We may have stocked up our pantries to brace for the lockdown, but there's always that niggling thought at the back of our minds: what if all those vegetables start to rot and you can't head to the market as often as you'd like to? Actor Sameera Reddy recently took to Instagram with a post where she shared that in order to preserve the essentials and cut down on the time and effort spent behind cleaning the dishes, she has started freezing essentials, including everything from onions to bagels. Taking a cue from her, we spoke to some chefs about freezing food the right way.

Purée bliss

Sameera Reddy, in her post, suggested a simple way to preserve onions — by sweating them down with some ghee or oil, cooling and freezing them. As tomatoes, too, are an integral part of our diet, chef Gracian De Souza says it is best to chop them, cook them down with some basil, sugar and water, and blitz to make a purée. One can then cool and freeze it in small batches. "What we are doing now is making large portions of marinara sauce, or Bolognese sauce, or even north Indian bhuna masala and freezing the same in small portions as these make for quick meals," suggests chef Shilarna Vaze of Gaia Gourmet. De Souza adds that cauliflower, broccoli or peas can also be turned into purée. "Wash the cauliflower or broccoli in salted water. Cut it and boil it in milk. When you blitz it, add the milk in which it was boiled, and then freeze in batches. This should stay for 15 to 20 days," he adds. Air-tight, reusable Ziploc bags or Tupperware containers are ideal for this purpose.