At this time of the year freezer space is at a premium in this house as I like to prepare as much as I can for our Christmas dinner in advance. To make room for the part baked roasties, pigs in blankets, home made ice creams and more I first need to get rid of the bits and bobs that are lurking in the drawers. We do have an extra fridge freezer in the garage that works perfectly fine for most of the year, but a couple of years ago it was extremely cold during December and the freezer decided that it was going to defrost itself, along with all of my Christmas meat! I'm now wary of using it in the winter just in case the contents defrost and then refreeze without me knowing.
Beko now have a solution for the problem caused by freezers being in unheated rooms such as garages or outbuildings. Their Freezer Guard technology overcomes the issue of freezers that stop working when the outside temperature drops below zero, and there is a range of freezers and fridge freezers that will work at temperatures as low as -15C.
If you have space in your freezer this Christmas you might want to make room for a few extra meals ready for when days are hectic and you don't feel like cooking a meal from scratch. For the past week we've been eating a fair bit of sausage chilli from the freezer as I made 30 portions last weekend for Sam's football team and the opposition, but due to the weather the match was cancelled. Thankfully the whole family love it and I've been serving it in various ways, and it certainly makes mealtimes much easier.
At the weekend I cooked up a batch of beef chilli ready for the busy week ahead, and portioned them out with some boiled basmati rice. Cass shares some of her top tips for getting started with your batch cooking.
Beef Chilli - serves 4-6
tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, finely diced
1 clove garlic, crushed
700g lean minced beef
1-2 tsp chilli powder (depending on taste)
1 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1 green pepper, diced
1 courgette, diced
1 can of chopped tomatoes
1 can of kidney beans, drained
2 tbsp tomato puree
- Heat the oil in a large pan over a medium heat
- Add the onion and fry gently until starting to brown
- Stir in the garlic and then the mince & spices
- Fry the mince for a few minutes, stirring frequently, until browned
- Add in the pepper & courgettes and cook for 2 minutes
- Stir in the tomatoes, kidney beans & tomato puree
- Mix well and bring to the boil
- Turn the heat down & simmer with the lid on for around 30 minutes
This post has been commissioned by BEKO
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