Freezing odd items ?

Waitrose have knocked their Seville oranges down from £3 odd to 99p a box and I find online that they can be frozen for making marmalade later in the year. Brilliant.

When someone parked chewing gum on the underside of a loo seat, I had to freeze my knickers.

I get ridiculed by DH for freezing small amounts of leftover cooked dishes (leftover in the cooking dish, not off the plates, I should add. But When they make great fillings for stuffed peppers and the like, I am the one laughing

I pop ginger whole in the freezer - you can grate it without peeling, so easy!

I also occasionally remember to put veg peelings in the freezer for stock. I make a lot of soups at this time of year, and really like having homemade stock for them. Then of course the extra soup goes in the freezer, so I always have a selection.

Yes, annodomini, I froze my new scarf once, as I just couldn't get some careless person's gum off it

We seem to get excesses of things at various times so freezers are often full to bursting.

Tomatoes, whole. they separate on defrosting, the skins and core slip off easily and then you can whooshe it about and use in sauces, soups etc.
Basil - I freeze masses of pesto when the basil all comes up at once. We also have loads of walnuts every year so these go into pesto too.
I make up quiche mixes with excess eggs, or creme caramel and freeze, and pastry cases separately.
Courgettes, Jerusalem artichokes, onions, carrots all go into soups.

I don't like frozen potatoes or whole cauliflower, but I have just found recipes for cauliflower puree that freezes well, also cauliflower and blue cheese soup, and cauliflower curry.

Red and green peppers, chillies, ginger, all get cleaned and thrown in raw. They come out a bit soggy but absolutely fine in casseroles and sauces. Aubergines I slice and par roast with a sprinkle of olive oil then open freeze, good for casseroles and moussaka.

Spend my summer slaving over a hot stove processing what we call NFB - Nature's F-----g Bounty! love it and eat well and cheaply in the winter.

I freeze chillies, then chop them up while they're still frozen. They last for years in a Ziploc bag in my freezer, and I just take out one or two when I need them.

I love this thread so many great ideas. I'm real hoarder of frozen left overs or excesses to use up later. So much of what we buy is too big a portion. Mushrooms and peppers get sliced and used in casseroles/slow cooker/stews. Latest experiment was freezing Vegan 'milk' in ice cube trays after my Vegan friend had been for coffee and there was lots left over. It separated a little in the tray as it froze but mixed up well after defrosting and was fine in her next coffee. Mashed potato is great shaped into nests and frozen on a tray before placing in a box. Pop into the oven filled with baked beans/spaghetti topped with cheese to heat up for grandchildren's after school snack. Following the summer's glut of tomatoes in the greenhouse some get frozen in bags to use in sauces and soups. Any joints we cook are sliced up and frozen in boxes so that a few slices can be taken out at a time. I make gravy and boil the frozen meat up in it to make another roast dinner. Roast potatoes freeze well on open tray then bagged, good for preparing in advance or a quick roast. There's loads more we do but I'd better stop now before I hog the whole thread

Crisps........once you've opened that large pack, seal the bag and pop in the freezer. Keeps them fresh and crisp and can be eaten straight from the freezer.

Freezing teddy bears gets rid of dust mites.

The dried yeast in my freezer is well past its use by date but still works beautifully. It stays as granules and I use it straight from the freezer.

james martin uses frozen bananas to make icecream. i've seen him do it on the tele several times so i thought i'd look to see if i could find the recipe - and i found it! good old bbc food website.

www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/instantbananaicecrea_86115

not tried it but perhaps i might this summer.

he's got a lovely recipe for strawberry jam too which is meant to be eaten quickly. looks yummy but i wonder if it would freeze.

i've never tried freezing dried yeast - i seem to buy it and leave it until its use by date has gone [accidentally of course] - never thought to freeze it. perhaps i will next time i buy any.

Putting yeast in the freezer is so good. If your bread does not rise properly it is probably because the yeast is stale, freezing keeps it fresh and, as you say, use it straight from the freezer.

I have two much loved cashmere scarves which roll up into small freezer bags and live in the freezer all summer so the moths don't get to enjoy them too.

I cook a big pot of red cabbage then freeze in separate bags for reheating later. While it tastes good immediately, on balance I think tastes even better When recooked. Delicious. Great favourite Of my small grandchildren.

Well I thought I was the the queen of not wasting food but some of these suggestions I'd never thought of. Freezing peeled root ginger is my absolute favourite.
In the summer I eat a lot of asparagus. Every time I cook some I put the ends I snap off first in the freezer. When I've got enough I make asparagus soup which is delicious, you don't need the tips at all and I feel I've made something for nothing.
My mum was raised in the 'making a meal out of a dishcloth' school of cooking during the depression and I think its in the genes now, though what would my granny have thought of me eating asparagus!

I whizz up left over bread into crumbs and freeze them. Makes a delicious topping for cauliflower cheese used straight from the freezer and mixed with grated cheese. Lemons and limes cut into wedges ready to pop straight into drinks are handy as you then don't need ice aswell. I did ONCE manage to have some left over wine to freeze in cubes to use to add to sauces!!!

I make my own stuffing at Christmas - make a huge quantity, use half for turkey etc and freeze the rest. Just roll it into balls (about golf ball size), freeze on a baking sheet overnight, then tap off into plastic bag and keep...
When I cook chicken I can either get a few balls out and roast (straight from frozen) or take them out the day before to defrost, then use as filling for chicken breasts hammered out, spread with stuffing, rolled up and baked with parma ham wrapped round them - no fuss, no mess, just lovely taste..!

SwimHome, I keep cashmere in the freezer too as we have a dreadful moth problem at present... Our fridge freezer seems to be on its last legs at present, which is not nice as it's not even 5 years old yet. So I was looking at fridge-freezers online, but they nearly all have less freeze space than fridge space. We have an under counter integrated fridge in the kitchen, the fridge freezer is in utilityroom, so I'm coming round to the idea of having a tall freezer when it finally bites the dust so wool and cashmere can live in it permanently! The only time we really need the bigger fridge volume is at Christmas to keep the turkey in, but the kitchen is usually as cold as a fridge in winter, so we could just leave it out on the work surface. (We do have heating in the kitchen, but find once you're cooking it warms up quite well so we don't bother using it)

Some brilliant ideas here. My problem is lack of organisation in the deep freeze - I freeze left-overs and bits and bobs, (sometimes actually labelling them properly!) but still seem to end up with a forgotten heap of sad little packages which no longer look very appetising. Any suggestions for deep-freeze discipline would be very welcome!

Whenever we have shell-on prawns I freeze the shells and when I have enough I boil them up with a little onion, carrot, celery, tomato, parsley etc to make a strong stock which is fantastic for seafood risotto.

Fresh Ginger- grate it & put in ice cube trays so you have just enough when you want it.
Chillies - I grow several varieties & freeze them whole. Then I grate them from frozen- you can use just half if you want & they freeze beautifully.
Sugar Paste- I always have some left over after making birthday cakes & it soon goes hard if you leave it in larder.
Lemon- in ice cube trays with water- all ready for a quick G&T.
Bread crumbs- is a plastic bag when loaf is just going over then it is all ready for coating or making stuffing.

All this could be why I have 3 freezers & no space in any of them My main fault is not labelling things so we often get breadcrumbs instead of crumble mix or vice versa, stock instead of soup etc. Makes for a very interesting new dish. GC know they may or may not get what I have told them we are having for dinner- adds to the excitement.

An amazing list and can't add much more other than:

Open freeze slices of lime, pack into freezer bag. Use straight from freezer into your gin and tonic - or any drink.

Cut a large loaf of bread in half. Freeze one half for a later date.

I have frozen mascarpone cheese successfully whe I bought too much over Xmas.

ladycatlover, you have reminded me that I used to keep my knitting wool in the freezer, it stopped it shedding fibres that get up you nose and in your eyes while you are knitting, particularly with mohair type wool.