I Quit Sugar for Life (16 page)

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Cooked meat:
2 months. If possible, slightly undercook any meat that is going to be reheated.

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Cooked fish:
1 month.

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Baked muffins:
3 months. Freeze in individual bags or in a single container with sheets of freezer paper between the muffins
so they can be easily separated.

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Label your foods as they go into the freezer with the date by which they should be used.

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Defrost foods in the fridge, not on the worktop. The slower you defrost, the closer it resembles its pre-frozen state.

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Wrappin’ good: glass and ceramic containers, brown paper bags or paper (not greaseproof) are your best options, but not always
practical. The good news: cling film is now much safer (no longer made from PVC) and there are safer BPA-free plastic lunchboxes now.

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Freeze things in a thin layer in your zip-lock bag, so you can ‘snap’ off what you need as you go.

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When freezing things in ice-cube trays, transfer your frozen cubes to a zip-lock bag, to free up your tray.

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Keep a large zip-lock bag in the freezer, and pop in your cooking scraps of chicken, meat bones, fish bones and heads, and vegetable trimmings
(keep separate bags for different meats). When it’s full, make a stock (see my Leftovers Chicken Stock recipe
here
).

CHOOSE OUR OWN (DIETARY) ADVENTURE

You’ll notice each recipe comes with a bunch of little coloured icons denoting dietary needs. In some cases the meal will be easily adaptable to the particular dietary
need. The icons mean:

SOLO COOKERS: any recipes serving 4 can be eaten over several days (I provide tips along the way) or extra portions can be frozen

FOURSOME FAMILY: simply quadruple relevant recipes

There are a number of staples J suggest you have in your freezer at all times. Start with these.

PUMPKIN PURÉE

1 large pumpkin, cut into 4 big wedges

2 tablespoons olive oil

pinch of salt

Preheat the oven to 180°C (gas 4). Scoop out and discard the pumpkin seeds and pulp. Put the pumpkin wedges on a baking tray, then rub with the olive oil and salt. Bake on
the middle oven rack until tender – about 1 hour. (If you’re pressed for time, cut the pumpkin into smaller chunks and bake for 30 minutes.) Scoop out the flesh and purée using a
stick blender or mash well by hand. Once cool, store in 1-cup (250 ml) batches in the freezer in zip-lock bags or sealed containers. You can also use this recipe to make sweet potato purée
(approximately 4 sweet potatoes to 1 large pumpkin).

PAR-COOKED ’N’ FROZEN VEGGIES

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Buy a stash of veggies.
Stock up on your favourite vegetables when they are in season or on special. Organic veggies can
often be really cheap at certain times of the year – invest when they are. Mix it up. Broccoli, spinach, beetroot, kale, beans and cauliflower work really well as a mixture, but you can try
other veggies too.

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Using a saucepan with a steamer
(or double steamer), steam the veggies for 1–2 minutes, then rinse in cold water to
stop the cooking process. For beetroots, place them on a tray (no oil or salt) and bake at 180°C (gas 4) for 20–30 minutes until tender.

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Drain and freeze in portions.
I divide mine into per-serve portions and put them in zip-lock bags. You can also dump them all
into one large container and ‘break off what you need as you go, as you would frozen peas.

SOME OTHERS TO STOCK UP ON . . .

Activated Nuts (see
here
)

Whey (see
here
)

Bone Broth (see
here
)

Leftovers Chicken Stock (see
here
)