How Should We Freeze or Store Sauces?

Q.
When we get home from work we do not always feel like cooking from scratch. Is it possible to make large quantities of sauces e.g. cheese, tomato, sweet and sour etc. and store in jars or freeze to use at a later date?

A.
I know how you feel! It’s definitely a good idea to keep a couple of sauces on standby for those late nights. Different sauces need different treatment, so here’s a quick round-up:
Tomato sauce is just perfect for freezing and can be used to make pizzas, pastas, and curries in a hurry. At its most basic, tomato sauce is simply a reduction of tomatoes – choose good ones in season – but you can also make it with onion, garlic, balsamic vinegar and sugar. I make it during the summer by halving ripe tomatoes and putting them in a big saucepan, bringing to a simmer, then reducing the heat and letting them soften down to a thick sauce (and I mean thick – wait until it’s about 1/3 of the original volume). This concentrated tomato puree – frozen in portion-sized bags – can be used for lots of different things:
PIZZA TOPPING: Just defrost and spread 1-2tbsp directly onto a prepared pizza base (for 2).
TURN IT INTO CURRY: Soften an onion with 2tbsp Madras or Balti paste (we like Patak’s). Stir in meat, vegetables or quorn, and once they’ve coloured, add some of the tomato sauce plus a splash of water. Simmer until the meat or vegetables are done and sprinkle with chopped coriander to serve.
PASTA BAKE: Stir the sauce through cooked pasta shapes, add some chopped veg (frozen sweetcorn, spring onions, bottled artichokes, baby spinach, or peas) and cover generously with cheese. Bake until golden and sizzling.
Cheese sauce isn’t such a great contender for freezing, as it sometimes splits once defrosted. You can avoid this by adding cornflour to the roux (use ½ tbsp cornflour, 1tbsp flour and 1 ½ tbsp butter). Defrost your sauce thoroughly (in the fridge overnight if possible) before cooking with it. If it splits, a brisk stir should amalgamate the sauce again.
Rich sauces like plum, chutney and sweet & sour can also be frozen in individual portions, but if your freezer is full, it’s also possible to bottle these. In order to preserve the sauce, you’ll need the correct quantity of vinegar and sugar, which makes the end result very rich. You’ll find plum sauce recipes available on the internet – use it sparingly to dress a stir-fry for a quick meal.
Re: Working Out a Food Budget
Great advice! Setting a food budget is all about balance, and these tips really help to keep things manageable without compromising on…
Re: How to Make Basic Sauces
nice, but i think it would be better if you had, like, satay sauce, and garlic dip. but still, nice.
Re: Organising Your Kitchen
how do l cook jollof rice and frid rice..also vegetable soup..
Re: Dinner in 10 Minutes
What else can you do with jacket potato I have butter and a bit of gravy with mine
Re: The Quick Guide to Great Cooking
i'm a student want to learn more basic sauce and any additional ingredients for cream sauce white sauce.thank you
Re: Ten Ideas for Jacket Potatoes
Please could you add pictures of the goods if possible.
Re: How to Cook Fish
Your advice on poaching (and other ways of cooking) haddock seems very sensible and in touch with real life. This ( I know comparisons are odious…
Re: Ten Ideas for Jacket Potatoes
Could you help me with easy toppings for jaket bbq bake potatos ,for to cook 30 at a time need some help ,so come all you great…
Re: Meals for £1
Bb - Your Question:Students don't have luxrys like oil and an onion just hanging about or pepperOur Re
Re: Cooking in Bulk
Go into supermarkets late in the day and pick up reduced veg, Take home cut up in dinner portion Bags up in freezer bags Put in freezer til you…