Tips on making your freezer work for you

The freezer may be the most undersung appliance. They have become so ubiquitous that it is difficult to imagine not having one, but they only became available just a few generations ago for most people. While most of us use the freezer as a place to chuck ready made items like frozen pizza or to make and store ice cubes, freezers are a great tool to save money and time in the kitchen. The Guardian recently snagged 28 tips on how to make the most of your freezer from author Suzanne Mulholland, aka “The Batch Lady”.

Mulholland sings the praises of freezers, comparing them to the air fryers of today – a real game changer. She also provides an analogy of how you can use the freezer to cut back on meal prep: “Years ago you would have to wait for the adverts, and then you’d go running out to make a cup of tea,” she says. “Now we watch whatever programmes we want, we pause it, and we come back to it whenever we want. And that is what your freezer is allowing you to do.”

You don’t have to commit to a week’s worth of meal prep to start taking advantage of the freezer, says Mulholland. Her advice is to start small, doubling a batch of whatever you were going to make for dinner and freezing half. In no time you will have several meals that take almost no time to make. Also, you don’t have to worry about whether you are keeping your freezer full. Modern appliances are energy efficient, and the cost and energy savings between a partially full and completely full freezer are minimal. Another great tip is to open freeze items before putting them into bags or containers. This works especially well with fruits. Freezing them on a rimmed baking sheet first keeps them from clumping together in the freezer.