Freezing odd items ?

WOW ! These tips are all so useful - and welcome, thank you.
So many I have never known about or even thought of. I am going to print of this thread for future reference

I will freeze almost everything. All left overs go in the freezer rather than the fridge and I keep a list of what is in it.

This afternoon I made a pheasant and gammon pie filling. The pheasant was meat taken off two carcases, one roasted in November, the other in January and frozen. The gammon was left over from Christmas and frozen . Half of the pie filling has gone back into the freezer for further pies at a later date. We are having it with red cabbage, which I cooked in a huge batch about two months ago.

grannylyn55 you can freeze egg yokes. Ideally use a minimum of two eggyokes, whip them together and add about half a teasoon of salt or sugar and put them in a container and freeze. Lable them so you know whether they have been mixed with salt or sugar. You can also mix up whole eggs.

Our next door neighbour in France became allergic to the eggs her numerous chickens produced and every times we visited we would be presented with 2 dozen eggs when we arrived and another 4 dozen or so when we returned. Despite giving eggs to neighbour and friends we had more eggs than we could use immediately, so I used to freeze them. She has now disposed of the chickens, so no more eggs.

NonnaAnnie said "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."

Gosh that takes me back! I remember that advice too, but I think the last time I knitted mohair was for cardigans for my DDs way back when they were about 3 and 5... So over 30 years ago! Eeek! Where did the time go? I got the mohair in El Kilo (now Abakhan) where you could buy remnants of fabric by weight, and fibre cheap too. Mostly the fabric was cut into 2 yard lengths, so useless for curtains in our Edwardian terraced house. Very occasionally you could get lucky and find longer lengths, still have some in my stash, though we've moved to a semi since then, so don't need the length any more. Perhaps time to Freecycle to someone who needs the long lengths now.

Sorry, went rather off topic there!

I have learnt such a lot from reading this thread,thank you Greymary.

I grow my own chillies and chop them up into tiny pieces which I freeze in ice cubes. This saves having to chop one up each time as I invariably get chilli burn. For the massive chop I don fine rubber gloves. I also freeze chillies whole and drop one in to a bubbling pot. I also freeze butter which is on offer as someone else mentioned so that I always have some in stock for baking cakes.

Wine into ice cubes to add to sauces/gravy.

I chop mixed vegetables and freeze in small bags to put frozen into mince when I cook it, to bulk it up with fewer calories.

When you have the oven on, why not cook a load of jacket potatoes? The whole cooked potatoes can be frozen, then microwaved for 5 minutes when needed. Just the same as paying McCain's to do it for you. The texture is not unpleasant like those microwaved from scratch.

As already mentioned, making and freezing breadcrumbs from stale bread is useful for stuffings, toppings or sauces.

Wow what a lot of clever ideas. I hadn't thought of freezing sugar paste or asparagus stalks. Has anyone mentioned coffee? I like to make fresh coffee when I have visitors and unused beans keep well in the freezer.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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!

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)

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..!

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!!!

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Freezing teddy bears gets rid of dust mites.

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.