Don’t be a Freezer Ebenezer – transform your chiller into a foody thriller

Have you undertaken the Great Freezer Expedition? If you were to, you may discover part of a lost fortune worth a combined total approaching £860 million. That’s the value of the food we keep in our freezers here in the UK. Maybe it’s time to unlock some of these frozen assets? You’ll find the average freezer contains enough food to feed one adult for eleven days.

Worcestershire County Council and Herefordshire Council have teamed up with Love Food Hate Waste to provide an online guide to encourage exploration of the deeper recesses of their freezer. Take a few minutes to familiarise yourself with the icy depths and you’ll find a welcoming space that will provide a perfect home for stray leftovers and bulk buying. www.lovefoodhatewaste.com/storage_and_tools/freezer_expedition

Why not try a few simple changes to your shopping habits to make the most of your freezer? You can easily save yourself money into the bargain. For example,

• Try buying larger quantities of fresh meat and fish rather than smaller individual servings. These can be split up and frozen in batches to eat later and are generally cheaper overall.
• Make one day a week the freezer day – freezer Friday? Make your freezer feed you once a week out of the various goodies within.
• Can you believe that at least one in three of us have items in the freezer the origins of which have been lost over time! Many a lovingly prepared casserole has become entombed in the UK freezers. Pop a label on the food containers, giving the name of the food and the date you froze it. It’ll make it easier to keep track of.
• Keep a list on the freezer door so you know at a glance what’s for dinner. Wrap food well / use a suitable container in the freezer to keep food at its best.
• Liquids can be frozen flat in freezer bags and stack-stored. Cutting the packaging down may make it easier to store more: keep the cooking instruction and loose the box!
• Going away and have milk to use up? Why not freeze it (not in a glass bottle of course!) and you’ll have some ready for a cup of tea on your return.
• When cooking, if you double the portions of family favourites like lasagne, curries, spaghetti bolognaise or pasta sauce you can freeze half for another meal. Cuts down on your cooking time and is great emergency cover to have in the freezer. It is safer and more convenient to portion food before you freeze it; it will cool quicker and you can defrost just what you need.
• Take foods out of the freezer the night before you're going to use them and place in the fridge to defrost. They’ll defrost gradually and keep cool until you are ready to cook. Cook the food thoroughly, simply check that it’s steaming hot all the way through.
• If you’ve got a few items in the fridge that are near their ‘use by’ date and which are unlikely to be eaten in time, pop them in the freezer. It’s often forgotten that it’s safe to freeze food right up to the end of the ‘use by’ date, and don’t forget to use it within 24 hours of defrosting.

If you have any specific freezer questions or would like to find out more tips for freezing a variety of foods, visit the Arctic Aunt pages of the www.lovefoodhatewaste.com to find out how, for example, to freeze mashed potatoes! Or even how to freeze a victoria sponge!

For more freezer saving tips, visit www.lovefoodhatewaste.com/storage_and_tools/freezer_myths