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My freezer

W

wilderness

Member
I've just defrosted and cleared my freezer. Pre-Type 2 diagosis I generally filled it with reserve staples (bread, chips, ice-cream, peas, mixed veg, milk, meat [various]) and pre-prepared meals which I had cooked myself in a slow cooker.

What do folk keep in their freezers please? I'm cautious of getting frozen berries but I have been enjoying fresh berries and yoghurt; these must be seasonal and will become less readily available I suppose. As I retired earlier this year (pre-diagnosis) I don't need to keep the same items in the freezer as previously, to access after school when I needed a quick meal.

Any ideas welcome.
 
I use frozen berries this time of year, although a little soft they are still nice stirred through yoghurt.

in my freezer right now I have individual portions of duck and chicken breast, cooked chicken thighs, basa fillet, salmon fillets, prawns, a ready meal fish bake from Lidl, portions of mashed swede/butternut squash, portions of home made low carb soup, some lamb chops, mince, portions of cottage pie topped with the swede/butternut mash, portions of chilli, cauliflower rice, frozen cauliflower, low carb sausages, and liver. Also home made low carb onion bhajees and naan bread.

most of these things I pull out in the morning ready to cook later. I usually batch cook and freeze left over portions to save time when I’m in a rush.
 
Frozen raspberries are fine, I use them in Greek yogurt when they are out of season locally.
I have broccoli, spinach, chicken pieces, salmon.
Plus slices of my homemade low carb cakes (the recipes provide a weeks worth at least so there is always too much to eat fresh).
I make a turkey mince recipe that works for spaghetti sauce or chilli, just cook the onions, garlic, mince and tomatoes then freeze portions, and defrost with chilli spices or mushrooms and basil.
I also have a few packs of frozen cauliflower rice in case my weekly order arrives without a cauliflower.
When I manage to buy one of the low carb bread I freeze part of the loaf as I now only have bread a couple of times a week.
And finally as a treat one of the stevia sweetened (no added sugar) icecreams, which I have in very small quantities!
 
I tend to buy my meat in bulk, so one, one and a half drawers are filled with beef, chicken and pork. (I order from a place that gets them with small farmers rather than those huge mega stables. Nothing added to it, unlike the supermarket stuff. Excellent flavour, and it doesn't shrink!). So there's lot of that. Quite a bit of frozen salmon. My husband gets a bit of space for his bread and airfryer fries and whatnot. And even since going carnivore, I've had a little box of flash frozen berries in there, just in case. You might also like to add Oppo ice cream. Oh, and pre-carnivore I stocked up on cauliflower rice and broccoli rice as well...
 
I buy my frozen cauliflower rice from morrisons. It comes as 4 individual servings bagged within a larger bag and microwaves from frozen. Super easy.
 
I have all the berries frozen in my freezer (I used to buy fresh but a lot cheaper buying frozen), lots of slc frozen bread and dgf treats, also cauliflower rice from Tescos and the usual chicken, salmon, low carb lasagna I made earlier etc.
 
Lakeslover said:
I buy my frozen cauliflower rice from morrisons. It comes as 4 individual servings bagged within a larger bag and microwaves from frozen. Super easy.
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Tesco and Ocado also have what seems to be exactly the same thing, better than home made in my opinion as it is very evenly chopped. Sainsbury's do not sell it, don't be tempted to buy their chilled version which is horrible.
 
Lots of meat and fish, frozen berries either single type or mixtures, picked for their low carb number, also mixtures of veges either vegetable medley or Chinese style or Italian style - there is another variant but it is higher in carbs (from Lidl) I tend to put leftover meat in the freezer - it is a huge freezer, to add to the pot when I make a stew.
Also in there are the ice cream maker bowls and a few carby things for my husband - but there would be room for a lot more if I packed it carefully - always handy to have spare capacity for those times when you come across a bargain.
 
We have two freezers. Only one of us (me) lives with diabetes, so we do have bread and a few other carby things in there, but in terms of T2-friendly, we have lots of meat, batch cooked meals, this time of year, homemade soups, "emergency" frozen veg. We also keep grated cheese in there. We don't buy grated, but instead buy a large block (900-1000gr) and grate in in one session (I have a machine that happily does in a couple of minutes), then bag it in batches of c100gr. Great for all sorts, and no potato or rice flour.

I also have frozen berries. I don't care too much for fully defrosted berries, but enjoy then still a bit frozen, and of eating them with cream, add the cream with still frozen. It freezes onto the berry - - delicious!

I also keep home made stocks - mainly gammon, pork or chicken, but do make my own vegetable stock paste, which is fantastic for seasoning.

Honestly, I wouldn't worry about being unable to fill your freezer. You'll soon be in the usual situation of playing freezer Tetris, just with a few new options.
 
I use my freezer to help balance out the costs of eating low carb so:
Split multi packs of meat and fish into individual portions
Bulk cook such as celeriac and freeze individual portions
Freeze own grown or foraged berries. A small handful a day microwaved for 30 secs is just right for adding to yoghurt. Raspberries, blackberries, blackcurrants, redcurrants, blueberries
Stock is frozen into icecubes so can take only one or 2 at a time.

Best of all I bake a low carb treat once every 2 weeks in a 7 " square tin, cut it into 16 portions and freeze so I just have one a day
Best so far are coffee cake, millionaires shortbread, rhubarb cake, brownies, blueberry muffin
 
I needed a sort around, so I actually know what's in the freezer at the mo. Pork shoulder chops, lamb chops, steaks, duck legs, minced beef, chicken, turkey & pork. Prawns, a couple of 1/2 turkey thigh roasts & one whole one that I've boned out & bacon wrapped ready for C day & B day. For the can't be bothered days, some home made butternut soup portions, chicken stock, lc moussaka, lasagne & cottage pie. Bag of green beans, broccoli & spinach.
Plus 11 M&S pineapple, lime & coconut lollies, that I haven't touched since diagnosis.
 
We have all the usual stuff in the freezers, meat, bacon, fish, various veggies, mre*, low and high carb bread and wraps, cheese, butter, bag of ice.

No fruit as there is plenty of fresh stuff available all year, I can get more bacon in it.

*Meals ready to eat.
 
wilderness said:
Do you buy this in (seen it online) or make your own?
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I buy it ready frozen usually but I have frozen my own, just grated then baked at 180C for about 12 mins then freeze as soon as it cools.
 
Normally I have mine loaded with frozen portions of bulk-cooked meals, frozen-fruit for smoothies (Bananas, berries etc.) and tofu. This month, however, it's full to the brim with vegan 'convenience' foods (Soy nuggets, frankfurters, Beyond burgers etc.). It's a situation that I'm not altogether too happy about, but it's temporary. normal service will soon be resumed
 
I am surprised that so many people appear to live alone, have a personal freezer or dominate the family one.
Our one freezer is full of the usual meat, fish and vegetables. Then there are chips and white bread that I don't eat, cauliflower rice and low-carb rolls that my wife doesn't eat, that's about it.
 
Mostly from Sainsburys including, apart from the cauli rice! Couple of hi-lo loaves, frozen blueberries, butternut squash noodles (I buy and split into 3 portions), their thin cut lamb chops and steak. Also fond of M&S Roasted Veg Lasagne - split into 2 portions. Asda for the cauli rice.
 
Meat, fish, shellfish, mushrooms (bought fresh, prepared and frozen) aubergine (ditto) butter, some frozen berries from before diagnosis that I won't be adding to diet until I am off Metformin. I will be adding frozen avocado when I see some for sale.
Various frozen veg unsuitable for low-carb: unpasteurised milk, bread, small amount of home-made (not by me) cake and pies, all for my husband who doesn't have blood glucose issues. I nearly said he was "normal" but that's a bridge too far.
 
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