Using the Freezer in October

Get ahead with cooking sessions as October evenings draw in. Soups like spinach soup, cream of sweetcorn soup and mixed vegetable soup all freeze well. Freeze in rigid containers leaving a 1-cm (1-in) headspace. Remove from the freezer, tip the contents into a saucepan when partly thawed and reheat gently, stirring until boiling. The tuna fish pâté can be made up in a foil container and frozen over-wrapped in polythene. Allow to thaw in the refrigerator overnight before serving. Storage time about 1 month. Red cabbage with apple is one of the best cooked vegetable recipes for the freezer. Freeze the cooked mixture in polythene bags. Reheat gently from frozen; it goes perfectly with game, roast pork or duck.