Freezer hoarding

Oh dear - the phrase ‘DH won’t let me’ made my blood run cold! I used to have one of those, he wouldn’t let me have control of anything in the house, or my own money, the food I ate, or the clothes I wore.
Maybe that’s a subject for a different thread, but if it starts with a freezer, where could it lead?
Now, very happily alone, I have my little freezer full of all the treats I went without for years. Prawns, ice cream, chicken fillets, and I hoard all I want to - mmmmm!
Time to start thinking of lunch!

Well said SLUTTYGRAN. I wholeheartedly agree. A woman after my own heart.

Just a thought. Is he worried about the running costs of a freezer. These days, they are very economical to run, and if you have something stored in the freezer, it saves getting out the car (petrol costs + general wear and tear) plus the cost of whatever it is you go out to buy...?It's a win win, this forward planning, saves a lot of money!

Don't you have a say in the matter if your freezer (or two/three) is switched on?
You are an adult and an EQUAL partnership in the marriage. Please don't feel you have to do as your H says as he sounds far too controlling. The days of a husband ruling the roost and a wife meekly obeying have long gone.
Switch that spare freezer on and fill it...

You are not a hoarder. In the 70's my husband compared my shoe collection to Imelda Marcos. I had 5 pair. Sometimes men just get something in their head - who knows why?

Tomatoes, aubergine s, cauliflower, broccoli, fennel, pumpkin,apricots,blackcurrants, raspberries, peaches, plums, greengages, cherries, mostly from our gardens. Packet s of Herby tomato sauce and spicy tomato sauce, all homemade plus other veggie and fruity prepared stuff, loads of veggie soups. Emergency bread. Pastry cases, stock, gravies, pesto, egg whites, ice cream, mostly homemade. Lots of meats and fish bought when on offer or 'garden sheep' from a neighbour. Prepared main meals and puddings. Crumble mix. Garlic butter for snails from snail farm in the garden. Puff pastry. Wines in small containers for cooking.

Just the two of us. I have a chest freezer, an American fridge and a fridge freezer in the gite. They are all full to bursting and overflow is in friend's freezer.

I just love this way of life, growing,gathering and processing and cooking. So different from before. It means we eat extremely well throughout the winter and I can always rustle up a meal for friends, or take something to theirs.

I already have garden lamb leg and shoulder, cauliflower puree, canapes, spicy pumpkin soup, some cheese, raspberries for a tart in freezer for New Year's Eve dinner for 14. Carrots, potatoes, brocolli and parsnips will come in from the garden that morning. Sauces/preserves in fridge. chocolate mousse on the day. Guests bringing cheeses and wines, oh and homemade cassis, framboise and limoncello

Only Need to buy bread and cream. Sorted.

What's with this- my husband won't let me- rubbish; 1'm so glad I live alone and do as I please. I pick a multitude of blackberries every year and can easily fill two shelves in my freezer - enough to last the whole year until next picking season so I really need to get another small chest freezer for the garage for overspill. I give half away as I love picking them more than eating! In another compartment I keep frozen veg, chips, fish, sausages, stuff on offer etc. but I don't eat a lot of meat. The last one has stuff I have cooked and frozen portions of . That leaves very little room for ice cream/desserts etc. I also make loads of my own juices when I'm trying to lose weight so I really must get that other freezer soon....and that's for one person.

I really must tidy up my freezers!
Gooseberries anyone?

Ok so we've reached a compromise. I can have it turned on for Xmas stuff and then it has to be off. DH is a lovely man but he does get frightened by my desire to have full cupboards and not run out of things but I think a lot of it is todo with me growing up in a house where money was very tight and there was an awful lot of contrivance whereas he grew up where there was plenty and he never sees the need to stockpile as it could always be bought. I freely admit I am a hoarder of materials and sewing stuff and I feel safer with a full cupboard but you've all made me feel envious of your full freezers. I still don't think I'm unreasonable but I'm willing to compromise as long as he goes shopping at the drop of a hat and while he can he must.

annifrance thank you for that paean to freezers and their contents. It made my heart sing.

Oh dear Stansgran you DH would have a heart attack if he came to our house because not only the freezers are full so are the fridges and cupboards. The overflow now goes into the spare bedroom on the ground floor. Today Lidl had Hellmans mayonnaise at a very reduced price so DH puts 7 jars into the trolley together with the 5 loin of pork joints destined for the freezer. I am sorry but no man would ever tell me whether I could have a freezer or anything else switched on or off. In my opinion freezers, cupboards and wardrobes are there to be filled.

So no compromise there, then...

I have a below fridge freezer which is full after I have been shopping. I only shop when I absolutely have to, ie when I am running short of bread, milk etc. If you don't have a freezer you will be shopping every other day. Life's too short. your husband sounds too controlling. Stick to your guns, you seem to be managing very well.

I do cook and freeze half often, and also bake and freeze. I have a fridge/freezer in the kitchen, and also one in the garage. Both are full, and that is partly because I live round the corner from an M & S food store and often get great bargains. On Wed, for example, we got one of those fancy birthday cakes covered in sweets and chocolate shards - £15.00 for £1.50. We had the grandchildren coming somitvwss a special treat( I was thinking of the grandparents spoiling the kids thread, but none of them ate a lot of their portion! We did!) we also got two chocolate cakes down from £4.00 to 40p, pack of hot cross buns £1.70 for 20p, packs of two haddock fillets £4.00 for £1.00 and chicken Jafrezi £3.75 for 90p plus sausages for 20p. Most will go into the freezer, though I'm going to need space very soon for Christmas and New Year food!

I agree with ‘I love cheese ‘....i do ALL the shopping ALL the cooking,...and my hubby knows better than to criticise either of those activities.The freezers are mine and the fridges.I have a small kitchen freezer ( two drawers) and a four shelf fridge above...and a three drawer freezer in garage with a three shelf fridge beside it. I say what’s goes and what doesn’t!! “ Won’t let me”.... I’d just laugh and tell him to “do one”

Surely it is not up to your DH what you want to stock in your freezer. Who does the cooking? If you do then it is up to you. I am a bit of a frozen food hoarder, but I would hate to run out of anything and I do rotate the food so use one buy one. I have American fridge freezer in kitchen for chips, ice cream and frozen veg. I have small chest freezer in conservatory which I freeze a lot of garden produce and some home made prepared meals such as lasagne, bolognese, curry, soup, shepherd's pie and a few frozen deserts etc that I can pull out if anyone comes. In the garage I have another chest freezer that I just use for minced beef, joints of meat and chickens. Tell your husband that is probably hoarding. In my opinion you do not hoard just plan sensibly.

Sorry stansgran you may see it as a compromise but you're accepting that he allows this and tells you what you or may not do.
You must see that many of us find this level of control as unacceptable.
Why are you prepared to do as you're told?
Peace and quiet? An easier life?
He's undermining you but since you've put up with this for so long it's probably too late for either of you to change.

If my DH were to make remarks on contents of my freezer I would remind him of the various tools he insists on having but many have never been used. As it is he has not made any comment so neither do I. We both agree to hoard food/tools or whatever makes us feel secure and happy.

I am so envious of you all having so much freezer space.
I only have a measly three drawers in my fridge.
One of those drawers is taken up with bread and rolls.
The other two is usually filled with frozen chips, and reduced bargains, frozen veg etc.
How do you all manage, I wonder.
Definitely a case of hoarding and over compensating for something or other.

Do freezers cost that much to run? I was always told they need to be nearly full to run efficiently and you should store bread in it if you can't find anything else. I can't see the point of having one standing empty all the time and would've put it on regardless - if you'd stocked it up he couldn't turn it off I've got an American f/f in the utility room which has 3 very large drawers at the bottom as well as another smaller fridge which admittedly doesn't have much in at the moment (recently had the kitchen refitted and didn't want to take up space with it). I also bought a larder freezer for the garage last year to replace the chest one I could never find anything in. I don't think I'm a hoarder but we have vowed to live out of the freezer for the next couple of weeks in order to make room and stock up for Christmas as family are coming for 6 weeks. My son is/was a chef so I've got to make sure we have plenty of food in. My husband has been going shopping with me for the last 10 years so is always buying stuff he likes the look of but he doesn't do any cooking and I forget what we've bought so I'm sure we've got duplicates and triplicates of a lot of things!

A tall upright freezer uses 250-300 KWH a year of energy, Energy costs vary, so you will have to do your own sums on the usage of your freezer and your tariff.

But if the price of your electricity is about 14p per kilowatt hour, the cost of running a FULL freezer is somewhere around £35 to £42 a year - more if it is not full, because the empty air takes more freezing that the already frozen food. Also the more you open the freezer, the more coldness it loses each time and has to get back.

I had two freezers up to a few weeks ago when one broke. Oh I do miss it. It's not hoarding. Freezers are so useful. I used to cook double casseroles etc and freeze the extra. Then I had meals in the freezer that simply needed defrosting and reheating. Saved electricity and time. Now I can't do that because there isn't enough room in the main freezer. Also I have to go to the shop when I need bread rather than having bread in the freezer. It's not that I mind going to the shops but I am a very weak woman and rarely manage to come out with just bread so I spend extra money on stuff I really shouldn't be eating.

Have three freezer compartments which are crammed with a weeks worth of food both meat and vegetarian, which by the end of the week is empty apart from the ice cubes, for the sangria ? so no lived with a hoarder who would insist on eating green and moulding food, hoped it would poison the old bugger but it never did. So can't abide hoarding in any form.

I have a large freezer in the kitchen, half of an American fridge. In it I keep food that will be used that week. Bread, milk etc. Meat and fish for the week.I also make 'End of the week soup' and I freeze any extra. I also have a chest freezer in the utility room. Used for freezing produce from the garden mostly, but now beginning to fill with Christmas stuff.

The money I save by being able to eat home grown fruit and veg from my freezer rather than buying them, plus the savings from never buying readimeals because there are plenty of home made ones in the freezer far exceeds the freezer running costs of £35 - £42