Tips from the Freezer

The freezer is a food lover's hero because there's not much that can't be frozen until its needed: homemade ready meals (see Timesavers); veg and wonderful herbs; grated cheese for toppings and meat cut in strips for quick stir-frying. This section has a few surprises for us all. Visit the freezer often to keep tabs on what's inside.

• Fresh Parmesan Cheese

  Submitted by Lynn Curran, Erskine Renfrewshire

  Fresh parmesan can be expensive. To make it last longer here's a handy little tip... Grate the whole wedge of parmesan into a container and place in freezer- it'll last for ages! Delicious sprinkled over bolognese when serving or added to cheese sauce.

• Whole fresh chillies

  Submitted by Jackie Forrest, Holbeach

  You usually need to buy a whole pack of those hot red chillies even though you may only need one chilli. Deseed the chillies and chop finely, then add the same number of crushed garlic cloves. Pop in a plastic bag then in a plastic airtight container and freeze. Spoon out a small quantity as required.

• To freeze strawberries

  If you have a glut of strawberries and want to freeze them, lay them out individually on a tray and put in to freeze. When they are firm, put into bags. They are not the best fruits for freezing, because they break down and become mush when defrosted, but they can be used in ice creams, trifles and soufflés. Another way of keeping them is to whiz them in a food processor or blender with 2-3 tablespoons of caster sugar and then freeze. Put them through a sieve if you want to remove the fine pips.

• Freeze peppers

  Submitted by cat, Cambridge

  Buy own brand, cheap peppers and dice the tops and bottoms for use in spaghetti bolognaise for example. Slice or dice the remainder. I freeze them in one pepper portions which make it easier to follow recipes. So simple and cheap!

• Freezing herbs

  It’s worth freezing herbs that you use regularly: mint, parsley, chives, and tarragon, for example. Wash and dry them before freezing whole in freezer bags, or chopped in ice cube trays covered with water. Tip frozen cubes into a freezer bag. Store for up to six months.

• Freeze bananas

  Submitted by Andrea, Glasgow

  They go brown quite quickly so if you see them start to go speckly, put them in the freezer. I use a casserole dish, peal them, lay them flat and put the lid on, when they have frozen take it out and put them into bags. You can use frozen bananas in smoothies or bake them in the oven with a bit of honey dripped on top for a nice dessert. You could even defrost them and eat them raw, but you'd have to time this right and do it within half an hour.

• How to store extra spinach

  Submitted by Jessica, South Africa

  If you gro your own spinach, or even if you happen to buy a lot for a good price, wash it, cut off the stalks and steam for 2-3 minutes. Divide it into plastic bags or containers and freeze. Can be frozen for 6-12 months and is esay to add to any pasta dish, mince, stews, soup etc.

• Fast Cool

  Submitted by Bev Donnison, Shropshire

  When I need to cool cooked food quickly, I put it on top of frozen freezer blocks like the ones for picnics, this cools the food quickly so it's less likely to get bugs in and can go into the freezer twice as quickly as just waiting to cool down.

• Lemon Wedges

  Submitted by Jayne Roper, Kent

  I buy lemons when they're on offer and chop them into wedges for drinks and freeze them. As well as using in cold drink, I use them to make a cup of hot water with a cinnamon stick - a refreshing drink when you're trying to cut down on tea/coffee and increase the water levels.

• Using leftover bread or crusts

  Submitted by Fran Handrick, Guildford

  I always take the crusts off loaves (no-one in our 7-adult household likes them), I make them into breadcrumbs and freeze them to use for crumble toppings, Queen of Puddings, Stuffings, thickenings for sauces, coating with egg and breadcrumbs etc. I have two bags int he freezer all the time, one for white breadcrumbs and one for brown.