18 June 2013

What to do with 20 Kilos of Brown Onions


My local greengrocer had a fantastic special on onions this week - 10 kilo bags for $3!  That's just 30c a kilo - about an 80 per cent saving on supermarket prices.

I couldn't resist and before I knew it two bags had mysteriously made their way into my kitchen.

So faced with 20 kilos of brown onions what was I to do?

Well first off I roped in all the family and had them take turns at peeling - a half a bag each.  That was the worst chore over and done with.

Then I took out the food processor and, using the chopping blade, I processed half of them. Now that's a lot of chopped onion, and I did it in batches. With my trusty 1/2 cup measure I portioned those chopped onions into ziplock bags ready to go into the freezer.

Those bags of frozen onion will be used to prepare rissoles and burgers, meatloaf, pies, soups and stews, casseroles, pies and quiche and anything else that needs diced or chopped onion this winter.

The remaining onions were sorted and any small enough to roast were blanched, drained and put onto a baking paper lined baking sheet and then flash frozen. I'll use these for our Sunday roasts. When they are completely frozen they'll be bagged up too.

That left about 7 kilos of rather largish onions. Those were sliced on the mandolin. They will be great for hamburgers and steak sandwiches and crumbed they'll make lovely onion rings. The mandolin had them sliced up, into lovely even slices, in no time. And again they went into ziplock bags, this time in 1 cup portions.

Now there is a green bag in the freezer, full of packets of diced, sliced or whole onions.

It did take a couple of hours to process that 20 kilos, but it will save me a lot of time over winter. When a recipe calls for onion I will be able to just pull a packet out of the freezer.

And know that I've saved around $24 too.

What do you buy in bulk to prepare ahead and freeze? Leave a comment and inspire us!

9 comments:

  1. What a great idea! I often see those deals but am like what would you do with that much onion! Next time I see a deal like that I'm going to try this, thanks very much :D

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  2. And this would be a good idea with potatoes too if you come across any bulk bargains!

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    1. Potatoes are a whole different thing - they don't freeze well unless they are cooked or at least partially cooked.

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  3. I thought onions had to be blanced before going onto the freezer

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    1. No, you can freeze them raw.

      Just make sure you freeze them in portions you will use - they are very hard to break up if frozen in one huge clump.

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    2. A great tip my clever daughter taught me is to wear swimming goggles when peeling and chopping a lot of onions. Saves tears!!

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  4. I have done the onion thing in the past to. It saves so much time. But I also buy mushrooms when they are really cheap, or approaching use by date. Aldi often have them sliced and reduced. I just lay them on plastic. All separated. Put them in the freezer. Then bag them up when they are frozen. They freeze beautifully. don't lose their shape when cooked. I put them on pizza, and in other dishes I am cooking. I use to throw out so many "off" mushrooms. Not any more. And it's always handy to have them on hand.... I did google how to freeze them. they made it sooooo complicated. That I just through. Blow it. I will just lay them out and freeze them. Worked perfectly. I also freeze little Tom Thumb tomatoes to. Throw them in everything I cook...

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  5. I always using a plastic lining/bag inside a container or I double bag onions for the freezer otherwise I find there is an odour left behind!!

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  6. I also make Caramelised Onion Jam which is a hit with meat eaters. It is a great way to use quantities of onions and keeps well. It also goes well with burgers and would be fine in stews and mince dishes.

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