Eating our way through the freezer!

We went through this a little while ago and managed to get both of our large chest freezers whittled down, eating our way through all kinds of stuff. It was very useful and kept us going for ages while DH was recovering. We then defrosted both freezers and the smaller house freezer and reorganised them all. We have resolved to have much more regular checks on the contents in the future as some things were more elderly than we would like!
The only thing is how come we have already refilled all of the freezers? And I do still have one small basket of bits and bob's and another larger one of bread crusts which are kept for feeding the birds in the winter. I don't eat bread but DH only eats the crust from the loaf when it is fresh and preferably warm - how decadent is that?! Oh, and I noticed that the older freezer is already showing signs of icing up again! Aaagh!

Now and again I find an unexpected , and welcome, cheesecake or tunabake lurking underneath something.
I suppose I should clear out the freezer more often, and in fact Anya your thread has made me think that I will do just that in the morning.Anything unidentified inside foil will have to go.?

Dined royally on a ready meal which said 'freeze on day of purchase and use within one month' bought at Easter and frozen cauliflower cheese suffering from advanced frostbite.

The 'apple sauce' turned out to be chicken stock, so will be chucking all the leftover bits and bobs of frozen veg into that and, hey presto, bacillus and vegetable soup.

Living cheaply if dangerously

You can use scrunched up newspapers to bulk up you chest deep freeze . Sadly I seldom have to do that mine is always full .

Tonight we're eating 'light'. I'm having some soup made from a beetroot and some tomatoes from the back of the fridge while Dh is having a sandwich made from a few fishfingers he found rattling round in the freezer.

It does feel good to save money, doesn't it? Although I've just learnt that Sainsbury's now deliver to my rural outpost, so bang go any savings.

October I always try to clear out freezer space ready for Christmas BUT there is so much in them, we have one in the kitchen n one in the utility. We used to manage well enough with one freezer when the children were at home! Now it's just the two of us and we put the old fridge freezer into the utility and have a new one in the kitchen! So my new year resolution is to only buy to replace, but I can't resist a bargain or something new!

Every couple of months i use up anything that is left in fridge/freezer and restock freezer and what i need for fridge.
Have some weird and wonderful meals at times using up various things lol

I use loads of tinned tomatoes too and buy them when they are on offer. I use them in curries, chilis, lasagne sauces, part sauces, salsas, cottage pies and soups. Then I put them in the freezer!

I always label (she said smugly) but never date

On the tinned tomatoes front Nonnie.... answer is you can't have too many.... when I'm clearing out the odd bits from the 'back-up' freezer in garage... defrost the UFO and throw in a tin of tomatoes... it does the job nicely and always makes the food taste like freshly cooked!! And goodness ..tomatoes in any shape or form are THE best food to eat. Nothing beats them for nutrition in my book! No Nonnie... you can't have too many tins of tomato in your store cupboard.??

Left over beef & chicken stews, cottage pies, curries etc go in my freezer and usually emerge when I can't be bothered to cook for my DS who usually only likes boring food. They are usually labelled with sticky labels with dates though occasionally they come off and are a surprise. There are also the third of the three for two chicken breasts regularly on offer.

There are always sausages, burgers, chicken bites, fish fingers and frozen chips plus ice cream for the DGC.

We rarely eat puddings so the bottom drawer is full of blackcurrants and rhubarb from the garden! Why do I bother?

Tegan2's post about it being more economical to keep the freezer full reminded me of a funny story I heard many years ago. In the days when Citizen's Band radio used to be popular someone mentioned on it that he was keeping grass in his freezer. Shortly afterwards a policeman turned up, as they had intercepted the message and thought it was an entirely different type of grass. ? They were probably a bit disappointed to find the it was of the garden variety.

I've been trying to use up things in my freezer and make some space. I was doing quite well for a few days then I saw some bargains in my local supermarket, bought them and refilled the freezer. And so it goes .....

I've just thrown out loads of polystyrene that I was keeping 'in case I needed it for something'. Every time I throw anything away I regret it! I used to use it to fill out plant pots but don't do as much gardening now.

Tegan 2, a tip I was given years ago was to fill up unused freezer space with blocks of polystyrene. Aids capacity for efficient running and weighs nothing.

I once defrosted "fish" and it was tripe!

I tried to go through my freezer a while back. Trouble is, it's quite a large upright freezer and I need to keep it full for it to (I assume) be cheaper to run. So half of it is full of idontknowwhat. Sausages and burgers of unknown age are cooked and fed to the dog (haven't killed her thus far). I often do a list of what's in it (another list maker) but then the S.O. comes over at the weekend and brings stuff with him that ends up in the freezer (grrr). I really should replace it with a smaller freezer, but it's a very good one and it was quite expensive when we bought it. It's one of those things in my house that scrambles my brain as I'm a terribly disorganised, messy person that longs to be the complete opposite.

I have a built in fridge freezer and another freestanding F2F (which is over 40 years old!). My DH accidentally switch the built in freezer off when we went away. Luckily my daughter, who was on guinea pig sitting duties, noticed a smell so I told her to dump everything. Returning home I decanted the old FF into built in one, as it needed a serious defrost. I found 3 lots of rabbit stew made for my dear old dad, he's been dead 6 years. He did so love it and I enjoyed eating it with him.

When we are having a financial 'shut down' and eat 'scraps' from the freezer we eat like kings!

So satisfying eating the freezer, enjoy

Mmmm yes, the Linda McCartney sausages I simply can't eat them either.

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.

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.

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.

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