Freezing your food – separating the fact from fiction

I keep hens and recently had a glut of eggs so….broke one into a small dish, covered it in cling film and put it in the freezer…4 weeks later – got it out, thawed and whisked it with a fresh egg and made a cake !! Fine…
Also freeze Strawberries and raspberries every summer…freeze on trays overnight then pack in boxes..with stawberries you can add sugar…Strawberries and frozen gooseberries with a sponge mix poured over and baked makes a wonderful winter pudding

baked potatoes – if you’ve cooked too many, let them cool then wrap them on cling wrap and freeze. Whe you want them get them out, I allow them to defrost, put them in oven on hot for 15 minutes and they’re fine

I grow a lot of hard/soft fruit and vegetables. Surplus pickings I freeze in medium zip up polythene bags the amount is sufficient for a serving for my hubby & I. Apples/pears I core and slice, rhubarb I cut into inch pieces, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, loganberries, blackcurrants, plums and greengages I put in whole, the latter two I sometimes slice. I mix apple & blackberry to give a lovely winter pudding with a crumble buttopping. Except for strawberries and raspberries, I take out what fruit I need, put into a casserole dish pour boiled water over the fruit adding sugar as required & then microwave on high power for approx 20 minutes & its cooked, Rhubarb differs, I sweeten with orange squash only (takes the tart taste away) plus small amount of water & microwave full power for just 7/10 mins. I freeze veggies: courgettes (cut into small pieces excellent for stews), runner/climbing beans (best blanched & cooled before freezing) but can be used without that & after 3 months storage can then be blended into a chilli mix or a stew. Spinach too, washed & cut into small pieces as if you were to cook it straight away. Beetroot after cooking can be sliced & put into serving size quantities in small poly bags & frozen, taking out just the right amount for each salad serving. Herbs such as chives,mint. The fruit, because I grow a lot, lasts me from one season to the next. The veg last approx 6 months max. My hubby is a trout fisherman, & he brings home his allowance each time. He guts the fish on his return, puts them into the freezer (caught & frozen in a day). When required he thaws the fish overnight, finds it is easier to take out the pin bones & fillet it after it has been frozen & then thawed. Because of continual replacement during the fishing season, the fish are only in the freezer for about 3 months. I save a lot of housekeeping money by doing this. I don’t have a very big garden just a 100ft x 30ft which also includes flower borders, a 6’x6′ wild life pond, an 8’x6′ cool greenhouse plus a 60’x20′ lawn. I also grow potatoes, onions, garlic but don’t freeze these & a small amount of cabbage,brocolli, cauliflower which get eaten straight away. The greenhouse produce (Toms, cucumbers, chillies, peppers, lettuce) we have in salads in the summer thru into the early autumn. Surplus crops I use for making chutneys, and surplus apples I use to make chutney as well as my own sweet mincemeat. Some of my fruit crops I also turn into jam. My garden gives me a lot of waste which I turn into compost to feed the garden the following year thus completing the recycling process!

I have never been one to throw food a way . If canbe i will freeze. any cooked veg left over I put into a bag in the freezer and keep adding to it. When there is enough make bubble an squeak.
or put in oven an roast .
I have a small allotment plot, veg is washed peeled and frozen. never blanched.
I buy use by date food and freeze as well. meat and veg.

Hi, I bought a food saver from one of the TV shopping channels, JML sold something similar as well. What it does is sucks all the air out of the special bags and then seals the bag. The bags are quite thick plastic which prevents freezer burn. They also sell the plastic in tubes so you can make different sized bags. They also sell jars which can have the air sucked out so other foodstuffs last longer as well.

When kids were at school we made up a loaf of sandwiches with various filling, including tuna mayo, egg mayo and these were sent to school in lunch boxes frozen. Safe sandwiches and no waste. I freeze most left overs for re- heating at work (shift workers). I tend to batch cook – chilli, including rice, bolognese sauce, pasta al-dente, extra cheese sauce for macaroni cheese (rue method), mashed potatoes especially good – reheat in microwave or oven, add extra milk when stirring half way. Onions and leaks washed and chopped ready to use in zip lock bags – no blanching and just pour out required amount. Like the earlier comment about the tomatoes for coooking so will give this a try. Blockers of cheddar cheese are also fine but used for grating, then sandwiches/ sauces – is crombly after freezing.

We invested in a banana bag and food storage bags from Lakeland recently and now never throw away any fruit, vegetables or bananas. The banana bag is excellent: stores in the fridge, bananas keep for up to 2 weeks…

I cook Basmati rice and if there is any left over I freeze. I reheat thoroughly in microwave and have never had any ill effects.
I cook Indian food frequently and use tinned coconut milk. I only need half a tin and freeze the other half in a plastic container.
I do the same with tomato puree or passata. In both cases the frozen milk or tomato can be added to the dish without the need to thaw. Am grateful for the ginger tip!
I freeze semi skimmed milk. Whole milk separates. I thaw 4 pints during the evening & overnight. If it is too warm indoors I put it in the shade in the garden to thaw!

I have frozen rice and reheated in the microwave many times and it has never been a problem. Big fan of freezing left over chilli, stews etc, especially if you bag them up into smaller portions you can get several meals out of them and no waste.

I prefer veggie meals but my partner enjoys meat. I keep a pack of free-flow veggie mince in the freezer and if I have a small amount of mince left over I add veggie mince for chilli or spag bol and he doesn`t even notice!
I also freeze very small amounts of left over cooked meat for pies and pasties as you can`t get much meat in individual pies and it makes a decent meal especially when served with fresh vegetables. I keep ready to roll pastry in fridge for meals in a hurry as it has quite a long use by date.

I cut up bananas and freeze with a 1/4 cup of frozen berries – in the morning just dump the entire bag’s contents into the blender with milk, all bran, honey and some chocolate for a delicious and ice-cold smoothie. I actually prefer the fruit frozen for this, makes sure the smoothy is as cold as can be.

Frozen vegetables are a god-send, as a 2 person family with very different eating habits, it’s the easiest and least wasteful way of getting good veggies, and since I’m convinced that the “fresh” from supermarkets has been sitting around for weeks (why else would it go off within 2 days in my kitchen?) I reckon I’m getting better nutrition too.

The big exception – spinach, much prefer that to be fresh.

During times of plenty I put any friuit in the pressure cooker all mixed up but only half full cook on max for 20 mins, allow to cool, place in a cut down plastic milk container and freeze-it keeps for a full year and can be kept in the fridge for 2 weeks when thawed- smashing with custard.

When I was working I would put frozen raspberries or tayberries in an individual pot with some plain yogurt in the morning, by lunchtime it was a great, cold, flavoured yogurt. I freeze lots of blackcurrants in the summer, which I use for jam making in the winter when I don’t want to be outside. I freeze blackberries, raspberries, tayberries, gooseberries and blackcurrants; I just pick them, put them in boxes and freeze on the same day and have never had a problem. Except when the freezer broke down! Also I keep my bananas wrapped in bubble wrap at the top of the fridge getting out in the morning just what I want that day. Have kept them for a week to two weeks; sometimes the skin changes colour but the fruit itself if fine, obviously the longer you keep them, the riper the fruit but the process is much slower.

I store my ground coffee in the freezer. It helps to keep its fresh-ground smell & flovour for a longer time.

A pastry chef showed me how caterers make up a chocolate souffle mix, that can be placed in the freezer in ramekin dishes until required and cooked straight from frozen. It’s a great tip time saver for dinner parties, plus you can have chocolate souffle for dessert when you fancy one (if there’s any left!).

Lots of good suggestions so far.

We freeze lots of food. Problems arise with rice – usually it turns to mush, except in this one recipe: http://www.food.com/recipe/mexican-rice-117892 which has fabulous texture and taste after freezing and thawing. I’d be interested if Which could contact food scientists to narrow down what the problem with rice is, and why that recipe overcomes it. Pasta also gives me trouble, always turning mushy.

I batch cook to a degree, so I’ll cook up a whole kg of dried beans and freeze what isn’t used immediately; the texture’s fine. I prepare a batch of 8 or so spring rolls at once, and freeze what we don’t need that night; refrigerate overnight first on a wire rack (such as a grill pan) to let dry a bit, then wrap individually in cling film, and then it works a treat to pull out two or three when we want them – can even deep fry them from frozen.

Sauces (though I never try cream sauces, have heard that it doesn’t work) tend to freeze great. I’ll freeze citrus juice and zest in ice cube trays, works a treat. I make bacon bits and keep them in a bag in the freezer, handy for adding to jacket potatoes, etc, as desired. I use the cartons from juices and uht milk, once empty, to freeze food into – once frozen, remove from carton and place in plastic bags – so that the blocks then fit better in the freezer and make better use of the space. Most often I do this with stock I’ve made, but it’s also handy for future ready meals when I’ve made a double batch of some dish.

Smoked salmon doesn’t suffer when we freeze it, so I get a side from my fishmonger a couple of times a year and freeze it in small portions – works out much cheaper than buying the small packs individually, plus makes a lovely standby.

I tend not to freeze fresh fruits and vegetables, since I can usually buy as little as I want from my greengrocer (really hate the packs of things in the supermarket, really wonder at this incessant need to package fruits and vegetables up in the supermarket). An exception is wimberries, since they have such a short season: I popped those straight into the freezer two years ago, in plastic bags, and they’re still fine for pies. Will have to get some more this year, one way or another, as we only have enough left for one pie!

Patrick, there’s only one comment I made in response to Sarah Jane’s posted
1 May 2012 at 2:19 pm as to her problem with defrosted rice. Certainly
no potentially problematic word(s) I used.

A quick message flashed up that I did not get to read and then it was gone.

Had happened once before just days ago that I told you abt.

When I use half a jar of pasta sauce (say) I pop the jar (+ contents!) into the freezer so save on decanting. Freeze fresh whole ginger and grate from frozen. Freeze all jars of spices and herbs in a box and use as required, preferably whole. They keep very much longer. Whizz whole spices in a coffee grinder. Amazing aromas and extra flavour to cakes and curries.

The problem with rice is not in the freezing but in its condition before it is frozen. If rice is overcooked or if it is left for some time in a warm condition it will become mushy when frozen and defrosted and there is also the danger of it becoming toxic (rice left in warm conditions can be a health and safety problem).I always cook rice before I need it and remove from the heat about a minute before it is cooked. I then plunge it in cold water immediatley to chill it. I drain it for a few minutes and then toss it in a little oil (about one level dessertspoon per person).This can then be frozen or stored in the fridge to be used on the same day. To reheat pour on boiling water, drain and then microwave for a couple of minutes (depending on quantity) until piping hot. The grains will be just firm and each one will be seperate.

I frequently freeze portions of cooked rice (Basmati) and never have a problem when I defrost it; also biryani – a brilliant ‘convenience meal’.
When I have extra lemons (I never need the whole bag full!) I juice them and freeze the juice in a spare ice cube tray.
Coriander is also a good freezer standby. Just take out the biggest stalks, then put the herbs into a freezer bag, removing as much of the air as possible (I use a drinking straw). Once frozen, just crush the bag lightly and it is ready to add to soups, stews, curries etc.

I freeze most things, excess fruit and veg from garden, milk and butter, and when I shop at the end of the day and get the reduced items I check for the freezer sign and then pop them all in allowing me to get more bargains to last through the week. Also any food on offer I will do the same. Bread I freeze sliced and get out as I need it, it quickly defrosts, but allows the loaf to keep fresh.

Some things are safe to freeze, but taste disgusting once thawed. Kidneys and brussels sprouts come to mind.

I freeze excess cream in ice cube trays, perfect for when you just need a little amount in sauces. I freeze peeled garlic too, VERY convenient.