Interested to know what kinds of things other people freeze. I found out there were quite a few you could freeze (from these forums mostly) and wondered if I'm missing any. My regular stock up and freeze things are:

butter
grated mozzarella cheese
leftover cooked rice
sad looking bananas that are getting too overripe to eat
whole cherry tomatoes
blanched beans

Any others apart from the obvious like loaves of bread and meat?

I freeze apricots and Black Doris plums that I halve, stones removed. I pack in 1 kg lots and cook them in winter to have for breakfast with muesli. We usually get lots of red and black currants from our two bushes which I freeze (the currants, not the bushes, hahaha) in 250g lots, as well as surplus raspberries. Yesterday I froze several lots of sliced leeks for use in soups and vegetable pies in winter. Quinces I bake in the oven in a sugar syrup till they are rosy red and then freeze in containers. We also get lots of apples off our three trees and blackboy peaches. However, because of stocking my freezer, and it is a large upright one, with extra food like several chickens and peas etc just in case, I am limited for space this year. I bake most of our bread, slice it and freeze. There is always butter which I stock up on when on special. I couldn’t do without my freezer. We have various fruit trees and Moorpark apricots are the only ones I buy from an orchard near Cromwell.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/03/2020 06:17AM by Chris.

butter here to, and then mainly meat if on special and pastes - garlic, ginger, chili. Also make double pastry and freeze on batch.

Butter, when on special.
Salmon
ginger, that I grate from frozen
I grate parmesan and freeze
Apples, chunks and slices, partially cooked
Feijoas
Surplus tomatoes for soup
Peanuts, in case a pantry moth takes a liking towards them
Sultanas and other dried fruits, unless I am going to use them within a short time

root ginger
red chillies
finely chopped lemongrass
turmeric rhizomes
galangal
left over coconut cream
stock
tomato paste and pasta sauce
butter
breadcrumbs
halved and pitted plums
chopped bananas for smoothies

Plus all the usuals such as bread, bagels, bolognese, berries etc...

I freeze whole, fresh tomatoes and passionfruit, and am trialling fresh green beans (not blanched) again this year but in recycled ice-cream containers to see how that works.
I buy a large piece of root ginger, grate it, spread it out on tray to kind of free-flow it, then into a container in the freezer it goes and I take out what I need for a recipe.
I buy a 500ml glass jar of Leggos tomato paste (not the cheapest but glass means I don't get tomato paste full of can lining leachings), put it into one tablespoon lots on a tray, freeze, transfer to a container in the freezer so it's handy for any recipe.
Star anise, fresh whole chillis from our garden, any flour I use occasionally or in small quantities (e.g. semolina, almond, coconut).
Homemade stock (which is never stock I've made on purpose, but rather leftover liquid from other cookings that serves as stock very well...)
Precooked pulses (kidney, lima, turtle, chickpeas, etc,)
I've never frozen butter, ever. Or cheese. We don't use much butter these days, maybe 8 blocks a year.

Like others I freeze:

Ginger (I grate from frozen but must try the idea of free-flowing grated ginger, thank you J1)
Left-over coconut cream
Left-over tomato paste and canned tomatoes
Mozzarella cheese

For a short time:

Bread
Hamburger buns
Wraps
Tortilla
Muffins

Also:

Nuts - any that I don't use immediately are frozen, including almonds, cashews, macadamias, sunflower seeds and pine nuts. I still have some walnuts that my Mum, who passed away four years ago, picked from a very old orchard on our family farm, and shelled and couriered to me as she had done every year for as long as I can remember.

Wholemeal Flour - which goes rancid pretty quickly otherwise

Tomato pizza base (we make enough for two pizzas)

I never freeze butter. That said, I have never been able to reconcile the fact that, while the label states that the ingredients comprise only cream and salt, the best before date is about a year out, in the case of the butter in my fridge at the moment 27/03/2021.

Regards,

Barbara Anne

I cook several cups of rice at once and freeze it for quick meals later. Same with chickpeas.

One thing no one has mentioned is lemon and lime juice. My lemon tree produces just about all year round so I freeze only a small amount for the in-between times, but my lime is far less productive, and I prefer lime juice, so I freeze whatever I don't use immediately. Both juices are frozen in ice cube trays then moved to small boxes from which they can be easily prised and broken apart.

I've also got a bag of vegetable off-cuts that get thrown in as they become available, and another of meat bones that will eventually be made into soup for winter lunches.

And, of course, there's always feijoas from my two usually prolific trees. I don't know if I'll get any this year. We've had a total watering ban for at least 2 1/2 months and even though I use the 'grey' water from my washing machine, and other water saved from a bowl in the kitchen sink and a bucket in the shower, it's just not enough to go around.

Wow, clearly there are way more things I could be freezing. For those doing flours - do you put the flour into a container of some kind? I imagine the paper bags would turn to mush!

Has anyone frozen milk or cream?

J1 - I trialled blanching and not blanching green beans last year. The non blanched ones were quite revolting and I've ended up cooking most of them and feeding to the chooks (they didn't eat them just defrosted lol)! Scarlett runners seem to be the best ones for freezing as even the blanched dwarf beans were fairly average tasting. Now we just eat the dwarf beans as they are picked (if we can keep up) and I blanch and freeze nearly all of our scarlett runners.

I tried freezing milk many years ago, and the defrosted product was a bit bleh. Fine in a pinch, but nothing I'd do on a regular basis. I'd probably prefer to use UHT cartons than frozen milk. Unsure on cream, but it may be ok being so high in fat. Also, it's not like you're using cream in cereal or drinking a glass of it, so a slight taste change may not be noticeable for many uses.

As well as the obvious things like surplus meat and cooked meals I freeze butter; home grown semi-dried cannellini beans; bulk spices, nuts and dried fruit; coconut cream/milk; purées of tomato/spring onion/chilli; roasted chilli purée; garlic and tarragon butter and miso butter; moussaka sauce and butter chicken sauce; home made curry pastes; quince purée.

Cantab, I just put the paper bag of flour in the freezer with a plastic clip to seal.

Regards,

Barbara Anne

Hi Cantabcook, the usual suspects, plus:
rolled oats
polenta
pine nuts
almonds - slivered
desiccated & shredded coconut
flour - the packet placed inside a freezer bag

We don't use these things very quickly, and with our summer temps here in Adelaide, I've found slivered almonds, pine nuts and the coconuts can develop off flavours, or go rancid.

I freeze any leftover wine in a container or plastic bag, very handy when you need wine for cooking, and don't have a bottle on hand. I used to work at a winery and the wine maker said fine to do that for cooking purposes.

Annie H - there is such a thing as leftover wine?

Well I'm pleased I asked this question as I've learnt quite a lot from this thread. Thanks all

Cantab I often freeze cream. When thawed I use it in carbonara, quiche etc... I have never tried whipping cream that has been frozen so don't know if it is perfect or not.

Can I ask please how any of you freeze eggs and how you thaw them and use them?Thanks.

Egg whites freeze very well, and can be used for meringues etc. I freeze cream in ice cube trays - ideal for adding to pasta sauces, etc. I also freeze home-made harissa and pesto in ice cube trays, and chopped dill mixed with a little water. We can buy big bunches cheaply at our market sometimes, and it's vastly superior to the supermarket packages, as well as being cheaper. Tarragon can also be frozen in ice cube trays - like dill it retains its flavour well.

TPANDAV, I was interested to read you grow your own cannellini beans. What sort of yield do you get from them? Any other comments or tips about growing and harvesting them? Thanks..

We started two seasons ago with a packet of King's seeds. We planted about 30 and each plant gave around 20 pods. This season we planted around 60 and we now have around 3 kg of semi-dried depodded beans in the freezer plus a litre jar of fully dried beans. They need little care and we plant them quite densely. We do have very fertile soil here.

The semi-dried beans are very special - I simmer them in salted water and olive oil for about 20 minutes then serve either as a side dish or as a main course salad with red onion and herbs.

Thank you TPANDAV. That sounds delicious and I must now try growing some.

I freeze surebake active yeast - it lasts forever in the freezer (well, at least a year past expiry), ground almonds (and other nuts), leftover stock, home-made breadcrumbs (fron crust ends and leftover bread), bananas, feijoas, stewed apple, blueberries, pitted cherries, lemon juice (in big ice cube trays) and chickpeas (I cook a whole heap of dried ones in the crockpot).

I freeze loads of things to make quick individual meals like mac and cheese, butter chicken, casseroles, bacon hock soup, nacho mince, bolognese - all frozen in silicone muffin trays of various sizes, then removed and put into bags or containers. I freeze rice and lasagne in individual portion packs. I make huge batches of meatballs and freeflow freeze for quick meals later.

I repack my bacon into 2-slice packs and freeze it.

I also have a container labelled 'pizza' that has various bits of leftover food like tinned pineapple, ham, bacon, bits of salami and sausage, chicken, pulled pork etc.

And there's always a bag of leftover bones for the dog in my freezer.

All of the above except beans. I don’t think they freeze well, no matter how you do it. I also have sesame seeds, pistachios, etc. I make my own curry pastes and freeze that. Anything that brings moth to your pantry can be chucked into the freezer for a few days when you bring it home, before putting it away. That kills any eggs apparently. I don’t always remember. If we’re going away I will freeze anything left over, eg yoghurt,, cream cheese. I figure it’s always worth a try if I can avoid waste. I also cook big casseroles, etc then freeze in serving sizes. Tamarillos are brilliant frozen whole as they then skin really easily. I also do big batches of baking and freeze biscuits before cooking! Then take out what I want to bake. I’ve been doing 2 slices a week of late. Cutting the edges off for eating, and freezing the nice Centre pieces so there is something nice I can grab out of the freezer when we have unexpected visitors. have two big freezers plus three fridge freezers. There’s only two of us, and they’re all full. Oops! I am trying to empty the big chest freezer, but some how it filled up again. Label and date, and know what’s in your freezer and where. I love my freezers.

Haha, Janet/Emma, your comment about beans (green beans) made me laugh. Cantabcook gave some helpful info about freezing green beans too. My mother used to freeze them all the time but of course that was using the blanch method and they were still disgusting anyway (not as bad as her frozen cauliflower though...). I used some of my frozen-green-beans-in-icecream-container about two weeks after I'd put them in the freezer and they were surprisingly good but I think it was just because of the brief time they'd been in there. Luckily I only had a week where I couldn't keep up with eating our fresh green beans so I only have one icecream container of them in the freezer and don't have high hopes for what they'll be like in another month's time......we shall see.....maybe a stew will be a saving grace for them.....

Something I've only learned to freeze recently is my home-made muesli. The food blogger whose recipe I use suggested that it kept it really fresh - I was dubious but it works perfectly and needs very little time to warm up when you get it out of the freezer each day.

I freeze eggs when we have a glut. You need to whisk them with some some salt so the white and yolk are thoroughly combined. I then pour the egg mixture into ice cube trays and freeze. I will post the salt ratio tomorrow.

That's a handy hint Penny, will do that with spare eggs when you post the salt ratio

I freeze milk.Always give it a good shake once it's thawed, as the solids will have sunk to the bottom. I always have whipped cream in the freezer. Unwhipped cream wasn't successful.

I keep yeast in the freezer as I don’t bake with it regularly and I used to waste jars which were almost full.