How often have you walked past the supermarket freezer section and been dazzled by it's contents ? I used to be like that as a newly wed about 18 - 19 years ago. My cooking skills were limited so those prepacked, pre prepared foods looked like heaven to me.
I'll admit that I bought a frozen lasagne or two. I also bought frozen sticky date puddings, a cheese cake or two, a few pizzas, apple pies, a few frozen meals as well as the staples like frozen vegies, icecream and fish.
At the time, these frozen foods tasted very nice. Divine infact. Then I saw the light or should I say recipe books and the internet. These two sources of information opened up a whole new world to me. I found easy to follow recipes that used normal everyday ingredients. Suddenly that frozen sticky date pudding that I thought was " oh so yummy " didn't have the same appeal any more. I could make it better and cheaper.
I now freeze my own lasagne, leftovers ( my version of a freezer meal ), sticky date puddings in muffin sizes, pizza dough to make my own pizzas and stewed apple to make apple desserts. My grocery budget has shrunk as a result of making my own and I enjoy my own food far more than anything made in a factory.
These days, the only things I buy from the freezer section are bags of fish portions ( not crumbed ) , icecream ( plain vanilla ), pastry ( to make my own yummies ) and beans and corn kernels. Everything else we either grow, bake or cook ourselves.
The next time you walk past the supermarket freezers, have a think about making these foods yourself. Your family will be thanking you for it and you'll notice a change in your grocery budget.
I'm not one for buying the actual prepared meals, though I have bought a party lasagna once or twice for a crowd. I do buy frozen vegetables, tho.
ReplyDeleteI tried gardening for two years and really didn't enjoy it. Plus, we have loads of wild bunnies and it really turned into a salad bar for them.
I can make plenty of my own things to freeze, aside from those. Now that the weather is cooling, our freezer stash has already started to grow.
Sometimes it's almost impossible to grow your own - or it takes a lot of hard work.
DeleteSnap...I only buy frozen corn kernels, peas and a small amount of icecream as I usually make my own. Yet my freezer is full- of meals I make myself.So much cheaper and tastier. I sometimes yen for something storebought or a takeaway but they are not to my taste or price.
ReplyDeleteVery timely! This morning I was given 10 round Asiago cheese focaccia breads! I cut them in half to make 2 round pieces that became the bases for 19 personal pizzas. I took chopped onions and bell peppers that I had previously frozen and home canned pineapple to use as toppings! Marinara sauce from my pantry too! I flash froze the personal pizzas and then packed then in recycled ziploc bags and loaded into my freezer for future use!
ReplyDeleteI made broccoli cheddar soup for dinner last night using broccoli that I had frozen 3 months ago!
I love the convenience and time and money savings that come from filling my freezer with “DIY” freezer meals and components! You definitely have the right idea, Wendy! Well done!!
I love homemade pizzas too. So much better than a boxed one.
DeleteYou are doing well, but you could also make your own pastry. I make my own short crust pastry always, but only buy puff pastry if I feel I need that (which I seldom do.) It's easy, just remember it's half fat to flour, so a cup of fat, would be two cups of flour, or 4 oz of fat would be 8 oz of flour. Rub the fat into the flour and bind with water or a with an egg and a little milk if necessary. Allow to rest in the fridge (wrapped in foil) for 1/2 hr and then roll out thinly. Job done and you know what's in it, no preservatives or anything. It doesn't take long once you get the hang of it.
ReplyDeleteI feel very fortunate that I learned to cook at an early age, taught first by my mother and then at school in Domestic Science (as it was called in those days) lessons. I was married before such wonderful things as lasagnes were in the supermarket freezers. Freezers were something of a new thing in the early 1960s when I married and as we didn't have a freezer at home to put the things in, I didn't buy anything from them. Now I only buy frozen peas, frozen fruits-of-the-forest for crumbles (during the winter) and ice cream.
My favourite things to make, though, are soups. Easy, tasty and nourishing!
Margaret P
www.margaretpowling.com
Yes I could make my own pastry but I do make so many other things that most people wouldn't. Puff pastry is the only pastry I use and that is for the odd meat pie or if I make quiches / sausage rolls to sell.
DeleteIf I had more hours in the day ......
I agree. It is better to fill your freezer with home cooked treats.
ReplyDeleteA frozen pizza is nice now and then (like last night; I was trying to take it easy as per my physical therapist's instructions, so we went that route), but I prefer to make my own, along with just about everything else. I do buy frozen ice cream and frozen vegetables, but that's really all I can think of!
ReplyDeleteI buy very little frozen food and prefer to make my own. Actually I dislike processed food, to expensive, too much salt.
ReplyDeleteI'm not a fan of processed food either.
DeleteAt Costco I bought reusable, lidded,take-away containers that are very similar to the ones that frozen meals come in(30 for $6 US). I'm used to cooking for 7 but now we only have three so even if I cut the meals in half I often have one extra serving. Now we put it in one of the take-away containers, label it with blue tape and freeze for a quick lunch or a fast dinner for the three of us once we have enough. I know that you do something similar, Wendy. Since there is two sections in the container sometimes I will fill it later when I have an extra side dish serving.-Kathryn in Washington-US
ReplyDeleteSo true Wendy. There's very little that we buy from the freezer these days, but we do like frozen crinkle cut chips ;-) Mimi xxx
ReplyDelete