What are your freezer essentials/staples?

15 answers /

Last post: 01/10/2010 at 5:04 pm

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Anonymous
28/09/2010 at 2:01 pm
Hi
I wasn't sure which board to post this on but as I'm always trying to cut back on my supermarket spend (between 70 - 100 pound per week which is far more than I want to spend!) I thought I'd try on here!

Our freezer de-frosted and all the food was spoiled so had to throw out. I am ready to re-stock but don't want to buy stuff that stays in the freezer and is essentially forgotten about or not used up.

What do you use regularly that you freeze? I was thinking maybe some frozen veggies but am a bit stumper now! I'd love to hear what everyone has (and uses) in their freezers!

Thanks,
Nicola.
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ANONYMOUS
Anonymous
28/09/2010 at 2:05 pm
Hiya

I think everyone has stuff in their freezer they've forgotten about.  My freezer has four sections.

Section 1 has frozen veg, brocolli, green beans and also anything potato based like oven chips.

Section 2 is frozen meat from the butchers, which is wrapped in cellophane into family portions, ie. enough for the three of us.  Also in this section is food I've cooked too much of and have enough for another dinner.  Lots of tubs of stew, spag bol etc.

Section 3 is the quick and easy stuff like fish fingers, nuggets, garlic bread etc

section 4 is for ice cream, ice poles and lollies.

My weekly shop is around £40-£50 a week for me and 2 children.
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Anonymous
28/09/2010 at 3:48 pm
Frozen peas, frozen cauliflower and broccoli mix, fishfingers, potato waffles, meat- we always buy a couple of whole chickens and divide it up then freeze it in portions, much cheaper this way and you get legs and wings for one meal and then the meat does a couple of meals like fajitus (sp?!), a pie and a stif fry. I also have things like kievs or turkey escalopes and maybe a frozen pie for when I can't be bothered to cook. And always some mince. I used to buy a packet of mince every shop regardless of whether I'd used any that week or not! When I decided to be more frugal I went through the freezer and discovered 8 packets of mince!!!! Anyway, I always make sure I have some in for spag bol, cottage pie etc... Can't really think of anything else.
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ANONYMOUS
Anonymous
28/09/2010 at 3:54 pm
I always keep frozen veg, different kinds of them just incase I ever run out of fresh or can't afford it one week.

I also buy reduced meat and fish every week and keep it in the freezer, so I've always got some just in case.

Garlic bread, puff pastry, chips, kievs/breaded chicken steaks, always have some frozen apple (pre-cooked) in there and pizza.

I have lots of other stuff in there but I make sure I have this things all in at all times
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ANONYMOUS
Anonymous
28/09/2010 at 4:02 pm
Frozen veg - bags of frozen chopped onion, peppers and mushrooms are good for chucking in casseroles and stews, and mixed veg always comes in handy. When I go to the butcher or get meat in the supermarket I buy big portions then divide them into enough for different meals, bag it up and freeze it.

Other than that its mostly home-made stuff I've frozen. Left over spag bol, soups, basic tomato sauce, potato wedges, pizza dough. That kind of thing.
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ANONYMOUS
Anonymous
28/09/2010 at 4:14 pm
I don't like frozen veg except peas. I do however have frozen chopped onions/peppers and garlic as these tend to be things that i buy and don't use in time or don't use a whole one and end up chucking out so for me they are great, all chopped up and ready to chuck in something.

Meat wise i have mince, stewing beef, chicken and sausages.

Fish - i have fish fingers, salmon and cod.

Bread, sometimes garlic bread, pizza.

Icecream. Can't think of anything else, probably got few other bits and bobs like pies and stuff.

Know what you mean about the forgotten stuff, a few months ago i threw out 5 bags of food which was well out of date
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ANONYMOUS
Anonymous
28/09/2010 at 4:14 pm
there are 5 of us and i tend to bulk buy, only do one main shop a month at around £100. i usually get packs of chicken breasts and mince and then divide into portions and cling fling it. i also split my frozen veg into portions and put in food bags. tubs of homemade soup that i stock up on for the winter. frozen apples and rhubarb for making pies and crumbles. tub of ice cream. always a spare bottle of milk and a couple of loaves! also keep quick things just incase like oven chips and fish fingers.

just as well i have a chest freezer.
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ANONYMOUS
Anonymous
28/09/2010 at 7:17 pm
Hi

in our freezer at the moment is

oven chips (big bag)
lots of frozen veg
frozen mince (beef/lamb and pork
and a couple of other bits like bread, crumpets, potato cakes

I make everything from scratch, we have just done a big shop today and we spent a measly £35 THIS IS FOR TWO WEEKS!!

we will probably need milk in the week and possibly some more sugar but im rather impresses with my budget shopping today, found some curry sauce in asda for 9p!!

x
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ANONYMOUS
Anonymous
01/10/2010 at 9:47 am
I have a chicken - will roast it on sunday - then use left over for dinner monday - ie curry, fajita, sweet & sour.
Mince. Steam fresh veg, and some normal frozen veg ie peas, peppers. some chicken legs, some fish my dad caught, sauages (veggeie and meat - veggie good in cassrole) bread, garlic bread (47p in asda) bottom drawer full of ice poles etc, few bags of balckberries we picked a few weeks ago, pork chops, naan bread, breaded fish, fish fingers - cheap ones as kids prefer them! And veg fingers. Oh and the best - half a bottle of vodka! Have a friend round later

As other posters have said - bulk cooking is good, i have a giant pan so when im cooking spag bol i freeze left overs, either for us for a quick meal or when we have something like curry that ds wont eat - so he has spag bol!
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ANONYMOUS
Anonymous
01/10/2010 at 9:53 am
Like others we bulk cook so most of my freezer is taken up by frozen meals I have already made.  The staples that are shop bought are: peas, corn (to go with meat and potato meals), cauliflower and spinich (for curries, spinich gets added to spag bol and other stew type meals) fish fingers (for when I'm feeling lazy).

For meat I always have mince, chicken thighs and beef/oxtail and sausages.  I buy a large mince and make sag bol, chicken thighs I make a cauli/spinich/chicken curry and the beef/oxtail I make a stew.

For making meals cheaper I also builk out with lentils and grated carrots/courgette.
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ANONYMOUS
Anonymous
01/10/2010 at 10:09 am
OMG Katy, youre amazing!!!:)
Would love my shopping to cost £35.  Please spill the beans what you bought and what youre going to make.  I need some tips.
Thankyou
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ANONYMOUS
Anonymous
01/10/2010 at 10:15 am
I always have mince in there. I cant live with no mince as a backup!! Always have frozen veggies in there, usually brocolli and peas, but at the mo we also have green beans, and some swede that we froze, and some runner beans from the garden will be going in shortly. I also like to have some chicken breasts. We dont always have them in there as they are pretty expensive these days but they are handy to have. And bread, always have some bread in as its cheaper in the supermarket than in our shop so we buy it in bulk.
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ANONYMOUS
Anonymous
01/10/2010 at 10:17 am
Oh yes, and sausages, and something quick for if Im ill or something. I do tend to cook everything from scratch as I am a SAHM so have the time to do it most days, but sometimes I dont have time so chuck in some fish fingers and chips or something.
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ANONYMOUS
Anonymous
01/10/2010 at 3:07 pm
KATY
wow - what did you buy to last you 2 weeks for £35? Does that mean you are using things up from your freezer/store cupboard?  I need to know what you're going to make please!

I cook from scratch every day and my shopping comes in 75 - 100 quid a week and I am desperate to spend less. Problem is, my OH isn't keen on mince! Given the choice, I'd make lasagne, spag bol, fajitas and shepherds pie for tea to keep costs down but i'd just get whinging...

I need some ideas for quick/easy/cheap meals for the family and trying to make the most of my freezer to do it!

Thanks,
Nicola.
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ANONYMOUS
Anonymous
01/10/2010 at 5:04 pm
Hi

I buy all farm foods, smart price, basic and bettabuy i swear it tastes so much better than the expensive stuff. we have things like chicken casserole, beef stew, cottage pie, shepherds pie, lasagne, chicken pasta bake, fajitas, homemade pizza (so much cheaper when you buy the things to make it yourself as you can use the dried herbs, etc in other things)

i really cant say it enough MEAL PLAN, MEAL PLAN, MEAL PLAN! saves alot of money.

(p.s. we do have to buy bread and milk throughout the two weeks on top)

x
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