Rummaging

My fingers are feeling frozen. I’ve just had a rummage in the freezer. I’m intending to make a frittata for dinner today. In it I’m using up the last of last year’s Xmas turkey, some Greek lemon stuffing of a more recent vintage & a mixture of frozen veg. Ours is a chest freezer & inevitably not everything was on the top, hence the frozen fingers. I might make a hot mug of tea after this to thaw them out.

With the turkey going I move on to items put in during or dated Jan 14.

 I confess I generally ignore freezer time recommendation. It is my belief that provided the freezer is at a good low temperature, most things will last a lot longer. They may lose a bit of colour, & occasionally some texture but that’s about it. If you’re using the ingredients with other things, in a pie, croquettes, casserole etc. you don’t notice the difference. The only real exceptions are bread - that does seem to disintegrate if it’s left too long in the freezer - & meat to serve cold e.g. in a sandwich.

For me the freezer is a source of great liberation. Not only does it mean there’s always something available to cook even if I don’t feel up to going shopping, but it also frees us to buy in bulk – even if that bulk is not very big, so often things are in packs meant for four & there’s only the two of us - & from the tyranny of too much leftovers of the same sort at a time. My childhood meant the whole week from Christmas to the New Year was dominated by cold turkey. These days I just parcel up bags of leftovers, put them in the freezer & get a bag out later in the year when I can fancy it again with new enthusiasm.

I’m going to have to have a rummage soon to discover the delights of Jan 14. According to my list there should be leftover lamb & chicken, bacon bits, Cumberland sausages & some sausage stuffing. I’ll try to move them all up near the top to make them easy to find when I need them. Meanwhile I can muse on what to do with it all.