Eat Ethically Freezing, pickling and planning

Date Published:

04/03/2008

Mountains of food are thrown away every year in the UK at cost to the environment and the wallet. Hannah Williams explains how getting friendly with your freezer and planning your preserves will help slim down your waste.

Britain is a nation of wasters - it's official. According to government statistics, the UK wastes 6.7 million tonnes of food every year, with our fickleness and forgetfulness for the foods we buy, creating rotting mountains of culinary waste. You don't have to be Midge Ure to see the folly in such behaviour. Most of us don't have the budget to be flinging out food with wild abandon. Then there's the environmental impact such frivolity is causing. But what's the alternative? A return to the strict menu schedules of the 1960's housewife: gammon and eggs on Monday, shepherd's pie on Tuesday?

It need not be so. While our spontaneous lifestyles may mean we can't pin-down dinner plans from one day to the next, a bit of creativity and a friendly acquaintance with the freezer mean you may never need throw out a whole cabbage again.

It's full of ice, requires lots of tea towels when defrosting and is always full of peas. But how much does anyone really know about their freezer?

Timings

Most foods can be frozen it's just a case of remembering to do it. Nearly all freezers have a handy star-guide on the inner door roughly showing the optimum storage times for meat and veg and all shop-bought food should come with clear freezing guidelines.

The optimum temperature your freezer should be set to is -18ºC. As bacteria cannot grow at this level the timings are more to do with maintaining the food's quality and texture than preventing poisoning, though care and attention is vital when it comes to defrosting and reheating.

Containers

It's best to use plastic containers with tight lids, heavy-duty aluminium foil, plastic-coated paper or specially made freezing jars. Never use waxed paper, non-polythene plastic containers or tubs without lids.

Meat

Freezing meat is a great way of avoiding waste as it's often bought in surplus and expensive to chuck. The Food Standards Agency recommends only defrosting in a micro-wave if you plan to eat the meat there and then. If not, it's best to thaw it in a fridge to maintain a cool temperature.

Use thawed meat within two days and cook it right through. If you defrost raw meat and then cook it thoroughly, you can freeze it again, but foods should never be reheated more than once.