28/10/2016
How often have you gone off to a new placement, and checked to see the contents of the freezer, only to find unnamed foods in badly packaged drawers. Drives you dippy, doesn’t it? It will surprise you to know that you are not alone in this thought. So many people, including carers, have no idea of how to properly freeze the leftover foods or meals they cook. The incoming carer often has to throw food away because it has freezer burn and smells horrible, or because she has no idea of what it is and when it was frozen. Therefore, it is a really good idea to take some time and do things properly when you freeze things, so that the next carer actually benefits from them, instead of discarding strange packages.
Labels!
The very first thing to have on hand for any food you intend to freeze is a box of labels! You will be surprised to hear that many people think that they will remember that left over meal because it is in the red container. Off they go at the end of their term, and the incoming carer has no idea of what it is in the red container! Label it! Write the food, add the date you froze it and also a tip like ‘enough for two,’ or ‘may need to add a little water’. Give the next carer a clue as to what to do with it!
Freezer bags.
Freezing food in small plastic bags you brought home from the chemist is not a good idea because not all plastic bags are suitable for freezing. Some actually give off a funny taste and smell, and the food will taste odd, if not horrible. So spend a few pounds and buy freezer bags which are designed to do the job!
Rotate foods.
Put new foods at the bottom of the freezer and bring the older foods up to the top shelf or drawer where you are most likely to see them and use them. This way, that bag of berries you froze from six months ago will actually get used up! Home frozen foods should all be used up within 6 – 9 months.
Full rather than empty.
An empty freezer is more expensive to run than a full one, so try to fill it, even if you buy a few loaves of bread to fill the shelves. Ice is another idea to keep a stock of and a cheap way to fill it.
List on the fridge.
Do yourself and the incoming carer a huge favour and – one day when you have a spare half hour – write a list of all the contents and what shelf/drawer they are in. This will save endless time when you are planning a meal. It will also stop things like thinking that something is mince and planning a Cottage Pie, only to find it is beef steak and needs that much longer to cook, or worse, your client does not eat steak anymore.
Definitely don’t freeze these!
Lettuce, celery and onions. They just go horribly limp after you defrost them!
Eggs in the shell. (chuckle here!) They will expand and crack the shell and make a nasty mess. Even hard boiled eggs go so rubbery you can bounce them off the wall!
Sour cream. This will separate when you thaw it.
Heavy cream. You will never get this to whip if you freeze and thaw it.
Potatoes. These will turn to mush if you freeze them raw, and be tough as old boots if you freeze them boiled and thaw.
Some Helpful Hints
If you make a huge batch of meatballs and plan to freeze them, set them out on a tray and freeze them in a single layer, then bag them. This way you can take out just enough for yourself and your client, instead of having to eat meatballs for three days in a row!
Try to use freezer containers that all match and stack on top of each other. This will save you space. When the food is frozen, remove from the container, bag it and stack it. They will all match and you will not have a bunch of odd shaped dishes. More economical.
The most obvious suggestion here – and the one which I think most people are familiar with – is to never put anything glass in the freezer. If a glass container breaks, you may end up throwing away a lot of perfectly good food because it may have glass shards over it.
For the most part, freezing food is a great way of buying more, portioning it up and freezing for another day. It is also a great idea to make it easy for the incoming carer, and hopefully she will do the same for you!
