Plastic takeaway containers

missmoo4, Aug 20, 8:03am
Can anyone tell me the cheapest/best place to buy takeaway containers for bulk cooking/freezing? Thanks

awoftam, Aug 20, 8:44am
Try trademe. Seriously.

smallwoods, Aug 20, 10:11am
They don't keep in the freezer for long before going brittle.

lynja, Aug 20, 6:48pm
Moore Wilsons has them very cheap and they are good enough quality to stay perfectly fine for a very long time in the freezer and can be re-used many times. Great containers for soup etc. You buy the container and lids separately.

lou-ie, Aug 20, 7:02pm
Gilmours or Rattrays

valentino, Aug 20, 7:54pm
Use Plastic Zip Bags.

When defrosting, place frozen bags into a bowl bigger than the bag.

korban, Aug 21, 2:58am
I just use icecream containers

valentino, Aug 21, 3:14am
Some of them can leak if containing very fine liquids, more so with juices, have noticed that if defrosting overnight that a waterish liquid is on the outside whilst the main juice and any other particles are still within the bag.
I use these a lot especially the smaller ones to save freshly squeezed lemon juice (6 lemon batches) ready to use for my sugar free cordials/drinks.

Okay with solid foods, no problem there.

One gets to know these things after using them for quite a while and far better than cracking plastic tops exposed to the deep freeze air within the freezer.

Cheers

valentino, Aug 21, 3:17am
These are great too if you want such sized freezing.

They do take up space though but are very easy to manage and more secured.

Cheers

jascas, Aug 21, 3:27am
Countdown have them in their Homebrand range of products

buzzy110, Aug 21, 3:44am
OK. But I tend not to defrost liquids. I just use from frozen. Maybe I'll remove from the freezer an hour before hand to soften if I want to cut into it, but that is about it really. A bowl or tray for other frozen stuff to catch defrosting condensation is a good suggestion though.

socram, Aug 21, 5:16am
We just have takeaway curry (2) once a week = 2 curry containers and one rice! But there again, we don't have a separate freezer, just the one at the bottom of the fridge. Agree, they can get a bit brittle, but we usually only use them once. The other method for smaller quantities is to freeze whatever and once frozen, tip out and use Gladwrap.

valentino, Aug 21, 5:35am
Remove from freezer an hour beforehand etc is something that I should look at, can thaw out a lot quicker once mixed a little too, just that I use those 3 litre bottles and their necks are not big enough or can get a bit messy trying to get them into these bottles but softening and chopping up may be a way.

Thank you.

petal1955, Aug 21, 6:13am
Im with on the zip lock bags. takes up lesssapce and they are reusuable

nzdoug, Aug 21, 6:37am
Jimbos cat food containers work and are stackable.

wendalls, Aug 21, 7:38am
Yep. Agree re jimbos. Handy things. I buy the dog food now and then. I've started using zip locks too. I might freeze things such as cauliflower in patti pans and then tip them into a ziplock when frozen.

paora-tm, Aug 21, 9:27am
I save and reuse margarine containers. The plastic is more compatible with freezing than any other plastic storage containers - doesn't get brittle. I probably should stop saving them for a while - got boxes of them saved but I can't help myself now. :)

korban, Aug 22, 9:19am
Davis Trading or Gilmours have them

autumnwinds, Aug 22, 10:14am
Me too, for Jimbos containers (2 sizes) as they stack so well, and you can put more into the freezer than round containers.

I also like snaplock bags for freflows, for storing all raw and roast chicken bones to make into great chicken stock, for small amounts of things like a cup of feijoas or rhubard (ready for a batch of muffins), and pesto when basil's in season.

The only thing I use the clear chinese-takeaway type container in the freezer for is for Southland cheese rolls, stacked between gladwrap. They seem to fit best into thes containers, and it's not a problem if they get brittle as we have chinese meals maybe every 2-3 weeks, so have a wee supply of them.

duckmoon, Jan 4, 1:07am
I got ours from Moore Wilson (Wellington).
So either there, or Gilmours