Christmas food

Although food waste has fallen by 7% in the last three years, we still throw away a massive 4.5 million tons of food a year in the UK that could have been eaten. It’s hard to plan meals not knowing how many people we’ll be able to meet but if you do have a surplus remember that a lot of food can be frozen – see below for details. To reduce food miles and plastic packaging buy as much as you can from local producers and shops that allow you to refill your own containers.

Try to use up the food in your freezer in the run up to Christmas so you’ll have more room to freeze leftovers.  If you don’t have much room in your freezer and do end up with lots of spare food, you could try taking a picture of your left overs and posting them on the Olio app which shares your location with other Olio users to come and collect it. 

Freezing tips for leftovers 

You can freeze just about anything, although the texture can often be affected, so somethings will be best used in cooking after defrosting, or, like milk, will need a quick whisk before use. The longer you leave things in the freezer the more likely the texture will deteriorate so try to use up leftovers within a couple of months. Don’t forget to label, we have had many disappointments thinking we were going to have soup for lunch only to find it was a pint of milk!  

Sliced turkey, chicken, beef, lamb and pork and deli meats like ham and salami freeze well if covered and tightly wrapped to avoid freezer burn. If you put greaseproof paper between the layers you can just take out what you need and defrost for 24 hours in the fridge or less at room temperature. If they are a bit soggy for a sandwich, try patting them dry with kitchen towel or turn them into a pie/risotto/curry when you have a bit more time to do so. 

Most cooked veg and also cheese freezes well, as does most dairy with the exception of sour cream which separates.  Even left-over roast potatoes can be frozen and then put in a hot oven for 20 minutes or so another day. 

Raw orchard fruit like pears, apples, peaches and blueberries can be washed well, sliced and laid out separately on a baking tray and put in the freezer for a few hours til hard and then transferred to a freezer bag or box. They are great used in smoothies, pies, crumbles and cakes. The exception is bananas, avocado, pineapple, mango and any other fruit that needs peeling.  Peel and cut them up before freezing, although bananas can be frozen whole. 

Citrus fruits can be frozen, but the texture is definitely affected so unless you plan to cook with them once defrosted, it is best to freeze the juice and the zest separately.  

Raw root vegetables are traditionally blanched before freezing but if you are in a hurry you can skip this and just peel, slice and freeze them.  They won’t be as crisp when defrosted but are great for soups, casseroles and mash.  

Some greens, like cabbage and kale, can be quickly stir fried and then frozen, the exception is lettuce which just turns into a soggy mess, but you can use it in soups like the classic French lettuce and pea soup.  

Even eggs can be frozen although not in their shells, which will crack as the liquid expands in the freezer. Egg whites freeze well on their own, the problem is more with the yolk. Either whisk the white and yolks together and freeze or freeze the whites and yolks separately, sprinkling a bit of sugar or salt on the yolks to avoid gelation, which renders them unusable when defrosted. Bread, either whole, sliced or rolls, cakes, pizza dough, cookie dough and pies all freeze well, as do nuts, cooked pasta, rice and pulses.