Monday, 19 October 2026

Soups And Scoops

Now I am back from my conference, I need to sort out all my frozen goods. Things have got a little disorganised of late. I picked the pears and prepared and froze them, and did the same a little later with the apples. But it was all done rather hurriedly, and I didn't think through exactly where I would store them. They are packed in various sized lok'n'lok boxes, and tucked in odd corners of different drawers. And then there are half-used bags of frozen veg which fall into the gaps - and if I am not careful, disgorge a few frozen peas or sweetcorn kernels to lurk in corners.

And boxes labelled "Bob'sTom Sauce, September" "Ang's Spinach, blanched" and some boxes with no labels at all. There are a few neatly printed tags, curling up at the bottom of the freezer. Note; Brother P-Touch labels do not stick to plastic under freezing conditions even if they work in the kitchen. I decided to use up some of the foods just to make space to re-arrange what remains. I had a lot of stock, three tubs of tomato sauce, and a box of kebabs [mined meat] which never made it to a BBQ.
The stock went into the big slo-cooker, along with a load of small homegrown potatoes from the fridge [plus some tired carrots, a few spring onions and a handful of red lentils] That burbled away happily, and then I liquidised it to get vegetable soup. Warming lunches for autumn days.

I thawed and 'dismantled' the kebabs, and using Brontë Aurell's lovely book as inspiration I turned the mince [along with breadcrumbs, onion, an egg, and seasonings like Allspice and Worcestershire Sauce] into meatballs. These went into the tomato sauce, and that's 4 portions waiting for pasta, rice or potatoes for a comforting winter supper. 

One scoop of mince using my ice cream scoop is just enough to cut in half make two meatballs [I wore disposable gloves to handle and roll them] I'm pleased with  what I have achieved, and I hope to get the rest of the frozen foodstuffs properly sorted out next week.
How do you use up oddments in the freezer?

10 comments:

  1. I keep a roll of masking tape and a permanent pigment pen handy in the kitchen. Everything gets labelled; it sticks to boxes in the freezer and I use it to write the date when I open jars before putting them in the fridge.

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    1. I must put a roll of masking tape alongside my Kitchen Sharpie!

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  2. We freeze leftovers in tiny lock and lock boxes and then combine them and serve with grains or under a pie crust. Lentils and carrots for example go with a small serving of a casserole; you get the idea! Jilll x

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    1. This is a really good idea. Sometimes my box of frozen goods is too large, and I only need a couple of spoonfuls for my casserole etc

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    2. You could freeze things in ice cube trays then decant those into a freezer bag or other container. Then you can take out only as much as you need. We used to do this with foods we liquidised for our children when they were babies.

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    3. I'd quite forgotten the time spent liquidising and freezing portions of baby food [40 years ago!]

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  3. To answer your question .... very much like you do. This weekends little kitchen job was to make a pot of soup with all the oddments from the fridge. Today I will be menu planning from the freezer. The masking tape and marker pen is a good idea isn't it, once Alan's finished with the painting I will commandeer any masking tape that he has left over for kitchen use.

    Labelling is very important, as I learned quite recently when I thawed out some 'vegetable soup' and found out that it was in fact stewed apple!!

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    1. I too thawed out something recently and wasn't sure if it was stewed apple or soup till it was liquid!!

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  4. It’s always nice to share thrifty ideas. The masking tape tip is good too.
    Alison in Devon x

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