Empty the Freezer Challenge: Week 3

We’re still getting through the older contents of our freezer this week, but there’s good progress being made, not to mention the way it’s reduced our groceries bill. It’s been quite a tasty few days as well.

The first meal we made was a pizza with spinach, onion and olive topping. That used up the frozen pizza dough plus a good portion of frozen spinach. The picture below is what it looked like on the way into the oven.

We also had the last of the 2015 frozen rhubarb heated up for dessert, and I made coconut custard to go with it. That’s perfect timing because the rhubarb plant in the back garden has just gone into overdrive and is ready for picking.

The pearl barley casserole base seemed far too heavy to serve now the sunshine has returned, so I defrosted it along with the frozen courgettes and pureed it with an equal weight of water. That was cooked into a spring vegetable soup with a few spring onions and greens. It made four generous portions, and was served with cheese sandwiches on the side.

The next freezer-based dish was a saag paneer curry (pic above), which used up the last of the spinach and gave us plenty of leftovers. I added a fried onion, a block of supermarket paneer cheese, and some curry paste and tomatoes, and it was pretty good for a quick dinner even if curry does best when it’s cooked for a long time. We served it with raita, chutney, and garlic and coriander naan bread on the first evening and it was gorgeous. The next evening we had the curry as a side dish with the spiced aubergine and chickpeas from the freezer, and some lime pickle.

Next week’s meals

The main things I have left to use up are peas and soya beans. Oh, and I also need to find out what’s in the Unidentifiable Bag of Weird Stuff Where the Label Fell Off. Whatever could it be?

Do you have an Unidentifiable Bag of Weird Stuff Where the Label Fell Off in YOUR freezer? Come on, I reckon everybody does… Let me know how you’re getting on if you’re joining in with this challenge too.