piles of each type, chicken in 1 BBQ type stuff in another.And Misc in the other all stacked so you can see what you have.(The trays fit exactly across it and you can have 3 rows of the smaller and 2 of the larger supermarket trays) Roasts on the bottom and vegies etc in another box in the bottom.,,,,,

Maybe when its just the 2 of us i can downsize to an upright.
imrae1, Aug 28, 1:07am
I live alone and couldn't do without my freezer. Left overs, dog food, meat specials, veges and fruit from my garden, baking and soups. I have a small chest and an upright
popeye333, Aug 28, 4:26am
Two of us here and we have 2 chest freezers, small ones and one large upright freezer. I always know what is where so its not like Im delving head first into them. I have cooked stuff in one chest freezer, soups, meals and baking, The second has all the home grown veges and frozen chips etc.
The upright has the meat and bread, I dont buy alot of bread cos i bake it, but not too good at getting up on the cooler mornings so to keep a couple of loaves in the freezer.
Dont forget things like meat loaves, sliced meats all wrapped in glaswrap. Fish pies. Bacon and egg pies etc. Bulk cook and keep the freezer going.

We got the 2 smaller chest freezers at garage sales so they have paid for themselves over and over again.
nauru, Aug 28, 6:38am
Like many others I only buy meat etc when it's on specialand always look for the good reduced to sell stickers. As there are now only two of us, I have gotten into the habit offreezinghome grown veges and from the local market that I know we won't eat in a few days.
Never really got the hang of downsizing my cooking when the kids left home so there was always leftovers. That's how I got onto freezing meals for later use at weekendsdays when I'm busy or don't feel like cooking.
Any leftover casserole type meals are frozen in pie filling portions for later use. I buy apples in bulk on special and cook them up and freeze in portions for pies & crumbles etc or to have with yogurt, cereal or porridge for brekky.
I keep a container in my freezer, in this I put any liquid left from cooking veges, just topping up as I go and use it as stock for soups etc.I also make stock from from chicken frames which are on special, I freeze in usable portions for soups etc.
I freeze half of any baking that I do, cakes are cut into portions and frozen, I then just take out what I need and it's always fresh. Bread crusts are made into crumbs and stored in a zip lock bag ready for use in stuffings, toppings & coating etc. I makedouble batches of pastry and freeze half for later use.
pickles7, Aug 28, 6:46am
With you on the chest freezers. I found a chicken in mine when I cleaned it out, that was two years old. It must have kept sliding down to the bottom. lol. We have just gone down in size , to an upright one. We are getting on well with it. Anything that needs to be used, is moved to the top shelf.
kiwigoldie, Aug 28, 9:34am
lasagne is good for us. I also freeze berryfruit.I go and pick it when it is summer and freeze it for use in smoothies and desserts over winter.very cost effective.also freeze soups.and tomatoes which i defrost and turn into soup or puree when i have the time.