Bargain Hunters Share How Freezing Egg Whites & Leftover WINE Can Save £100s
- Many of us forget about food in the fridge, throwing it out and contributing to food waste
- Our freezers can be used to preserve all kinds of food, including egg whites and leftover wine
- Deal hunters from LatestDeals.co.uk share their top tips for saving £100s each year and reducing food waste with their freezer
- Top tips include saving takeaway portions in the freezer, freezing chillies and cheese to grate over food and a clever freezer tortilla wrap hack
The drive to reduce food waste is bigger than ever, with more and more Brits seeing the value in yellow sticker bargains and apps such as Too Good To Go and Olio. However, many of us aren’t seeing the potential our freezers have, choosing instead to put lots of our food in the fridge.
In a LatestDeals.co.uk survey of over 1,600 deal hunters, 24% of respondents said they froze meat the most, with 15% saying leftovers went into their freezer most often and bread being in third place with 9% using their freezer for their extra loaves.
Tom Church, Co-Founder of LatestDeals.co.uk, said: ‘Many of us, myself included, are guilty of forgetting about food in the fridge from time to time, and once it’s been sitting there for a few weeks we generally throw it out. However, after a chat with some of our deal hunters, I’ve received an education on how to use fridge freezers and chest freezers to their full potential, saving £100s each year. Here are some of the best tips.’
Batch Cook To Save Over £400 In Food Waste
Buying ingredients and taking the time to make multiple meals, then freezing them, will save you money in the long run. Caroline Hoy said: 'I batch cook meals like curry, chilli, mince for spag bol or cottage pie.’ Similarly, Martina Naughton said: ‘I batch make and freeze as much as I can. Normally bolognese, lasagne mix, pork and mushroom stroganoff, chicken and mushroom pie mix, curry mix just to name a few. Normally I manage at least 6 meals for bolognese and stroganoff, at least 2 lasagnes and normally 4 pie mixes plus at least 6 chicken curry mixes but I have a decent sized chest freezer. Best thing we bought.’
Tom added: ‘Getting a chest freezer is a solid investment. You can get a decent one for around £150 if you shop smartly, and you’ll soon get your money back in the savings you make each month. Instead of leaving leftovers or spare ingredients in the fridge, where you could forget about them and they’ll go off, you can freeze them instead - saving them from being thrown in the bin and contributing to the huge amount of food waste the UK produces each year.
‘According to The Eco Experts, the average household throws away £1.36 worth of food per day - which is the equivalent of around £40 a month, or £496 a year. However, the annual cost of running a freezer according to LEAP is £29. Even if you only use your fridge freezer more, which costs up to £58 a year to run, you’re still saving over £400 a year by avoiding food waste!’
Freeze Fresh Fruit & Vegetables - Reduce 644 Million Tonnes Of Waste
The fruit bowl is often forgotten about, leaving us with rotting apples and black bananas. The same is the case with vegetables if we slice open an onion or cucumber, then leave it in the fridge. However, you can avoid these food waste issues by making use of your freezer. Caroline Hoy had some recommendations: ‘Chopped raw onion, pepper, chilli, leeks. Ready to grab when needed.’ Similarly, Samantha Goodship said: ‘I freeze veg, especially if you buy it on a yellow sticker or during cheap promotional times like near Christmas. I chop it then freeze.’
Liz Simmons recommends using vegetables while they’re fresh and freezing the meals: ‘Getting a £1.50 Lidl veg box is a good way to have homemade healthy meals you can portion and freeze, so you can have a nutritious meal quickly.’ Caroline also gets inventive with her fruit freezing: ‘Banana slices for milkshakes, or coated in cocoa powder as a snack. I also freeze half bananas as a snack for my dog!’
Tom added: ‘Fruit and vegetables are the most common foods which go to waste - data from Too Good To Go shows that it comprises a whopping 42% of total waste per year globally, which amounts to 644 million tonnes. By using your freezer smartly, you can do your bit to reduce this shocking figure.’
Buy Reduced Foods And Freeze Them - Pick Up 19p Veg
More and more people are shopping smartly by browsing yellow sticker discounts in supermarkets and signing up for apps such as Olio and Too Good To Go. Making use of your freezer can help to extend the lifespan of these products even further. Caroline Harrison said: ‘I freeze a lot of leftover meals. Reduced foods like sausages and ham and bread. Also milk too.’
Similarly, Zoe Mckenzie said: ‘I buy reduced meat and veg. When I get home I make meals and put them in containers or freezer bags and freeze them.’ Liz Simmons had a similar idea: ‘I always get reduced bread products to stick in the freezer as back up.’
Tom added: ‘It’s easier than ever to find reduced items in the supermarket or even get them for free by using Olio. I picked up some carrots for just 19p in Tesco the other day and I got bread a few weeks ago with Olio. I froze both after using what I needed and that will help me save even more money!’
Cook And Freeze Sides - Save on Electricity Costs
Instead of turning the oven and hob on every time you want to cook a meal, why not cut the electricity cost by keeping sides in the freezer? Derry Dynes said: ‘I cook extra vegetables and roast potatoes, putting at least half every time in portions in the freezer. When you are cooking meat in the oven, I put the veg & potatoes in for a quick and easy dinner. Saves on pans and heating.’ Similarly, Caroline Hoy said: ‘I cut french sticks into portions for soup or sliced in half for garlic pizza bread!’
Jemma George freezes sides and more: ‘I freeze nearly everything I can, I make chips, and roast potatoes for the freezer, herbs, bread, butter, grated cheese, anything to stop me wasting food that will go off. I also batch cook and freeze.’
Tom added: ‘Not only does having ready-made sides for meals reduce the electricity cost, it also saves you time and effort. Plus, if you’re getting a takeaway, why not freeze any leftovers - or even buy an extra portion and divide it up in the freezer - then use it in the future? Fish and chip takeaways are particularly good for this.’
Get Smart With Packaging
It’s one thing to put as much as you can in the freezer, but if you’re tight on space or haven’t taken a good look inside it in a while, you might find that what you’re storing is taking up a lot of unnecessary space. Mandy Lam came up with a smart trick for wraps: ‘Freeze tortilla wraps but first take them all out of the packet, roll each one up tightly and then put them all back in the packet. So much easier to just take out what you need.’
Jo Stewart had a good method for freezing meat: ‘Slow cooker works better with cheap cuts of meat, make extra for handy ready meals, freeze in ziplock bags, lay flat in your freezer, takes up less space and defrosts a lot quicker.’
Tom added: ‘It’s surprising how much space packaging can take up in the freezer. Why not take an afternoon to empty your freezer, remove any plastic or cardboard you don’t need from your items and repack everything in the best way possible? You’ll be surprised how much free space you’re left with!’
Turn Herbs, Spices & Condiments Into Ice Cubes
We usually associate herbs and spices with the food cupboard, but if a recipe calls for fresh garlic or ginger it can be all too easy to store the leftovers in the fridge - then forget about them. Wendy Crowther said: ‘If I see garlic and ginger on special or if it's going cheap..I process it in a blender together and freeze it in ice cube trays then pop them out and bag it up…like the ones you can buy ready frozen. I also freeze whole chillies and when I want a hit of chili on something I grate it over it.’
Liz Simmons has a method for making cheese last longer: ‘Get harder cheese - you can grate then freeze and add to things frozen.’ Meanwhile, Jennifer Davies advised: ‘Freeze fresh ginger and chillies and grate from frozen. No need to remove skin.’ Tom added: ‘I’d never have thought of freezing these items but I’ll be moving them here from now on!’
Freeze Ingredients For Stock Cubes, Breadcrumbs & More
Once you’ve developed the habit of using your freezer more, it’s time to get inventive. Helen Hutchinson said: ‘I made a real custard at the weekend. I froze the egg whites to use another time. They take up less room in the freezer than the meringues I was going to make.’ Em Peel-Rice added: You can make homemade pasta sauce and freeze it. You could also use leftover bones to make your own stock cubes and freeze them in ice cube trays.’
Liz Simmons said: ‘Leftover fresh herbs can be chopped and added to oil and frozen in ice cube trays ready to add to cooking. Also, old bread can be saved to make breadcrumbs. What’s more, leftover wine can be frozen in ice cube trays and used for sauces or gravy.’ Jodie Louise Fowler was thinking similarly: ‘Freeze grapes to use in wine rather than ice cubes... doesn't melt and in turn doesn't dilute the wine.’
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