freezer bags

[fruitcake]

We tend to buy large packets of stuff (eg fish, chicken etc) and then split it into the freezer so's we can just take out what we need when we need it. And also so's the stuff takes up less room in the freezer.

Any ideas what I can use instead of buying freezer bags?

I saw someone in another thread suggesting bread bags but I haven't bought bread in years (since my sis gave me a breadmaker for xmas )

cheers

[pumpy]

We always use good ol'-fashioned plastic carrier bags....... you're gonna freeze then cook anyway, so no need to worry about potential infectious stuff. We have always stored our home-made bread in them & are still alive to tell the tale!!

[Annpan]

washed out marge tubs? it does mean you need more space in the freezer though

[StripyPixieSocks]

I have tubs of all sizes from IKEA (the cheap ones with a red lid.

OK so they have curry and tomato stains in some of them but who cares as long as it doesn't taint the food going in. Although I find if you're storing curry if you rub a little oil around the box first it doesn't stain AS much!

We also use bread bags... the bags are ancient but we still use them to wrap home made bread in to freeze it.

We have on occasion used ziplock bags and washed them out and left them to dry to use them again!

In a pinch I have stored soup in milk cartons, I have just cut the top off, filled them with a portion size then rolled down the top and put in the freezer :)

[Annpan]

I have old IKEA tubs that we use for soups, stews, sauces etc they stack nicely and are single serving size but after 5 years of heavy use they have started to disintegrate.... the lids are snapping the plastic is damaged from too much microwaving and I can't bring myself to replace them with another new product.

Real tupperware was useless and didn't last a year of being used regularly - My mum was a tupperware dealer in the 80s... I still have a cupboard full of odd bits of plastic storage containers.

Hoping to get a chest freezer by the Autumn and I will just use my plethora of marg tubs (they don't fit well in my tiny freezer) - at least I won't feel bad about chucking them when they all apart.

[Millymollymandy]

I use freezer bags for certain things but I reuse them. I don't see what's wrong with that? Makes no difference from using plastic pots (which I do, too). Don't forget to label and date everything, of course!

[Odsox]

Yes we re-use freezer bags too ... I make 3 loaves at a time which are then sliced and frozen, then we get however many slices we need per day.
The bags those loaves are frozen in are probably older than the freezer itself.
For things like chicken or fish portions we have a cheap Lidl vacuum sealer, not necessarily very green but saves a whole lot of space and prevents ice crystals and freezer burn.

[rockchick]

I have an entire cupboard overflowing with old marg tubs and the like - always a nightmare trying to find a matching lid and tub but they do work well. I also use freezer bags but do wash them out and reuse.

[fruitcake]

ta muchly for all suggestions

I too have a drawer with little tubs and never enough lids...

- Annpan - I'm still using tupperware as well - not in the freezer or microwave tho, just for storage. I use the square tubs from lakeland for the freezer - they stack and fit well.

I don't buy marg so have no tubs from that, so i think it's wash the freezer bags time (i reuse the ones I've stored my bread in till they fall apart anyway, its the gloopy ones i've been guilty of chucking )

and Odsox - cheers for the Lidl vacuum pack thingy advice - I'll send OH on a shopping mission and maybe try that for chicken etc.

and MMM - re labelling - yes, that's one of those things like a new years resolution - its on the list of things i should do and i sometimes do it......lol. Mystery tubs, cannae beat 'em.