Freezer soup

Being keen never to waste any food as far as is possible, all sorts of odds and ends of leftovers end up in the freezer. I’m really meticulous about writing labels and sticking them on the boxes and bags and whatever containers I’ve found to put the oddments in – well, I’m usually really meticulous but I admit that sometimes I forget… or the item is put away before its label is attached, or someone else puts it away, or the label comes off in the freezer – and sometimes attaches itself to something completely different, or if I’ve written straight onto the bag/box/container in permanent ink, sometimes the ink isn’t permanent…

The upshot of all this is that sometimes, well often if I’m truthful, things emerge from the freezer and I actually have no idea what they are. In our efforts to be economical and to get rid of unwanted things, and not to give in to so-called ‘bargains‘ or ‘2 for the price of 1′ etc, when we needed a new freezer, we bought a small one. For the most part there are only the two of us at home, so we don’t need great stocks of stuff…

Anyway, today from our small freezer, I took out a small box which said clearly ‘fennel soup’… when did I ever have fennel that I made into soup? I have no idea. I also took out another small box which said ‘veg soup’. The fennel soup, was indeed that, but such a small portion it wasn’t enough for both of us, and the so-called veg soup was actually frozen roasted vegetables – perfect, the two things could go together to make enough soup for us! Except it wasn’t enough. I returned to the freezer and found an unlabelled box with beige soupy looking stuff… in with the fennel and roast vegetables… delicious! The beige stuff was chicken soup, so the three things were perfect!

This afternoon I returned to the small freezer, and took out three more containers, none with labels… two might possibly be shepherd’s pie, one is definitely chocolate cake… when did I ever make a chocolate cake and put it in the freezer? Maybe it is not my lack of labels – maybe someone else is sneaking into our house secretly and putting unmarked things in the freezer… it’s the only explanation!