Saved by the freezer

I would be lost without my freezer. Having baked goods in the freezer is another reliable way to save money. If you have those days when visitors drop by unannounced and nights when you're running late and too tired to cook a family meal, think of your freezer as your friend. If you fill it when you have time on your hands, it will safely keep your home cooked bread, cakes, biscuits, soups, stews, and much more, to be served after a quick defrosting.

Home baked bread freezes well, so does bread dough. To bake dough that has been frozen, defrost it, wait for it to return to room temperature, allow it to rise, then bake as normal.

Of course you could always buy frozen food at the supermarket, but do you really want to pay more than double what it would cost you to make it from scratch? At Coles today, a frozen pizza will cost you $6.41 for a family size (500g) pizza; 450g of bruschetta bites - that is bread with tomato, salami and cheese topping will cost $7.48! BTW, for our north American friends, 500 grams is about a pound.  And 280 grams of Malaysian chicken curry (frozen) will set you back $6.08 - that is one small serving, so if there are four in your family, your meal will cost almost $25. If you want a dessert, grab some Coles dessert strudel cake 600g for $10 or an apple and berry pie for $5.38. Any one of these food would cost you much less to make, the majority would be less than half. The biggest bonus though, from my point of view, is there will be no preservatives in the food you make at home and you will know exactly what you're eating.

So it makes a lot of sense to me to add home cooked food to the freezer when you have some time. I have fallen into the good habit of cooking double the amount whenever I cook now and as a result, I have frozen soup, casseroles, pies, cakes, muffins, scones and bread in the freezer most of the time. On the weekend, I made a plain cake, similar to a Madera cake. I used this Plain Cake recipe on the lovely Gooseberry Jam blog but substituted whey for the milk and added about two tablespoons of fresh lemon juice; the rest was exactly the same. It's a delicious light and tasty cake. I used my long bar tin, cut the cake in half and put half in the freezer. Also in there at the moment are scones and muffins. Here is a very long guide to some great freezer meals.

 Plain un-iced cakes freeze well. If you want an iced cake, ice the cake after freezing.

There are rules to be followed for frozen foods, here is a great guide from the UK.  Baked sweets and cakes freeze really well so if you want to freeze some cake, bake it but don't add any icing/frosting. It's best to freeze the cake un-iced. After defrosting, ice the cake, or add your topping, just before you serve it. The majority of bits and pieces added to cakes freeze readily - nuts, apple, coconut, choc chips. Things like fruit pies and biscuits can be prepared and frozen uncooked. They can be cooked when defrosted. Biscuit/cookie dough will serve you well if you roll it in a long roll to be sliced off as you need biscuits/cookies. Don't forget, some home made baby food will freeze well. Be guided by your freezer guide, your common sense and your cook books.

If you have the time to freeze food on the weekends, or if you double cook and freeze like I do, freezing food will save you money because you won't be tempted to buy fast food on those busy days. Take good care of your freezer, pack it well and keep a record of what you have stored, as well as the date you stored it. Stocking your freezer with food ready to go will give you a treasure trove that will save you money, time and those feelings of guilt when you buy fish and chips, pizza or burgers on the busy days when you're too tired or too late to cook.

I'd love to see your favourite freezer meals. Care to share your best frozen food recipe with us? 

ADDITIONAL READING
How and what to freeze
Freezing baby food

Here is quite a good guide to how long various foods will keep in the freezer.

Freezing your own home prepared food.

This is a good article on freezing food
Guide to freezing food