Christmas cake - File photos

During the Festive season, you may have cooked too much rice and peas, prepared too much sorrel and baked too many cakes. Your concern now is how to preserve these items so as to save some money while extending your festive foods into the New Year.

Rice and peas

Place serving portions in plastic bags and seal well. Label to identify name of dish and be sure to date the packages. To use, thaw in the bottom of the refrigerator and reheat a pre-heated oven or on the top of the stove with a little water drizzled over and place over low heat.

Gungo peas

With the abundance of gungo peas at relatively low prices, it makes good sense to purchase some now and freeze for later use in rice and peas, soups or stews. Cook peas and place usable portions in air tight plastic containers. Label and date.

Sorrel

Four options:

1. Brew sorrel, sweeten and leave unrefri-gerated for a few weeks. Be sure to check for fermentation.2. Brew sorrel, sweeten and freeze in plastic containers.

3. Sorrel sepals may be washed, put in plastic bags and placed in the freezer.

4. Dry sorrel well and store in a cool place.

Christmas cake

Bake cakes before freezing. When cool, wrap in plastic and place in airtight bags or containers. Cakes may be frozen for as long as one year. Cakes should be used soon after taken out of the freezer. Frozen cakes tend to dry out more quickly than freshly made cakes.

Sorrel

Unshelled and shelled gungo peas.