Do you have a freezer at home? I’m sure the majority of you do. What’s inside it? Some forgotten oven chips, peas covered in freezer burn and maybe a couple of ice poles from last summer? In my quest to live a zero food waste life, my freezer has become invaluable.
I’ve written before about our quest to reduce food waste and although I touched on using the freezer, I didn’t really go into too much detail. Yesterday I was writing a meal plan for the week ahead and started rifling through the drawers to see what was there. It seemed easier to just get everything out so whilst I was at it, I thought I’d take a few snaps to share with you. After all, we’re all nosy and enjoy seeing behind the scenes of other peoples lives right!?
It made me realise just how important it’s become in my fight agaist food waste – look at all those tupperwares and bags of bits and bobs – they all contain things which would otherwise have ended up in the bin! It’s also clear that I love a bargain and I use my freezer for reduced price goods. Rather than rely on the big supermarkets I prefer to visit our local organic shops every few days to check the shelves for bargains. We don’t eat alot of meat at home so when we do, I want it to be the best quality it can be. By purchasing it when it’s reduced and sticking it in the freezer I’m both saving money AND stopping something from going to waste. Win win.
My top tips for using your freezer to reduce food waste:
Buy tupperwares or reusable boxes
The small ones are so handy for all sorts of things such as egg whites or yolks which didn’t form part of a recipe, sauces and home made stocks. We make our own bread and so, one of those little boxes also contains a vieille pâte. This is a small piece of dough left over from the last batch which we use in the next one to help improve the flavour. Each time, the same thing.
We also have bigger tupperwares for batch cooked stews, curries and soups. I’ve been using up a load of plastic sandwich bags for this too but once they’re gone, in a bid to use less plastic, I won’t be replacing them so the tupperwares will become even more invaluable.
If in doubt, freeze it
There are a few things on these pictures which originally lived in my fridge. By keeping a close eye on the contents of your fridge, you can save food which is on the brink of its best before date by (you guessed it) using your freezer. It won’t be at it’s best this way but it’s better than forgetting it’s there and then throwing it in the bin. The Trealy Farm bacon for example – we had every intention of eating that but one thing lead to another and suddenly, it was nearly out of date. Saved just in time!
The bagel too, would almost have certainly ended up in the bin. The last one in the packet one the cusp of going stale.
Buy reduced price items
How many of you go to the supermarket and buy packs of mince or sausages, only to freezer them for a later date? I keep an eye out for yellow labels and normally only buy meat and fish when it’s been reduced. I either freeze it immediately or batch cook it into something which is then frozen for later. Or, sometimes I just eat it immediately!
After doing a bit of research last year, I was surprised to find out just how much you can freeze. These items in particular are now often found in my freezer but weren’t before:
- Milk – we often have a spare pint in the freezer. Simply defrost it overnight and it’s ready to go the next day.
- Cheese – currently, there is a reduced price brie and a chunk of cheddar from Christmas.
- Chillis – did you spot the bag of chillis? Just take them out as and when you need them and slice and use from frozen.
- Wild Garlic – we foraged a load of wild garlic last month and some of it went into the freezer. Both as the leaves themselves and as an almond pesto. I also have a jar of the pesto in te fridge, covered with oil to keep fresh.
- Cooked vegetables – somewhere on these pictures there’s a small bag of peas and carrots, leftover one meal time. They’ll be fine added to a stew, soup or curry.
Experiment too – often things which say they can’t be frozen, turn out just fine. I have a small pot of beetroot pesto in there at the moment. I’ll let you know how it thaws! A few weeks ago we ate some hummus from the freezer and it was fine!
Batch cook as often as you can
I’m guilty of not doing this as often as I used to, although I made up for it this weekend with four portions each of dhal and pea & potato curry ready for the the freezer. The potatoes needed using up as they were going a bit soft. Even at this stage of life though, they’re good enough for a rich sauce. The dhal was made using two ends of bags I found in the cupboard!
Batch cooking has three benefits:
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- It’s a chance to use food which will otherwise end up in the bin – eg vegetables on the turn or meat which needs cooking immediately.
- When you’re busy and home late during the week, it’s easy to end up eating crap or grabbing a takeaway. As long as you remember to get stuff out the freezer that morning (we don’t have a microwave, so this is essential!) you can have something healthy and delicious ready to quickly heat and eat when you get home!
- Money & time saving! It costs the same amount of time to make two portions of chilli as it does for eight. And likely hood is, you’re saving money by a) being able to use reduced price goods, b) reducing wasted food and c) avoidng takeaways and buying more shopping than you need!
As you can see, I’m pretty enamoured with my freezer; and you should be too! Hopefully these tips are useful if you are also trying to reduce food waste at home. My last piece of advice would be this – make sure you always know what you have in. Not just in your freezer but also your fridge and your cupboards. I often list all my items and use meal planning as a way of keeping on top of it all. It keeps your dinners interesting and definitely saves you money too!
If you want to find out more about food waste and how you can help, take a look at the FareShare website – they are the UK’s largest charity fighting hunger and food waste.