Domestic goddess rating: 10% (lazy slob today, just reached for the freezer) Five-a-day: 3/5 Food miles: none
On the menu: Porridge – ran out of everything else (breakfast); pasta and pesto (lunch); re-heated Tuscan bean stew and rice (supper)
Once again, saved by the freezer. I don’t know what they did before these useful gadgets got invented. Along with the oven timer, it’s my favourite thing in the kitchen.
We’ve got two, in fact, one big one and one small one. It’s essential if you want to buy locally-sourced meat in bulk, like we did in January – you can’t exactly get through a whole lamb in the time it takes to go off in the fridge. Actually our freezer looks like the inside of an abattoir at the moment, as we have not only the best part of a lamb in it, but also half a pig. With a bit of luck all that meat will last us well into summer though.
Then there’s the veg. If you grow your own, you inevitably have a glut at some stage. Some of it can be stored in sacks or trays in dark, cool places, like potatoes, apples and root veg. But most summer veg won’t last long unless you preserve it: and unless you’re a serious pickle fan, that means freezing. There’s a long debate about whether or not to blanch, of which no doubt I will have more to say come the summer, but the basic principle means you can dip into your supplies of frozen summer fruit and veg well into winter too.
And last but not least, there’s the leftovers. I don’t know about you but I’m rubbish at judging portions. Ask me for a portion of spaghetti, and I’ll give you three, plus some left over for the chickens. You can’t freeze spaghetti, of course, but you can freeze pasta sauces, stews, and even some whole dishes like shepherd’s pie and the like. And if you have a busy family, that’s a godsend – on nights like tonight, when we’re all rushing about all over the place, you just reach for the freezer and pull out whatever you fancy. It takes five minutes to reheat – ten minutes if you put some rice with it – and bingo, a home-cooked supper that’s healthy (and was seasonal when you cooked it, too). No processed meals-for-one in this house.
Filed under: Cooking, Gardening, Grow your own, Seasonal eating, healthy eating | Tagged: blanching, freezing, fresh food, frozen food, gluts, home grown vegetables, leftovers, preserving, storing
