I've come to the conclusion that fresh meat, fish and chicken etc. don't really need to take up space in the freezer - for the most part any prep they need takes no long than about 15 minutes. Maybe a marinade, a rub, etc. then leave to infuse. Contrast this with the time taken to prep and cook a sauce, some milk infusions for a sauce and some soups. Best make big batches of these and buy fresh fish or meat on the day.

Why give up freezer space needing little or no prep at the expense of labour intensive items?

- I buy meat in big quantities from a farm shop near my parents
- I have a big freezer

Why buy fresh meat then freeze it? I buy all my meat and produce from Essington farm shop but I wouldn't then go and freeze it.

I freeze put ice creams in my freezer, and if we buy a white loaf of bread (awful stuff) it gets frozen as it would go mouldy due to no one really eating it. An fish gets frozen as well, we make our own fish cakes/fish fingers then freeze them.

I do a big shop once a month, so freeze things like milk, butter, etc. I make huge quantities of chicken and beef stock, freeze them in ice cube trays. During the summer I grow and freeze herbs. As for meat, I really do believe that freezing it tenderises it somewhat.

The only fresh meats I freeze are bacon and sausages as I often succumb to Bogoffs but don't want to eat it all in one go.
My freezer tends to get cooked meals like curry, chilli and stews. I also bulk cook a basic mince for shepards pie, moussaka etc.
If I get a glut of tomatoes or courgettes I'll make them into a sauce and freeze that.

I agree with you about freezing meat. I don't think it does it much good.

I also use Essington farm shop.

Pork freezes extremely well, i dont think in general freezing is an issue

I find uncooked beef and pork tastes rather 'watery' after its been frozen in my freezer. Commercially frozen meat is frozen very fast so the water crystals can't form and disrupt the meat structure - which I presume leads to more water being held in the meat on thrawing than commerical product.

If I'm in the supermarket and see stuff heavily reduced (meat, sausages, pasta sauce, fresh pasta, milk, bread etc) I will shovel it up and bung it in the freezer and forget about it.

If, towards the end of the paycheque month, we are feeling a bit poor, we will put our heads in freezer and fish something out, otherwise it stays there for yonks, until we remember it

Fresh pasta defrosts in no time, and I put frozen sliced bread straight into the toaster.

The only meat I wont freeze is chicken; I managed to give myself terrible food poisoning early on in my bachelor days by incorrectly defrosting some, and it put me off ever since. I wont even leave chicken in the fridge overnight, I buy it and snarf it the same day.

my yummy homemade welsh mince lasagne

I do that but i forget about and then 6 months later find it and am a bit dubious about it, so i end up throwing it away.

Because I'm not going to travel 40 miles round trip every week to buy fresh meat.

I have 2 freezers, both almost entirely full of various meats and fish.

I only freeze meat if it's cut into small bits for stir-fry or stew. Defrosting a whole frozen chicken properly takes many hours. I'd rather take the time to buy a fresh one if I'm planning that far ahead. (I usually don't plan, just look at what ever's in the fridge or freezer that I fancy that night.)

I try not to shop more than once a week, so I do like having meat in the freezer I can use when the fresh stuff runs out. Mostly mince or cubed steak or chicken. I also keep some cooked meals, either shop-bought (I like some of Asda's curries) or home-made.

At the moment 2/3rds of my freezer space it taken up by veg. Peas, sprouts, runner beans, broad beans, broccoli. One bag opened and in use, another spare so I don't run out, so it adds up to a lot of space. I use sweet corn and carrots from tins, which seems to work better for those. I don't use much fresh veg because it doesn't keep very long. I've recently been trying fresh carrot, and if I buy five I'll have to eat one in almost every dinner afterwards, and still probably throw one away. I like variety.