Freezer hoarding

Sorry very long and no paragraphs

I have one freezer (the other half of the American fridge freezer in the kitchen) for everyday stuff Eg, bread, peas, frozen chips and stuff on its way to the garage freezer.

The garage freezer contains four or five different homemade pasta sauces, curries, lasagne, soups, shepherds pie bases, casseroles, some chocolate sponges and plain sponge bases. All the above are packed in portions of one or two so they can be used in various combinations.

I also have a fridge freezer in the garage where we store white wine and the freezer bit is used for bought puddings and bought potato dishes from the farm shop.

Uncooked I have chicken thighs, salmon portions, a whole chicken, lamb steaks and some sausages. Oh and some left over lollies from the summer.

We do have a big family and are very busy but I wonder what your husband would say about me.

We have a tall freezer. DH likes to do shopping so I'm never always sure what's -lurking- in there. However last week, we both went through it shelf by shelf and had to throw away a few things, out of date and "just what IS that?".
So now have room for any Christmas extras. We do keep, as do you Stansgran, basic week's meals.

Sounds to me Stansgran, that you are doing alright. Has your DH taken over the shopping, because you can't manage it now? If so, perhaps he should also take over the menu planning and cooking. Sounds a bit controlling to me. Sorry I can't help with what's in our freezers, yes two, upright ones, as I am a bit of a hoarder, but do use it all up, eventually. If there is a bargain to be had, it goes in the freezer. I am awful at meal planning, and often cook something on the spur of the moment. Not tonight though, we are having jacket potatoes with prawn marie rose sauce and salad. This morning I made a lemon and poppy seed drizzle cake, which will be sliced and frozen.

If you are doing the cooking then you should be the one to make the decisions about the freezer. What's with this "won't let you" nonsense? Just turn it on and keep what you like in both of them!

Stansgran Your hubby would not be happy here either.I have a half and half F/F in my kitchen with everyday foods used on a regular basis,in the shed I have a chest freezer with cooked pies/casseroles/4 joints of meat for xmas and xmas party stuff we also have a small F/F out there for wines/beers/juice bread sectioned into portions as there is only 2 of us.Any suggestions of hoarding would be met by me with "here are the apron strings do it yourself" lol.

I only have a small fridge freezer so am always short of freezer space even for one. I don't eat meat but always have salmon and tuna streaks in, quorn products mixed veg frozen berries and anything I've made 3 of as it never seems worth just making one. Sometimes it's a really right squeeze, especially in the summer when I buy a pack of mini choc lollies from Aldi - for the grandchildren of course. (I might have the odd one!)

I have freezer envy kitty, my dream is space for another -small - one. I have three drawers beneath the fridge. .

To answer your question, stansgran, in my view you are not hoarding, far from it.

We hoard everything, everywhere including the freezer . Must never run out of icecream. Always have sausages and low fat mince and microwave chips.
You have reminded me that I must do an audit and use the stuff up.

I have to admit, now I have got over my indignation of Stansgran's DH's attitude, that I do expect Armageddon anytime soon so am always fully prepared.

I do try not to over stock but after 5 children it's difficult not to have things in there 'just in case'. And, I often make something that is already in the freezer to stop myself from taking it out of stock! No logic really!!!!!

I also would tell him to take over the cooking and see how he would manage. He is too controlling.

I live on my own and I have a f/f and I have recently bought an under the counter freezer so that when I get a date for my knee replacement I can do batch cooking and freeze it.

Does he realise that frozen vegetables such as sweetcorn take up quite a bit of space?

You can save money by being able to buy food with maybe today's use by date and freeze it. Tell him that.

There are many times I am happy to be on my own and this is one of them!

It's not hoarding unless you never actually eat the stuff. It's sensible home economy.

My thirty-five year old chest freezer is always at least two thirds full. I was told it would run more efficiently that way. Right now I have loads of garden produce, fruit and veg, either blanched or prepared, like cooked apple, tarts, ratatouille, chargrilled veg, soups etc.

I always have sliced bread, some meat and fish and a range of vegetarian and vegan things like sausages and burgers.

I have never really adjusted my quantities since the children left. I always have leftovers in portion sizes. Although I love cooking it is nice to have a night off now and then and eat up something I made earlier.

It's chockablock right now so for the next few weeks we'll have to eat more of the contents to make room for the Xmas stuff.

Three drawer freezer under the fridge in our kitchen; top drawer always has chicken breasts, chicken legs, pork chops, belly pork and mixed beef/pork mince that the butchery in our local supermarket makes for me using the meat that I choose. Centre drawer has a variety of frozen veg, basic Margarita pizzas that I can jazz up before baking and the odd plastic box containing home made lasaña or spag bol sauce. Bottom is frozen white fish fillets, sometimes a box of fish fingers for when I feel the need for an indulgent FF sandwich, a ready to bake apple strudel from Aldi in case of unexpected visitors and in the summer a box of choc ices or the small cornets.

We have an American fridge freezer in the kitchen , and the freezer part has basics , frozen veggies, chicken, white fish etc. Outside in the garage I have a tall freezer full of my bargains that I rotate into the indoor freezer, things like fruit and veggies when in season or multipack buys.

And I have a tall fridge which I use at Christmas for chilled food overflow and drinks, and in the summer drinks, and snacks for when we have decamped to the garden !!

Your set up sounds perfectly reasonable to me Stansgran !

I have one chest freezer in the garage which is always at least 3/4 full. Some of it is quick turnover such as 3 x 2 litre milk, 4 various loaves, sausages and fish fingers, ice cream and lollies for dgc.

Off the top of my head, at present also about 8 various beef/pork roasts, mince steak, 4 pizzas, lots of chicken breasts and thighs (we live near the chicken factory shop). Cooked left over portions of bolognese, cottage pie. Fish fillets, several fresh trout, salmon steaks, 4 Cakes, 5 cheesecakes, cartons of double cream, garlic breads.

Frozen mixed veg, corn on the cob, oven chips.

(I also have old kitchen cupboards in the garage that store the tins, jars, and dry goods like pasta.)

I know I could go quite a while without shopping and sometimes do so to 'use up' and make space.

My rules would be

I cook therefore I decide what we buy and how we store it.

You cook and you decide what to buy and how to store it.

DH is wrong to me. You could ask him to be chef and care to the freezer himself.

Your husband would definitely say I am a hoarder. I have a large chest freezer in the cellar. It has mostly meat, which I tend to buy when on offer. There's joints of meat, chicken pieces, chops, fish, pies, ice cream, bread, chips, peas.
I am planning to downsize so have bought a small freezer to keep in the more accessible conservatory so I can find things in the big one and gradually run it down.

My freezer is full of bits and bobs which wouldn't go together to make a meal. I must get myself together and start using it to store useful stuff!

I would be in the ‘when he plans , shops and cooks he can store or not store what he likes’ camp.

Before I downsized I had a 20 cu ft freezer in the garage which I miss. I now only have 4 drawers beneath the fridge which are always full to bursting although there is only me. It is full of sausages, pork and turkey steaks, salmon and smoked cod fillets, chicken, mince raw and cooked and summer fruits. I sometimes have to throw out the other bits and pieces which get squeezed in, like breadcrumbs from surplus bread, individual portions of caramelized onions and home made stuffings.
My kitchen cupboards are also full of dry goods and cans. I could probably feed myself for a month without shopping for anything but vegetables, so why don't I use up some of the stuff? Perhaps that should tell me that I am a hoarder and so are you Stansgran! Seems perfectly sensible to me.

I have a fridge freezer in the kitchen and a full size freezer in the garage. next week I have a whole lamb and 14 kilos of dog food coming, it is going to be a squeeze. I keep loads of veg, potato type products, home made burgers, bread, bol.sauce, soups, shepherd's pie as well as chicken, sausages, beef joints (make my own mince). Think we could live for over a month without going to the shops except for milk and eggs. Habit started when we moved here and then the nearest supermarket was 25 miles away and no home deliveries, and lots of snow.

I recently went through my indoor freezer to check and itemise everything in it. Some things got thrown away as being out of date or unrecognisable but we ate from the freezer for at least a week. Trouble is, I’m sliding back into the old ways . The outside freezer was also sorted and I was horrified at the dates on some of the things in there and threw a lot out, whilst being ashamed at the waste. It now has half a lamb in there, which we must start eating soon.

I have the most enormous freezer, and it is always full. GC love the fact that Grandma can magic just abour anything they fancy. I worry that we may starve during the Christmas break