I am currently working on clearing out odds and sods from the freezer, as I haven't restocked it properly in a while. But it needs space made to restock properly.
One of the things we like a lot is curries of various sorts. But doing them from scratch always takes a while, because you start by finely mincing a couple of large onions, a load of garlic and ginger, and then slowly frying them for about 20 minutes before doing anything else. For pretty much all the curries I make. So I am considering doing a reasonably large batch of that onion "base" and freezing it in 2 person portions, to be able to make curries fairly quickly midweek.
I tend to buy whole chicken breasts, sometimes individually wrapped but often they're in 4 or 6 packs. So I use what I need and freeze the spare - and it's very handy to have a few frozen whole but also a few frozen already diced, in both 1 and 2 person portions. And the same with pork chops. It means I can just defrost package during the day, and throw straight into pan when I get home, saves a few minutes at that frazzled time.
I also do a cheesy leek pasta dish, which needs 1 leek for 1 person (I usually do it when DH is away and nights DD wants something I really don't). But I try to do a few leeks together, as it takes the same time to cook (about 20 minutes - slowly sauté with a little stock and some butter). Then I freeze the leftovers in 1 person portions, so other nights I want that dinner, I just cook fresh pasta in 3 minutes and the leeks defrost that fast while I grate a handful of cheese. And occasionally, I can take out 2 tubs to use them as a veg with a steak when DH is at home.
This week, I am mostly working on decluttering. But I am also writing my lists. And I have already ticked off a few HGP tasks off the lists already!!
One of the things we like a lot is curries of various sorts. But doing them from scratch always takes a while, because you start by finely mincing a couple of large onions, a load of garlic and ginger, and then slowly frying them for about 20 minutes before doing anything else. For pretty much all the curries I make. So I am considering doing a reasonably large batch of that onion "base" and freezing it in 2 person portions, to be able to make curries fairly quickly midweek.
I tend to buy whole chicken breasts, sometimes individually wrapped but often they're in 4 or 6 packs. So I use what I need and freeze the spare - and it's very handy to have a few frozen whole but also a few frozen already diced, in both 1 and 2 person portions. And the same with pork chops. It means I can just defrost package during the day, and throw straight into pan when I get home, saves a few minutes at that frazzled time.
I also do a cheesy leek pasta dish, which needs 1 leek for 1 person (I usually do it when DH is away and nights DD wants something I really don't). But I try to do a few leeks together, as it takes the same time to cook (about 20 minutes - slowly sauté with a little stock and some butter). Then I freeze the leftovers in 1 person portions, so other nights I want that dinner, I just cook fresh pasta in 3 minutes and the leeks defrost that fast while I grate a handful of cheese. And occasionally, I can take out 2 tubs to use them as a veg with a steak when DH is at home.
This week, I am mostly working on decluttering. But I am also writing my lists. And I have already ticked off a few HGP tasks off the lists already!!
