The Big Freeze

We’re a nation of wasters, its official. According to lovefoodhatewaste.com, nearly a third of all the food bought in the UK ends up being thrown in the bin when most of this could have been eaten. One way to cut back on the huge amount of food we throw away, and cut down on costs is to exploit our freezers as the potential goldmines that they are.

First, the rules: one, wrap everything well in either a freezer bag or plenty of cling film to prevent ‘freezer burn’ which is caused when direct contact with the cold air causes food to dry out. Chicken breasts, fish fillets and steaks all freeze well when wrapped individually in cling film.

Rule Two: label, label, label. It’s amazing how remarkably similar most things look once frozen. Useful things to note are what the item is, the date frozen and how much there is. Try keeping a list on the front of the freezer, once it becomes well stocked; it’s like shopping in your very own supermarket.

Leftovers

Cooking in bulk makes financial sense and saves on effort. If you’re already going to the trouble of making one lasagne, why not make two and freeze one? That way when you’re busy, frazzled and with no time to cook you can take it out of the freezer to defrost in the morning and pop it in the oven when you get in - a ‘ready meal’ at your fingertips. Shepherd’s pie, cottage pie, fish pie and most pasta bakes all work well. Soups and stews also freeze well; it can be handy here to freeze individual portions in bags so you can defrost what you need, perfect for nights when eating alone.

While this can seem a foolproof way to store leftovers, there’s no point using your freezer as a less guilt inducing bin and filling it with food you hope will taste nicer second time around. It will look a lot less appetising when frozen and will only languish at the back of the freezer and eventually have to be thrown away.

Frozen Storecupboard

The freezer really comes into its own if you think of it as a frozen storecupboard; there’s not much that can’t be frozen until it’s needed. Excellent standbys are grated cheese and breadcrumbs - store them in the freezer and sprinkle into dishes as needed straight from the freezer. I always freeze any leftover dregs in the bottom of a wine bottle (although, this is unfortunately a rare occurrence). If you’ve a large amount to freeze, it’s helpful to freeze in wine glass (175ml) portions.

Raw meat can be frozen in strips in a marinade. Once defrosted, it’s ready to go straight into a stir fry. Likewise if you’ve some distinctly floppy vegetable languishing in the bottom of the fridge, chop into similar sized pieces, drop into a large pan, cover with water and bring to the boil. Drain and rinse in cold water, then freeze. Now you’ve got vegetables ready go into a stir fry too. Try it with cauliflower or broccoli and freeze in florets ready to be made into soup or nestled under a thick blanket of cheese sauce. Chicken carcasses can also be frozen until you feel like making stock and the resulting stock frozen until you want to use it.
A seasonal glut is the perfect time to exploit your freezer; raspberries and blackberries frozen in the height of summer bring a little sunshine to a winter’s day. Try them in smoothies, crumbles, trifles or with ice cream. Remember that strawberries don’t like the cold so much and turn into sludge once defrosted. I am forever stewing apples in autumn and freezing them ready for a crumble topping (also frozen) and some custard when I really need comforting. For more tips on reducing food waste visit www.lovefoodhatewaste.com.