Eating our way through the freezer!

We often have a week living off the freezer. It's in the cellar so I tend to keep a list of contents on my phone. Like Kateykrunch I am partial to a list but these days prefer them on a phone so I don't lose them

My freezer is a combination of foods we eat on a weekly basis such as chicken fillets for casseroles or curries, minced beef usually for Lasagna, salmon, smoked haddock, all bought for a specific use in mind. I also have frozen peas because I like them, frozen berries for crumbles and chocolate covered ice creams for granddaughter mainly. Then there is the other stuff, usually left overs which are placed there with good intentions to eat at a later date, but quite honestly they usually get chucked because I just don't fancy them after a while. I try not to throw too much away because I don't like waste, hence the "leftovers" deposited in freezer in the first place.

After many years of having to defrost our upright freezer we are treating ourselves to a posh self-defrosting upright. I am hoping that actually being able to 'see' what is in there will help with the issue of unidentifiable frozen objects. Also buying more storage boxes and a box of labels. So hopefully...!

I usually run down the contents of the freezers twice a year ,before the summer and before christmas,then I can restock with things I might need/use at those times.Unexpected visitors will usually be fed by freezer raid so theres always home made lasagen ,,steak pies,chillis and home baking .It worries me whan my freezer isn't well stocked ..how sad is that ?

I've got some frozen turkey/ham left over from last Christmas, wondering if I can still use it??

This thread is VERY good for me. Thank you. I was spurred into action when we had one about getting rid of junk and had huge success. Now I am going to do the same with my freezer. It's amazing what a little prompt of partners in crime can do. Let's compare success notes in a few weeks.

I like to think I have will power when it comes to food shopping. My freezer tells me otherwise.

I am eating my way through mine at the moment in time for christmas and the fact that I don't need so much these days. I normally label stuff before I put it in, but if I haven't I surprise myself when it has thawed. Its amazing what concoctions you can put together with odd things from the freezer and I love the feeling of downsizing! Once it is empty (over the next few weeks), I shall be more discerning what I buy and be more organised! Could be eating christmas cake in February, but hey ho!

I have seen the freezer referred to as "the coldest dustbin in the house"
Had to empty a whole drawer in the summer to make room for DD's 3 tier wedding cake and we ate a lot of odd meals then. Now the wedding has been and gone, that drawer has miraculously filled again. Back to odd meals and casseroles made from the BBQ food that never got cooked!

I'm never entirely sure how to reheat home frozen foods safely, so I tend not to freeze leftovers or batch cook. Even so, our large chest freezer is in need of a sort out - again! I think part of the problem with chest freezers is that however tidily you put the stuff back after defrosting, it soon ends up in random heaps and you can't see half of it.

I've tried big colour coded bags and baskets, but then you can only have one "level" of stuff in the freezer as the bags are too heavy to lift out and look underneath. A list workd for a while, but then a few rushed shopping trips and half a lamb that hubby ordered without asking if we needed it, and I'm in a mess again!

I didn't realise there was supposed to be a system. Stuff just gets bunged in, forcibly if there's too much ice. Did bin a packet of sausage meat the other day, sure it was from the Chr....as before last.......

Guilty as charged too. Last year I got rid of our small chest freezer in the garage as I could never get to the bottom of it and replaced it with an upright one with drawers - the fridge freezer in the utility room also has 3 large drawers. They're all crammed full and yet I can never find anything for tea! Periodically I empty it all out into the wash baskets and sort it into specific foods - meat, fish, veg etc and repack it into separate drawers - there's always something that needs chucking out but then it leaves room for more food we really don't need! Mumreallyshouldn'tgotoiceland

Hmm this thread has caused me to check my freezer and I have found half a cooked turkey crown! The last time I froze part of a turkey crown was 2 Christmas' ago! Think I will dispose of it next food waste collection. I also found the sausages which I bought when they were on special offer and then froze into twos and then forgot about, they have only been in there a few weeks so guess I will be having sausages on a regular basis over the next week or so!

As students, one of our flat mates came back with a lovely homemade steak pie from his mum 's freezer. The apple pie for pudding turned out to be another steak pie! We had already made the custard .
My chest freezer is half full of fruit from the garden with everything else shoved in on top.

Just getting to the bottom now...and there along with the escaped peas (do we all have peas hiding at the bottom on the freezer?) were two frozen jam sandwiches ?

Now what was the logic behind those?

Do you know, I remember in the very early 1960's when freezers appeared in the shops, I remarked that they would never catch on !

I replaced old freezer (over 20 years!) with one that had same dimensions- but discovered on delivery - not inside. Had to learn to restrain freezer buying. Then DH left door slightly open so had to junk even restrained stuff. Now only buy freezer things DH will eat within reasonable time scale & a few emergency items!

I have two frozen bananas in mine. DH found a recipe for banana ice cream that uses frozen bananas so he was intent on making some. Unfortunately, when it said put the bananas in the freezer, he froze them in their skins ("well, I didn't know!") and now he will have to defrost them to get the skins off! But he won't let me throw them away! ?‍♀️

I did ours a week ago, chucked some and sorted the rest, determined to eat most of it before buying anything more.

I found some crumble mix I'd made last autumn, and so made an apple crumble. We both agreed it tasted weird and not right, so disposed of the rest. I'd used butter, floor, sugar and some oats. I was surprised it hadn't kept well.

Also, has anyone made soup from frozen veg, there is some spinach, cauli and Brussels I thought could be added to a soup?

We have a tall freezer with drawers and some mystery contents. I was thinking of moving all the older stuff to the bottom drawers and trying to use it up. Then we will buy a new, smaller freezer and I will be more organised. Pigs are flying past!

Ooh, didn't realise you could freeze bananas. Years ago I inadvertently put a bunch of bananas in the freezer instead of the fruit bowl. (Don't ask). There they were, all black and un-banana-like. You mean I could have chipped the skins off? Bother.

I freeze bananas in halves, and add to smoothies still frozen.

We're in the process of eating our way through the contents of our freezer in readiness for moving. I tend to have a mad cooking day and freeze individual portions, so we can all have what we fancy. Though there's still lots of other `suspect` items that will be defrosted and either consumed by us or the dustbin.

We've been eating from the freezer, too. Last week I made a slow cooked casserole from some frozen stewing beef that had an October 2016 sell-by date and a 1K pack of Morrisons's frozen root vegetables. I have no idea where the veg came from as none of us ever shops in Morrison's! Anyway, it was delicious and did us for two meals.

I also found an enormous bag of rhubarb and put some of that, along with some of a kilo of frozen raspberries into a crumble. Frozen bananas can be used for banana bread.

I also have some weird odds and ends to use up. My DIL's are both vegetarian so there are veggie bits and pieces in there to be eaten. I did eat some Linda Macartney sausages -never again, I was ill all night! There are also some frozen kids meals, that my sons have bought for their children but they didn't eat.

I'm not a great freezer fan and only have a fridge-sized one in the kitchen. I tend to use it for a spare loaf (in case of a quick sandwich) a few vegetables and plenty of Quorn as I'm a vegetarian. The one thing I do keep close to the freezer is a thick black indelible marker pen, when anything needs to go in I write what it is and the date on a plastic freezer bag, put the food in and seal it up. So quick and easy and works for me.