How to freeze ingredients, if batch cooking isn’t your thing, with Kate Hall – Food For Kids Podcast

Joanne Roach (00:00)

On today's Food for Kids, we find out how you can use your freezer to save money, time and wasted food without having to turn into a batch cooking domestic goddess.

Joanne Roach (00:25)

Hello and welcome to the Food for Kids podcast. I'm Joanne from the Foodies. In today's episode, we're talking about how you can use your freezer to reduce stress and save money, but without having to turn into some kind of batch cooking diva. My guest today is Kate Hall from the full freezer. Kate helps busy parents to reduce food waste and cook from scratch more often by using their home freezers more effectively.

She created a brilliant approach to freezing called The Full Freezer Method and it's a different take to more traditional ways because unlike batch cooking it's completely flexible and allows families to easily enjoy a wide variety of meals without having to plan diligently ahead.

Kate's even published a book on using the freezer more effectively and she's written two delightful children's picture books to encourage young children to think about food waste too. She also has a membership and a huge following online and that's enabled her to help literally thousands of families to get to grips with their freezer.

Kate has been featured on national television and magazines and works with lots of big brands to help ordinary families to save money and reduce their food waste. In this episode, we talk through the principles of her method and how you can use it too. I hope you'll enjoy it as much as I enjoyed talking to her. So let's get to the interview.

Joanne (01:45)

So Kate, could you please just tell us what it is that you do?

Kate (01:48)

I help busy parents to reduce their food waste and to cook from scratch more often by using their freezers more effectively. So it's not batch cooking, it is all about freezing individual items of food so that you can avoid them going into the food waste bin and so that they are there to cook when you want to use them.

I essentially ended up doing this because I faced that challenge in my own home of the frustration of keeping on buying things in and thinking, yep, this week it's gonna happen because I used to be a batch cook before I had my second child, I was all about the batch cooking. And then when he came along and I had a newborn and a toddler, I kept on doing that thing of continuing to buy foods with those good intentions that this week I was going to do that batch cook and it just never quite happened.

Joanne (02:37)

The logistics of two is definitely different to one, isn't it?

Kate (02:41)

Completely different, completely different. And I think even where I might have found a window of time, no longer had the same motivation to spend that time cooking in the way I had in the past. so I just got really frustrated with the amount of food that I was wasting and the amount that we ended up leaning on convenience foods and takeaways and everything, and you know, buying the good stuff, throwing it away because it had gone off, and then buying the convenience food. So we were wasting so much money as well. It was really frustrating.

And yeah, I just had this light bulb moment where I was like, hang on a minute, if I can freeze a meal, surely I can freeze individual items of food. and from that, I did a lot of reading and researching and a lot of experimenting, and just found what worked for us really. And I put together a system that allows me to keep organized and to enjoy a lot of variety with our family without having all of that waste that usually comes with the whole process of cooking from scratch.

Joanne (03:37)

So for somebody who hasn't come across your content before, you said that it isn't batch cooking and it's more ingredients. So what would that look like on a normal week? What sort of things would you freeze or eat from the freezer?

Kate (03:50)

So I can I mean I can take tonight as an example. So we have had a pasta dish, just a tomato veg pasta with chorizo and some chicken. And this was a dish that has been done pretty much completely from the freezer. So I have used onions from the freezer, courgettes, mushroom, peppers. The chorizo was from the freezer and the roast chicken was cooked already from the freezer. And everything was basically just cooked up with a couple of cubes of red wine from the freezer, a tin of tomatoes and tomato puree from the freezer as well. So I think the only things that weren't from the freezer was the pasta and the tin of tomatoes, which I could have had some in my freezer if I'd had some leftovers.

In fact, the leftovers, so that's where it links up is that I only used half a tin of tomatoes. So I froze the other half of the tin. I flat froze those in a compostable freezer bag, so that when we next need half a tin of tomatoes, I can just grab those out of the freezer, pop them in a dish to defrost some cold water, and then that can go into the meal we're cooking. So the way it tends to work, is this process of there will be some nights where I cook from scratch, and when I'm cooking from scratch, if I've got a pack of three onions, if I'm going to chop up one, I might as well chop up three. So I'll chop up the three, one will go in the pan, two will go in the freezer. Sometimes it'll be if I'm chopping it anyway, I might as well do it all. Sometimes it's a bit more of a “that's been in the fridge for a couple of days you know those peppers they're not gonna last much longer best chop those up and get them in the freezer”. So it's just this kind of ongoing flow of things going in things coming out so a lot of people if they follow me on Instagram they're a bit like how big is your freezer you're always putting things in your freezer like your freezer must be enormous and I'm lucky I've got two freezers, but the food that's going in, there's constantly food coming out as well. Usually people freeze things and they literally just put it in and it's cold storage.

Joanne (05:48)

I mean that's the key is don't find things 12 months later that's completely freezer burned and you can't even recognise it, it's got no label.

Kate (05:55)

And that's it. That's it. Yeah. My my method is much more about using your freezer in the same way that you use your fridge and just seeing that it's going to give you more time. it's a pause button basically, things like I always used to waste pesto. I'd use a tablespoon and then it would go in the fridge and I would forget about it. And when I went back to it, I was like,

I don't know how long this has been open for. Yeah, you know, it's growing molds. And you think, not again. Whereas now, sometimes if I know we're going to have pesto again soon, I'll just write the date on it. So I know it's within the use within date. But a lot of the time I will literally just decant it into an ice cube tray, pop the ice cube tray in the freezer. And then once it's solid, they go into bags. So I've got my tray back. And then when we want to have pesto pasta or something, I can just grab a cube or two out of the freezer and just whack it straight into whatever we're cooking. It's just so satisfying when you know that in the past it was something that you would always waste, that it always ends up going in the bin. and to be able to use it on another day, I just find incredibly satisfying.

Joanne (06:59)

Pesto was the one I was most pleased to find out and also If you mention it, be you can freeze pesto? You can can freeze hummus? Those are the two that I've learned. And I was really pleased to find your stuff because I'm reasonably knowledgeable about freezing stuff because of growing. So I've had to learn a lot of that. But quite a lot of the things that I've seen you do on your videos, I've gone: Oh you can freeze that? Or you can freeze it in that format, I would freeze it at the raw stage, but not the cooked stage or the cooked stage, but not the raw stage or, you know, a whole portion where as you just literally a spoonful of something. And so that's been a real education.

Kate (07:35)

I think I think that's the thing that I love about it is that I have connected with people who are really using their freezers. And like I learned from my mum who had been batch cooking for 35 years, and she's now turning around to me and going, can I can I freeze this, you know, whatever? and it's just so much fun when a text message from her and she's like, I've just frozen some kidney beans, I only needed half a tin. Just frozen the leftovers. And it is like you say, I mean, she's got an allotment and she grows her own food. if you've got your own fruit or veg, then you take the steps to learn how to preserve it so that you've not wasted all of that effort that you've put in. Yeah. But stopping to think about freezing half a tin of something that you've opened, I don't know, it's engaging a different perspective towards the freezer.

Joanne (08:22)

I like description of it as the pause button. I think that's a really good way to describe it. I've made this meal, here's the ingredients that are leftover. going to press pause on them until I can think about what to do with them rather than having them in the fridge and having to try and work out what to do with them. If they're not on the meal plan for this week, It's a really good way to describe it.

Kate (08:39)

Yeah, and as somebody who is not organized and who gets overwhelmed very easily, that whole pause button concept is absolutely invaluable to me. Like I am totally in awe of people that can do meal plans and stick to them. There was a a programme that I saw recently where it was all about leftovers and doing the shop so that the ingredients that were bought all went into the various different meals. And it's like, I've not got the bandwidth to think about food in that way. Anybody who does, I quite frankly think is a genius. I think, you know, you have to have either grown up doing it and your mum or your has always taught you to do it that way, or you've just got to have an instinct for it. I get to five o'clock and it's like, right, what am I cooking? What am I making?

And so for me, knowing how to defrost things quickly and just, getting a sense of a lot of the basics, you're kind of like things like throwing together a pasta sauce. I know for some people that would be overwhelming. But when you've got all of the ingredients prepared and you're just having to put things in a frying pan and fry them up, all of a sudden I think it becomes a bit less intimidating.

So that's something, you know, I mean, it's been really helpful for us as well. Like my husband in the past would never cook, but if he knows he just can go in and grab a handful of onions or a handful of peppers, all of a sudden he's like, yeah, okay. I suppose I could do that. I suppose I could put that together. And, you know, in the past he never, never ever would have done it. It was far too stressful for him.

Joanne (10:06)

I think having those prepped things makes a big difference, doesn't it? Because the version of meal prep that I do mostly for lunches rather than the evening meals. So I a tray of roasted vegetables at the weekend and I'll do some grains and things like that for my own lunches. And then we chop up raw vegetables and fruit for everybody who goes out of the house for their lunches. And I find I'm much more likely healthy lunch if I'm literally picking up a spoon of roasted vegetables, a spoon of chickpeas, a spoon of some kind of grain, wrapping it in a wrap, squirting some sriracha on top. That's a great meal but if I was having to stop and fry the onions and fry the peppers there was no way that I would do that. So it's just a different level of that isn't it with the raw uncooked ingredients in the freezer.

Kate (10:50)

it will work for different people in different ways. The freezer stash approach wouldn't work for your lunches necessarily because you'd still be like, can I be bothered to get a frying pan out now or can I be bothered to put things in the oven? But it is the sort of thing that if you're at home anyway and you're like, the sweet potato wedges, like I know you can buy things pre prepped but I will buy and blanch my own sweet potato and everything. knowing that I can just grab a handful out and whack them in the oven make it a lot easier. even things like if I was doing an omelette or something, having some chives chopped up in the freezer it just gives your food that little extra dimension where you're like, well I couldn't be bothered before because I was gonna have to cook something. It was gonna take effort and it was gonna be a bit rubbish. I know that I'm actually gonna enjoy it, it'll still take a few minutes to throw it together, but I know it's going to be worth, that couple of minutes. And I'm not having to get a chopping board out, or do any washing up aside from a pan. yeah.

Joanne (11:44)

It's a lot more special, but only a bit more effort, which is a good return.

Kate (11:48)

Yeah, I love the fact that it separates the preparation from the cooking. I think a lot of the time, you know, especially when you are the person that does all the cooking in the it's very easy for anybody who's not doing that job to overlook the fact that you have to plan and do the prep and then you cook. And then there's clearing up to do. And it's like it's not, it's not just cooking. There's so much mental load that goes alongside it. it is exhausting.

So I will sometimes shove board in front of my husband with a load of peppers and just be like, cut these up. all I need you to do. Just cut these up. Then it I think it makes it a lot easier to delegate those tasks as well, because you're not asking someone else to cook the dinner. You're just asking them to do one job. As my kids get older, I'm definitely going to be instilling that in them. You do the carrots, you do the peppers, I'll do the onions, and we'll be done in no time at all.

Joanne (12:44)

I like your idea that if you're doing something, just do a couple of extra on the, on the moments that you've got the bandwidth to do that. So I would do that with buying a bag of potatoes, you buy a two and a half kilo bag, but this week you're only eating them once. So why not peel them all? Or mash or whatever it is you're going to do with them, turn them into something and put them in the freezer at the same time, cooked or raw.

Kate (13:06)

Absolutely. I completely agree with that. I'm doing a Sunday roast, I will do the roast potatoes and I'll do a whole bag of potatoes. And then what we don't need goes into the freezer. and they can be cooked from frozen. I've got a video that shows that just cook them for five minutes, and then get them out, air dry them, straight into the freezer, and then cook them as if they were fresh. It's just so satisfying when you have that Sunday where you're like, the kids really want to roast dinner, but I really don't want to stand here peeling potatoes and boiling things. And I mean, the Sunday just gone. I literally sent my husband to the shop to buy a chicken. And then I went into the freezer and I grabbed roast potatoes, parsnips that were already in batons, carrots that were already in batons, broccoli. some sugar snap peas and everything could either just go straight into the oven to be roasted or into a pan to be boiled fried up or whatever. It's just like that well that didn't really take any effort at all.

And cook exactly the amount we needed as well which always satisfies me because roast dinners was always something that growing up we'd always have so much food left over which is satisfying if you've got the plan that you're going to use it in a particular way but if you don't have that plan, I think it's just so frustrating when the food gets left out for too long and then people aren't sure if it's safe to eat and it just ends up being scraped to the bin or if people overload their plates because there's more there and then don't manage to eat at all. So yeah, I love being able to strike that balance where we know roughly what we're going to consume. And I don't just end up cooking a whole head of broccoli, for example, because I've got a head of broccoli. I will literally cook like six pieces because I know it's not worth me doing more than one piece for each child because they're not gonna eat it anyway. So as long as I can expose them to it, you know, it served its purpose really, but I've not had dish the whole load up.

Joanne (15:00)

And then the rest would go into the freezer raw or blanched?

Kate (15:02)

I'd blanch broccoli, just 'cause it brings the colour out and it it really helps preserve it better. But a lot of things you can just chuck in without blanching as well.

Joanne (15:10)

So a stress free second roast dinner then after the first one.

Kate (15:14)

Yeah. It's an absolute lifesaver and brilliant for Christmas as It's really satisfying to be able to do your Christmas dinner just from frozen without any thought having to go into it.

Joanne (15:24)

You've got quite a lot of information on website and your instagram feed about these general principles?

Kate (15:30)

Absolutely. I share lots of sort of hints and tips and everything I also have a secondary Instagram, called @CanIFreezeIt. It is purely 20 to 40 second videos, and each one focuses on a different item of food and just shows you the fact that, yes, you can freeze it. This is how you should store it in the freezer. And these are some ideas of how you can use it. And then if you read the caption that goes along with it, I give a bit more information about ideal amounts of time to keep things in the freezer for and any extra information that's important to that particular food. yeah, I really pull it all together that way.

Joanne (16:08)

I'll link to all of those things in this show notes.

Kate (16:11)

Thank you so much, Joe. It's been lovely.

Joanne Roach (16:17)

I hope you enjoyed that as much as I did. I think her method of focusing on unused or partially leftover ingredients instead of a batch meal is a really helpful alternative approach and assembling things is much easier when you've already got portioned or par-cooked items to hand.

I'm pretty experienced with freezing myself because of my big veg patch, but I have learned a lot of things from Kate about random items you can freeze and then pull out later to make up a meal.

If this has made you want to get to grips with your freezer too, then I've put all of Kate's links in the show notes, so go check her out and I do recommend following her on Instagram because she puts lots of really practical advice out there. If you have a local school who might like her children's books about reducing food waste for their eco committee or their library, then I'll link to those books too.

Kate is also a regular freezer expert on our monthly slots on how to store and use up different foods. So each time you'll find a short snippet from Kate on how that particular food group can be frozen. So look out for those too. Thanks for listening today. I hope you found it useful. I hope to see you on the next episode. And in the meantime, happy eating.

00:00 Introduction

01:45 When batch cooking doesn't work for you

03:37 Freezing components rather than whole meals

08:22 A pause button for food instead of meal planning

11:48 Separating the prep tasks from the cooking tasks

14:07 How the freezer helps with portioning and waste

15:24 Kate's free Full Freezer resources

16:16 Summary and outro