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Challenge: Cook your way through your freezer (part 2)

Okanagancook

By Okanagancook
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liamsaunt

liamsaunt

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I made a good dent in my freezer stash this weekend.  The turkey meatballs, the italian sausage, and two bags of tomato sauce were served over pasta for dinner on Saturday.  On Sunday, the boneless chicken thighs and breasts got made into the ranch fried chicken I posted on the Super Bowl thread, and a quart of the carmelized onions were used to make Ina Garten's onion dip for the game.  Nothing new was added to the freezer either, so I am feeling pretty accomplished :-)

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Smithy

Smithy

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I hadn't intended to cook beef short ribs today: it's a beautiful day here and the heat from the long oven braise isn't needed now as much as it should be later this week. However, I realized today that the wrapping had split and some meat is exposed and starting to freezer-burn. Short ribs today, it is! There will not be leftovers going into the freezer.

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Nancy Smith, aka "Smithy"
Host, eG Forums - nsmith@egstaff.org

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"Every day should be filled with something delicious, because life is too short not to spoil yourself. " -- Ling (with permission)
"There comes a time in every project when you have to shoot the engineer and start production." -- author unknown

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Okanagancook

Okanagancook

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Took out three one cup containers of cooked chick peas after I ate the small container of hummus which I also took from a different freezer.  So that was good.  However, back in went two bags of foil wrapped pita breads I made to go with the hummus. Dang it.

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SLB

SLB

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I pulled out some marrow bones yesterday, they are soaking.

 

I am obsessed with this dish at a Brooklyn restaurant which involves marrow and scallops in tacos.  So I'm aiming at marrow and black beans in tacos.  There are no scallops anywhere near my freezer, but there are a whole lotta black beans up in here.  

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Dante

Dante

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<looks at freezer>

<gets annoyed at how many veggie and meat trimmings I have in there>

<throws it all in to a pot, wraps pot in oven bag, adds all containers of frozen broth, tosses pot in oven>

<notes that this took care of about 2/3 of the contents of the freezer>

<will have stock by the end of the day>

Edited by Dante (log)
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Katie Meadow

Katie Meadow

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5 hours ago, Dante said:

<looks at freezer>

<gets annoyed at how many veggie and meat trimmings I have in there>

<throws it all in to a pot, wraps pot in oven bag, adds all containers of frozen broth, tosses pot in oven>

<notes that this took care of about 2/3 of the contents of the freezer>

<will have stock by the end of the day>

 

What is an oven bag and why does a pot need to go in it? How much help does a pot need?

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Dante

Dante

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16 hours ago, Katie Meadow said:

What is an oven bag and why does a pot need to go in it? How much help does a pot need?

 

An oven bag is a plastic bag usually used to put a turkey in to for roasting.  The idea is that it keeps moisture in.   I've never used them for roasting any kind of meat but wrapping a stock pot in an oven bag and putting it in an oven set to about 200 degrees Fahrenheit for about twelve hours produces a richer stock with a much more concentrated flavour.  This has been one of my mainstay stock-making techniques for years now.

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kayb

kayb

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6 hours ago, Dante said:

 

An oven bag is a plastic bag usually used to put a turkey in to for roasting.  The idea is that it keeps moisture in.   I've never used them for roasting any kind of meat but wrapping a stock pot in an oven bag and putting it in an oven set to about 200 degrees Fahrenheit for about twelve hours produces a richer stock with a much more concentrated flavour.  This has been one of my mainstay stock-making techniques for years now.

Huh. Who'd'a thunk it?

 

If you know, how does it compare with stock made in the Instant Pot? I would think that the avoidance of evaporation should yield about the same results, shouldn't it?

 

Don't ask. Eat it.

www.kayatthekeyboard.wordpress.com

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Dante

Dante

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5 hours ago, kayb said:

Huh. Who'd'a thunk it?

 

If you know, how does it compare with stock made in the Instant Pot? I would think that the avoidance of evaporation should yield about the same results, shouldn't it?

 

 

I actually do not know, as I've never used an instant pot.  Still, in theory it could be similar.  Avoidance of evaporation plus long simmering time at a low temperature is what makes it. 

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Dante

Dante

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Tonight's dinner- wings slow-cooked in a mix of hot pepper jam, holiday jam, home-made stock, pomegranate juice, and Moxie, then crisped in the oven. Accompanied by bread and corn-and-edamame succotash. I like to call this "What I had in the fridge and freezer"

51956031_1970046809958986_5862227035841101824_n.jpg

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Miriravan

Miriravan

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Took out a chub of hot chicken Italian sausage and a bag of mixed vegetables to make shepherd's pie with (delicious topped with mashed butternut squash instead of potatoes).  Put in a bag of blueberries and a pint of Ben and Jerry's.  So, pretty much a wash, I guess. 

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ElsieD

ElsieD

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8 minutes ago, Miriravan said:

Took out a chub of hot chicken Italian sausage and a bag of mixed vegetables to make shepherd's pie with (delicious topped with mashed butternut squash instead of potatoes).  Put in a bag of blueberries and a pint of Ben and Jerry's.  So, pretty much a wash, I guess. 

 

I do much the same thing.  I usually use acorn squash but it's all good.

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kayb

kayb

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Pulled out a pork shoulder roast to cook tomorrow, and a package of vac-packed ham from Christmas to go in a ham and cheese Dutch baby tonight. I also pulled out a bag of lima beans, because originally I was planning to have ham, mashed potatoes and limas for dinner tonight, but I changed my mind so the beans went back in. They'll go in Brunswick Stew which will be made with leftover pork roast, which will make several containers that will go....back in the freezer. Sigh. 

 

 

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Don't ask. Eat it.

www.kayatthekeyboard.wordpress.com

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Okanagancook

Okanagancook

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It is a battle...love hate relationship.But, continue to make progress.  Tonight everything is from the freezer save for some fresh veg.

next weekend we have family visiting and my menus are centered around pulling some larger cuts of meat from the deep freeze as well as some appetizers.

 

i have a lot of tomatoes from the garden so that will be my next focus.  I also have tons of already made tomato sauces.

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TdeV

TdeV

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I've not caught up with this thread (still have several pages to go), so I hope this question has not been resolved already.

 

Many sites/writers state that a food will last 12 (or 18) months once frozen.

 

Is this just a commonly held "wives-tale" or is there a basis for this "expiry date"?

 

I ask because I have vacuum sealed cuts of fresh meat, some of which have I've not used for 12 (or quite a few more) months past the "1 year expiry date".

 

There are many soups in my freezer which have not been vacuum sealed which have been there a long time.

 

I don't think there has been a degredation in flavour. But I admit, I'm not expecting one, so it's not so surprising that I don't find one.

 

So what's the story? And if anyone knows, surely it will be the folks on eGullet! 😀

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Okanagancook

Okanagancook

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All I know is that if we vac seal meat it keeps for 2 to 3 years.  I just got out a saddle of venison that someone gave us over two years ago.  The seal was good and the meat looks fine...no off smell.  We often have lamb meat still kicking around from the last year's lamb order and we eat it well past 1.5 years in the freezer.  This meat is double wrapped in freezer paper and is not freezer burnt.

For your soups and stuff....I guess taste it and if it tastes off then bin it.

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TdeV

TdeV

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@Okanagancook, I guess I didn't phrase my question well. What I really want to know is why not 5 years? Why is the cutoff at 12 or 18 months?

 

Note that many recipes for baked goods (like bread) say they're good for 3 months. What happens to bread in the freezer which doesn't happen to a cut of meat?

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  • 4 weeks later...
BeeZee

BeeZee

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Finally getting the Thanksgiving leftovers out of the freezer, I have a half (or close to it) of a cooked turkey breast (off the bone), gravy, and mushroom dressing/stuffing. Those will be good for tonight, kind of cool and windy today. Will likely make some roasted carrots (fresh) and creamed spinach (another freezer pack). I can actually see the bottom of one half of the drawer.

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"Only dull people are brilliant at breakfast" - Oscar Wilde

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kayb

kayb

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A pound of ground beef and a take-and-bake baguette from the Kroger bakery contributed to spaghetti and meatballs, along with a jar of home-canned tomato garlic sauce and one of tomatoes (the tomato garlic sauce is seriously garlicky, thus I dilute it with plain tomatoes). The grandchildren were happy.

 

Baby steps. Still way too much in the freezer(s).

 

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Don't ask. Eat it.

www.kayatthekeyboard.wordpress.com

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  • 2 weeks later...
Okanagancook

Okanagancook

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I am gonna start with these

😃😃😃😃👏👏👏👏😬😬😬😬

 

After working all winter at eating out of the 3 freezers I have......

And, after today taking inventory and re-arranging food to make for room....drumroll, please.......emptying the remaining food out of my newly acquired freezer (which was bought as a back up for my older chest freezer) into my old freezer.

Digital inventories updated also.

 

I ran out of steam today...probably have another 2 hours of work.

 

I am so pleased and this thread was an inspiration.

 

I will take some pictures tomorrow .

 

The off shoot benefit of making room.......room to stash my bottle of white wine in the freezer which needed a little cooling.🤣

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Okanagancook

Okanagancook

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I DID IT!!!🤩

 

First picture is the old freezer downstairs, filled to the brim.

Second picture is my upright freezer upstairs in the pantry equally filled to the brim.

My backup freezer which was full in the Fall of 2018..now empty awaiting cleaning.

DSC02969.thumb.jpg.51d747a9498c27a3a9acacaf2b3ba200.jpgDSC02972.thumb.jpg.b81fde2f9fee0db0b168b84f4732e438.jpg

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