5 easy ways to save money by freezing your food

Don't waste frozen food by not caring for it properly; there is no need to throw away what you can safely keep. Here are five tips on the best ways to freeze your food and save money.

Food will stay in better condition if you wrap it before you freeze it, excluding as much air as possible.

• This is particularly important when freezing meat which, if "burned" by ice, will become dry and tasteless.

Strong flavours such as spices, chilies and salt become more pronounced when frozen, and the fibres of meat, fish and poultry begin to break down.

• So smoked bacon and salted butter both have a shorter freezer life than unsmoked bacon and unsalted butter.

• Don't throw it away: A common myth is that food kept frozen beyond its recommended time is unsafe to eat. If properly frozen, food will never go "bad," but over time its texture and taste will deteriorate. When frozen food thaws, it should be cooked immediately.
• When you must, throw it out: Cooked dishes that thaw during power cuts and breakdowns but still feel cold should be transferred to the refrigerator and used as quickly as possible. Fresh food or cooked dishes that have thawed and no longer feel cold must be discarded.

• Bread, plain cakes and raw pastry can safely be refrozen, even if they have thawed, but will quickly become stale on rethawing.
• Fruit should be cooked before being refrozen, and will then be useful for making purees, coulis or jam.
• Frozen meat, once cooked, can be refrozen.

Freezing fruit:

• Rinse fruit (except soft fruit).
• Leave pitted fruit whole, or remove the pit and chop.
• Skin or peel peaches, apricots, mangoes and nectarines and freeze them in a light syrup with lemon juice added to prevent them from discolouring in the freezer.
• Spread blackberries, strawberries, raspberries and gooseberries out on trays, open freeze until solid and then pack into freezer bags and seal.

Freezing vegetables:

• Peel and chop vegetables as required, and blanch for 2–3 minutes in a basket immersed in a pan of boiling, unsalted water to preserve their colour, flavour and nutritional value.
• Once blanched, plunge the vegetables into iced water, then drain, dry, cool and pack for the freezer immediately.
• Blanching times vary according to the vegetables being frozen but, as a general rule, the younger and more tender the variety, the less time it needs.

Your freezer is a valuable resource for making food last longer. Take advantage of it and freeze your food instead of throwing it away.