stash foods 2 - making the most of the freezer

freezers are for much more than frozen veg, pizzas and ready-meals, as any allotment owner or bargain hunter will tell you - we don't all have home grown seasonal gluts but the freezer is great for stashing all sorts of foodie bits instead of throwing away or composting it

frozen vegetables: peas, green beans, sweetcorn - get the biggest packs you can fit in your freezer and use only as much as you need at a time, the rest will keep

bargains from the supermarket reduced shelf, many of them can be frozen as they are, cut/divided/packed into manageable amounts, or cooked up into a dish to be frozen for later

home made meals are often cheaper than bought ones and you know exactly what's in them

• cook more than you need for a meal and freeze the extra as your own 'ready-meals' - saves the bother of starting from scratch each time
• put some aside before serving to avoid the temptation of eating it all at once
• single portions of casseroles, stews, curries, tagines etc can easily be tarted up and stretched to feed more people - think pies, savoury crumble topping, soups, risotto etc
• put portions in squarish containers and transfer them into labeled plastic bags once frozen - this saves space in the freezer and means you can reuse the containers - the plastic bags can be washed and reused too!

leftovers of all sorts of can be frozen in little bundles for adding to soups, casseroles or topping up the next batch you cook -  remember to label them or they turn into UFOs:

• stale bread and crusts - i use loads of these in stuffings, veggie burgers and nut roasty things, for making crispy cheesy toppings, added to crumble mix .....etc - so i either crumble them in the food processor or cut them into cubes and freeze them
• pasta and rice - apart from popping them into soups and stuffings they can be turned into a  whole range of tasty dishes in their own right
• small amounts of cooked vegetables - for making soups, adding to casseroles, stir-fry, bubble & squeak ( i always keep leftover brussels sprouts specially for this)

. . . . . . . . i'll be adding more as i think of it