Eating down the freezer
 

I am not one to usually make resolutions for the New Year. A waste of effort, for the most part, in my case, and in my opinion.
But earlier today, as I was rummaging in the freezer, I settled on one, and want to record it here, for accountability. I like to buy fresh food, but I also live kind of far from good shopping opportunities, so I tend to buy more than needed, to last till the "next time" I am in the appropriate neighbourhood. My decent butcher, for example, is an hour's drive away. But then, I also have an increasingly good farmers' market here in town, once a week, with meat & veggie options (mangalitza pork, yum). So quite a bit of stuff ends up in the freezer. But then, I buy fresh again, as the frozen will "hold", right? So my freezers (yes, plural) are full. Good for when the electricity goes out for a few days, but otherwise not ideal.
So, my resolution for 2020 is to pull something, anything, out of the freezer at least once a week, cook it up, and record it here. Might be different and exciting, might not, but will give eventually more space in the freezers, and will use food that otherwise won't last forever, even in the freezer.
And, while frozen vegetables are obviously residing in the freezer, I think of those as side dishes, and are not really what is meant in this particular exercise.
Wish me luck.
This afternoon I pulled out a container of chicken livers. Not sure what to do with them yet, but I have several tasty options available.

Great idea!! I just pulled out a turkey and baked it today. Defrosted a chicken and stewed it. Liver defrosted, and a couple pounds of ground lamb. Feels good to use up what is frozen.....to make room for the newest purchases !!

Good luck !!

Feel free to add in any "from the freezer" meals. We (meaning "I") can always use the inspiration! :-)

That's the challenge!! Soups are my default.

Good idea ladies!
I have some frozen steaks left from the 3 packs we get and also chicken thighs from pkgs that were too big.(same price as a small pk so might as well buy the large)
A couple of weeks ago I found some nice large frozen Gulf shrimp that I had forgotten about.

Oh my, this is a timely thread for me. I kid you not, I could barely get my freezer door closed yesterday when I returned from the store. I also have a chest freezer in the basement, but I generally just keep it for "overflow." It's not even half full. Newer duplicates will go downstairs to the chest freezer, and older stuff stays upstairs.

I've been off work for the last 3 weeks, and I cooked up a storm. I'm back full-time tomorrow. My SAD tends to go into full gear this time of year, so I do like making sure I have lots of decent food ready to go. I work shift and I prefer having easy dinners... but then I'll get a second wind after work, decide I want (x) for dinner, and stop off at the store to buy stuff and cook anyway. Is this what they call cognitive dissonance? :daze:

Because today's a holiday and electricity is cheaper, I'll be doing some cooking, prep and cleaning - but I'll be working overtime tomorrow and Friday, so I want to plan ahead and actually commit to it and not make another trip to the store.

Today: meatballs and mashed cauli/rutabaga - from fresh
Tomorrow: leftover veggie mash, plus beef and gravy from the freezer, already cooked - just needs to be heated up!
Friday: leftover veggie mash, plus either chicken or pulled pork from the freezer, already cooked - just needs to be heated up!

So today I cooked up the chicken livers that I pulled out to defrost on Tuesday. I "breaded" them, as per the following recipe link, and they were quite nice. I've made myself a note to cut a few minutes off the cooking time; the livers were not really overcooked, but I do prefer them still a bit pink in the middle. I will also make some sort of a sauce to go with them; something herby, like a pesto, or chimmichurri. I didn't have quite enough pork rinds, so added some psyllium husk, which worked fine, but might have added to the somewhat dry mouthfeel. Possible a bit of almond flour, and/or parmesan would have worked as well, or better. The rcipe's author posted this on another thread on this forum a couple of years ago, but the link leads to her recipe blog.
https://buttoni.wordpress.com/2018/...chicken-livers/

As a side dish I sauteed some artichoke hearts, also from the freezer.

Kristine, I upped Vit D3 to 10,000 units for the winter and kicked SAD to the curb..... Unless, lol, you nean the other SAD, Standard American Diet, and I cant help you there... only offer encouragemen to find LC items from the freezer. :lol:

Added to stewed in tomatoes stew. Bag of frozen carrots. Bag of frozen onions and sweet peppers. Frozen gingerroot.

Pulled out frizen pineapple and frizen strawberries to make a jello salad.

All for the kids. Not me.

Yum, that sounds like a great dinner Verbena.
Good freezer finds!
Peggy/buttoni has some great receipts. She gets really creative too!
I'm on her e-mail list.

Nice meal verbena. Whats for Fiday ??

MsArielle, you should sign up for Buttoni's emails. Her website is 100% low carb recipes and she adds new creations all the time.
And it's Free!

lol, i dont do email.

Oh well, really her emails are just notifications of the newest recipe that she's just posted.
Drop by her web-site then...she's such a nice lady.
She loves cooking and gardening!

Im sure she is good.

When I need to use up an item, I put in to google search , recipe, the item to use up,vand another ingredient readily on hand. Interesting options pop up. Just pick the one that matches pantry goods.

:lol: Yes, vit D is an important part of my strategy. I've experienced a huge improvement, but I have to be vigilant... and that's difficult when your worst symptom is apathy. :lol:

My meal plan changed a bit, but I still got through some freezer stock. I made cream of chicken soup out of chicken thigh cubes I froze in broth, plus some carrot/onion/celery from the fridge. I DID buy a small turkey breast roast at the store yesterday while I was there for something else, but I'll use up more chicken broth to make gravy to go with it. The turkey roast was half price, couldn't resist. ;) We'll have that tonight.

Eating down my freezer is how I ended up with a turkey dinner in July. And duck. Now my freezer still has ... TWO 12# turkeys, TWO full ducks, a GOOSE, various fish including lobster, ground beef, a slab of pork ribs, etc. :lol:

package of chicken thawing.

Ooh, DUCK fat! GOOSE fat! I no longer have the ducks, but still have a small tub of fat from the Thanksgiving ducks! I wanted to cook a goose for Christmas, but was voted down. We ALWAYS have roast beef! :lol:
When we first moved (back, in my case) to the US we had visitors from Germany relatively often over the first several years, and they all wanted Thanksgiving dinner! I have done turkey and the whole lot a number of times that weren't in November. One couple even brought a carving set of good German steel as a hostess gift, saying, as I opened the box, that they would work quite well on turkey :lol:
Thanks for the reminder; my freezer has a couple of packs of frozen salmon from Trader Joe's.

Last night I went all carnivore (DH wasn't home) and pulled a container of pork carnitas out of the freezer. I remembered later that I have an avocado in the fridge, which might have been a nice addition, but by then it was no longer needed. All that lovely pork fat; 18 hours later, and I am still not hungry.

Pulled out frozen pineapple chunks and marinaded chicken breast. Plan to saute with mung bean sprouts.


Spagetti and meat balls for the boys.....frozen meatballs.

Just thought of taco dip. Would use frozen tomatoes and frozen avocado, and frozen hot chilis. Just add canned refried beans, canned olives and.... mozzarella .......

defrosting a turkey.

Yes, great ideas! I always buy my roasts, turkeys, ham, bacon and ribs on sale and throw them in the garage freezer.
Time to see what is for dinner! LOL

spagetti and meatball for dinner ton ight but no one very hungry, lol

My contribution to both eating from the freezer and Organuary: pulled a lamb heart from the freezer last night to defrost. It is now simmering with some broth and fresh mint. I'll make a gravy with the broth later. And I plan to roast some cauliflower to go with it.

I pulled pkg of chicken livers. Saturday breakfast.

Have frozen bananas to use, and other frozen fruits. If weekend gets very warm, boys might like fruit smoothie !!

I used two batches of frozen soup this week - cream of broccoli, and Southwest taco.

I don't think I'll get too far into the freezer this week, though - whole chickens are on sale for $1.50/lb today and it's NEVER that cheap here. Also 1-lb tubes of ground chicken for $0.88. That's a really good deal, and the chicken makes awesome patties.

I also promised my coworker/chauffeur that I'd make her some cauliflower bacon soup, and cauli is on sale for $1.88/head.

Ooh broccoli and cauliflower are my 2 biggest cravings!!! I am going through a bag a day :lol:
What are your recipes please?

For cauliflower or broccoli soup? I don't exactly use a recipe, but here's what I do:

• Chop a small onion, a rib of celery, and a carrot... or, I often already have these frozen in baggies for quicker soup. Sautee in chicken fat (my fave), butter, or other fat/oil in a sauce pan.
• Add your chopped broccoli or cauliflower or both, frozen is fine. At the same time, add a few cups of chicken broth. I prefer homemade broth. (That's how I acquire the chicken fat, too. ;) ) Bring to a simmer. I put the lid on part way.
• Simmer until the veggies are soft.
• Remove most of the broccoli/cauli with a slotted spoon into blender and puree; or into a deep bowl if you use an immersion blender like I do. I like having some carrot and other veggie chunks, but if you prefer it all smooth, you could also just pour the whole mess into the blender... or stick the immersion blender into the pot of soup. I can't do that anymore because I ruined one of my nice ceramic pots that way. :tears:
• Stir it all back together in the sauce pan to warm it back up. Your hubby can't have dairy, right? At this point, the soup is pretty good as-is. :thup: Pureed cauliflower makes for a great dairy-free "cream" soup. Add salt and pepper to taste. Sometimes, if it tastes a little bland, I'll add a boullion cube. For dairy eaters: pour in some HWC, and heat it back up.

Do you like rutabaga, Robin? The last time I made cream of whatever soup, I had a mixture of mashed cauli + rutabaga in the fridge and I threw some in. It was delicious. Rutabaga might be too high in carbs for you, but it's another good "creamifier" for your DH.

As for my freezer... I did pretty well yesterday. There were two Johnsonville sausages left for DH and one last hot dog that was my favorite brand, and I made a LC bun in the microwave for it. I really like how smoked sausages and wieners come out if I thaw them gently in the microwave, then cook them on my clamshell grill. It's a quick dinner with minimal clean-up on a weeknight when I have a case of the Idontwannas (though being stuck indoors all weekend, I went the extra mile and made that bun.)

Later, I made a batch of pizza sauce from tomato puree from my summer tomatoes, then chaffle pizzas using frozen shredded mozzarella and frozen pepperoni slices.

For today: I pulled two packages of turkey thighs. Roast --> eat the meat and crispy skin --> pick off leftovers --> rest in the pressure cooker for broth.

and... a little container of cooked Italian sausage meat that I will use to stuff mini peppers that won't be good much longer. I have half a package of cream cheese to use up, too. I hope they turn out okay.

This sounds like a lot of work, but I enjoy cooking and being in the kitchen on a Sunday. :cool:

I made scallop cakes yesterday. They turned out really good! I'm not a huge scallop fan, and it's probably the texture that I like the least, hence the cakes. I seared them, let them cool a bit, pulsed them in the Magic Bullet with some parmesan cheese, then added an egg and a bit of coconut flour, then fried. Really good! I didn't even share with hubby or the cat! :p

I made salmon burgers last night. They'd been in my freezer for ... a while. They were pre-made, available via Trader Joe's, so all I had to do was cook them. Unfortunately, I dropped the plate on the floor (it did not break) after eating one and Chase the lab got the other! :lol: