Just a short blog post today as I am in Northern Ireland on business for a few days. This is the first of a series called ‘Merlin’s tip of the week’, which will be mostly diet or fitness related. I received an e-mail from someone who had been to my website, subscribed to the mailing list and downloaded the e-book. They wanted to know exactly how I keep my food in the freezer, since I often buy big portions which are more than I need for one meal.
The first suggestion is that I almost never freeze food in its original packaging. I have a small freezer and it takes up too much space to store plastic boxes half-filled with air. Also, by opening the containers and inspecting the meat or fish before I freeze it, I can cut out and discard fat, bone, or gristle which I am not intending to eat.
A caveat is that if you remove items from their original box, you lose the details of exactly what it is and when you bought it. Some fish, meat and poultry can look very similar when frozen, and it can be annoying to think you are going to eat venison (I love wild meat and it tends to be super healthy) to discover that it is beef.
I use a permanent marker pen to write on the outside of the main bag what it is and when I bought it. This also serves the double benefit that I can make sure that I eat the older items in my freezer, and don’t allow food to languish at the bottom of the drawers for too long.
My second suggestion is that I cut things into individual portions before freezing them. This means I don’t have to spend time defrosting a large piece of meat or fish before I can cook it – I simply reach in, grab a previously prepared portion and stick it straight on my grilling machine or in the fish steamer. It takes about the same amount of time to steam some fresh vegetables on the hob, so with the minimum amount of fuss I can have a super healthy and waistline friendly meal.
I don’t like the waste or cost of using loads of individual freezer bags, so several years ago I latched onto the idea of using perforated interleaving sheets to separate portions of the same item in one bag. I get mine from Lakeland http://www.lakeland.co.uk/p1419/Easy-Leave , but would bet that they are also available elsewhere. Yes it takes extra preparation when I buy something, to chop it, wrap it, and bag it, but this saves me so much time when I want something quick to eat.
Anyone who knows me well will say that I have little patience when it comes to my food, and being hungry can make me very grouchy! The shorter the time I have to spend in preparation and cooking, the less likely I am to snack or go for a potentially less healthy option. I will be honest and admit that very few of my meals take more than 10 minutes from when I enter the kitchen to when I sit down to eat!
A few weeks ago I bought this whole side of salmon (weighing almost a kg) for £4.44, instead of its original £14.80. As you can see, I was able to freeze this in nine beautiful portions, in other words just 50p per meal! Finding this type of bargain is not unusual for me, one of the primary reasons why I shop late in the day. Thanks to the interleaving sheets, my freezer is full and my belly happy. There are plenty of other tips in the e-book, but this is one of my favourites.
Your fitness friend,
Beth
