kitchen staples: the freezer

For some reason, I can't recall what I ate this day. We might've gone out, or maybe friends came over and I didn't have a chance to take a picture...

I forget.

Regardless, I've been meaning to write about what I keep in the freezer, since this, I believe, is key to keeping the monthly food costs to around 60 or 70 a person, even when we eat things like roast lamb, duck, and fancy desserts (around once a month).

Chicken stock: I make this every time I need boneless chicken, or I buy a whole chicken to roast. From the bones, I boil water with a few vegetables for a little while.

Fish stock: Whenever the fish counter fillets a fish for me (or I buy a whole fish), I boil the bones with a little bit of parsley (or whatever vegetables I have in the fridge -- carrots, celery, and so on).

Vegetable stock: This is a last resort for vegetables, when there's a chance they'll go bad if I don't use them, I use them to make vegetable stock.

I keep the different stocks in labeled tupperware in the freezer.

Chicken thighs: Every once in a while, Safeway will have a sale for chicken thighs, for 99 cents a pound. I usually buy the chicken in bulk, and put three thighs in small ziplock bags, and all the small ziplock bags in a giant freezer bag. By the time Safeway has another sale, I'm usually almost through all the chicken thighs in the freezer.

Frozen scallops or frozen shrimp: If Safeway has a sale on these, I buy 'em and keep them in the fridge. They're good for quick meals.

Frozen corn: Always useful for paellas or other quick meals.
Frozen peas: Ditto.