It’s cold, it gets dark earlier, and some evenings the idea of starting dinner from scratch feels like far more effort than it should.
This is when a well-stocked freezer really comes into its own.
Cook Once, Eat More Than Once
Winter food is particularly good at doing double duty. Stews, curries, soups, casseroles and bolognese are all easy to make in bigger quantities, and many of them taste just as good, if not better, the second time around. Cook once and you could have dinner sorted for another night when cooking is the last thing you feel like doing.
The trick is to think ahead while you’re already in the kitchen. If you’re making a pot of curry for four, could you make enough for eight and freeze half? If the oven is already on for a roast, could you cook a little extra meat to use in another meal? A roast chicken can become sandwiches or wraps the following day, with the remaining bones used for a homemade stock. One cooking session, several meals.
Buying well is part of the equation too. Whether you’re shopping for the family or buying in larger quantities from meat wholesalers South Africa, choosing quality ingredients gives you a better starting point for every meal you plan to freeze.
Make Your Freezer Work Harder
Your freezer can also help you make better use of the ingredients you buy. Meat and fish can be divided into meal-sized portions before freezing, so you only defrost what you actually need. Bread, grated cheese, homemade stocks and sauces can all be frozen too, ready to step in when the fridge is looking a little bare.
It’s particularly useful when buying wholesale meat South Africa, as larger quantities can be portioned according to how you actually cook before going into the freezer.
And portion size matters. Freezing a huge container of stew might seem like a good idea at the time, until you need dinner for two and have to defrost enough to feed the whole family. Smaller, clearly labelled portions give you far more flexibility. Adding the date to the label also prevents those mysterious frozen containers from becoming permanent residents at the back of the freezer.
There’s a money-saving benefit too. Buying larger quantities can often offer better value, particularly when you can portion and freeze them immediately. Buying from South African meat wholesalers can make bulk buying a practical option, provided you have a plan for how you’ll use and store what you buy.
A Little Planning Goes a Long Way
That doesn’t mean filling the freezer for the sake of it. The idea is to buy what you know you’ll use and make those ingredients work harder.
A pack of mince could become tonight’s bolognese and next week’s cottage pie. Chicken portions could become a curry one night and a tray bake another. A good cut of meat can be portioned now and become several completely different meals later.
At N1, we’re big believers in starting with quality ingredients and getting the most from them. As one of the meat suppliers Cape Town customers can turn to for quality and consistency, we know that a little planning, a few freezer containers and an extra portion or two can make winter cooking simpler, more economical and a lot less wasteful.
And there’s something particularly satisfying about getting home on a freezing winter evening and remembering there’s a homemade meal waiting in the freezer.
Sometimes the best person to cook dinner for you is you, a few weeks ago.
