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Freezing meals

Looking for advice on how best to freeze meals? Check this out, plus there are some great recipes for dishes that are suitable to freeze.


  • Make sure your freezer is running at -18°C.
  • Only freeze really fresh food.
  • Ensure cooked food is cold before being frozen – if it’s warm it’ll raise the freezer temperature.
  • Wrap food well in cling film, then foil, or place in freezerproof containers to avoid flavours tainting other food. This also avoids freezer-burn, which is an icy layer on food that can dry it out and damage the flavour.
  • If freezing large quantities of food, put the freezer on the fast-freeze setting.
  • Freezing intensifies the flavour of a dish, so under-season and adjust once thawed and reheated.
  • Liquids such as soup and stock will expand in the freezer, so don’t overfill containers.
  • Food that is not wrapped well will get ‘freezer burn’, as direct contact with cold air dries it out
  • Freeze in small batches – the quicker food freezes, the fresher it tastes when defrosted. Use your freezer’s fast-freeze compartment, if you have one.
  • Steaks, chops and fish fillets freeze better when packed separately. Wrap tightly and label.
  • Chop onions and freeze them in bags for busy times – much cheaper than buying bags of pre-chopped onions from the supermarket.
  • Freeze liquids in bags, within a container, then remove the outer container once frozen.
  • Freeze fruit such as mango chunks, raspberries and blueberries. Liquidise straight from the freezer to make an instant cold smoothie.

Some delicious. recipes that can be made in batches and frozen



Coq au vin recipe
A tasty one-pot recipe for the classic chicken dish: eat some and freeze the rest.







Spiced meatball curry recipe
You can freeze this delicious curry for up to 3 months. You could also freeze the raw meatballs, then defrost thoroughly and finish the recipe.






Smoked haddock, prawn and fennel fish pies recipe
Make these fish pies with fennel in individual dishes so they’re easy to remove from the freezer and heat up when needed.






Juniper pork fillet with potatoes and smoked sausage recipe
Here, tender pork is infused with the heady scent of juniper, and perfectly complemented by the tempting aroma of smoked sausage. This also dish freezes well.






Winter minestrone soup recipe
A hearty minestrone soup that could almost be described as a stew. It can be adapted depending on what’s in season. The brisket adds a real depth of flavour.






Sausage rolls recipe
A tray of hot sausage rolls served with drinks is the perfect snack to have to hand when you have visitors. Here, we’ve used good Cumberland sausages spruced up, Italian-style, with the addition of sun-dried tomatoes, sage and parsley and a sprinkling of Italian cheese.


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