The mince was pre-packaged into 1.2kg lots, which is way more than we need for a dinner, so I split the packages out into three and froze them in ziploc bags that I've been keeping in my freezer from the last time I did this.
When I got to the last 1.2kg package it finally occurred to me that I could do some of my dinner prep then and there, while I was already handling the mince.
Since we have Asian Mince on Rice weekly, (a compromise with L who requests it for dinner daily), I decided to mix the last 1.2kg of beef with the Asian Mince marinade to make three dinners' worth.
Two lots of it went into the freezer, but I put the third lot into a container in the fridge for the following night's dinner. Gosh it was easy to get dinner ready on Sunday night, with the fiddliest part of my dinner prep already taken care of.
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| Raw mince in Asian Mince marinade, ready to freeze for a later date. |
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| Beef mince in Asian mince marinade for the next night's dinner. |
I was so inspired by this stroke of genius that I did the same with a big pack of lamb chops I'd also bought on special. Some of the chops went into ziploc bags in the freezer as they were...
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| Lamb chops. |
But I also cubed a couple of lamb chops and mixed them with a biriyani marinade.
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| Cubed lamb in biriyani marinade (recipe from Annabel Langbein's Eat Fresh) |
The lamb biriyani also went into a repurposed ziploc bag and is in the freezer where it will save me time on dinner prep in the future.
I would have done a double batch of the biriyani to make two meals, but only had enough marinade ingredients for one. That means it's not a huge time saver I know, but at least I'll only have to handle the meat once this way.
Have you ever marinated meat going into the freezer? How did it work out for you?
I have prepped chicken breast skewers in the freezer in the marinade. I also have lamb cubes marinating. I didnt skewer those as when I do I want to alternate the meat with cubes of haloumi then cook but most of the work and cleaning up is done :)
ReplyDeleteThanks Emma, great time saving ideas, especially for when I go back to work in two weeks. I better get busy freezing :-)
ReplyDeleteI do that a lot and as the meat thaws in the refrigerator, it gets nice and flavorful. It's a great idea and saves loads of time.
ReplyDeleteI was hoping the flavour will improve as they defrost. Yay!
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