As a person who keeps at least 1kg of butter on hand at all times, I’m constantly cycling blocks of the stuff between my freezer, fridge and butter dish. Recently, though, I found myself in an unthinkable predicament: I was out of butter. I dug around in the back of my freezer, and behind a half-empty bag of frozen dumplings and some chicken stock, I found one last box.

In terms of earthly delights, a fresh, soft cookie with perfectly crispy edges and gooey chocolate chips is extremely hard to compete with. Though there is nothing wrong with making — and eating — an entire baker’s dozen in an evening, you might be the type of person who has “impulse control”, and wishes to enjoy only a cookie or two a day.

In that case, the best gift you can give yourself is a bag of pre-portioned, frozen cookie dough.

Stocking up on staples is a great way to stretch a budget and minimise waste, so a good chest freezer is a boon to the budget-minded home cook. Sadly, common misconceptions about their energy usage and footprint size discourage the people who would benefit the most from a chest freezer — apartment-dwellers with decrepit, barely-functional appliances — from buying one.

Video: Freezing unused whipped cream is a great way to store it for later use, but it also allows you to cut it into adorable, fun shapes - perfect for topping warm, rich mugs of cocoa.

Plastic wrap is perhaps the most infuriating, but necessary kitchen item in existence. Though buying the good stuff at a restaurant supply store makes it less infuriating, where you store it can also affect how difficult it is to handle.

Homemade canning and pickling is a lot of fun, but you know what sucks? Standing over a pot of boiling water in an already-swampy kitchen for hours to sanitise and seal slippery glass jars. No thank you. I switched to freezer pickles years ago and haven't looked back since. If you've got some available freezer space, this is a great technique to have in your arsenal.

They say the world is built for two, and the world of food is no exception. Cooking meals you actually want to eat, with minimal waste, is the goal of cooking for one, and fear not: You can do it too -- with just a little forethought and planning. Here's how.

You know what's better than fresh pasta? A whole lot of fresh pasta. If you're going to go through the hassle of rolling out all of that dough, you might as well make a good bit of it, which means you're going to need to store it.

In terms of texture and flavour, dried coconut can't touch the fresh stuff, but separating the meat from the shell can be a bit of a struggle. Luckily, just a quick overnight stay in the freezer can help the tough stuff pop right off.

The best toast starts with the best bread, but bakery-fresh or homemade bread has a tendency to stale and mould more quickly than the pre-sliced bag stuff. To get really good toast everyday without wasting a single crumb, slice, then freeze a fresh, whole loaf.

Bacon, in all of its tasty glory, is a slippery ingredient. A little time in the freezer can make it much more manageable.

Freezing food for later consumption is a good way to stretch your grocery bill but, for the best-tasting, safest leftovers, you only want to freeze and thaw cooked food once.

Frozen meals that you've made ahead of time, like leftovers or portioned-out containers of pasta, can be a life saver after a long day of work or for a microwavable lunch, but they can also get lost in your freezer. Here's why you should store them in your freezer door.

Slicing the top, rounded portion off of a cake before frosting gives it a smoother, more professional look. To make removing that top crumbly layer even easier (not to mention smoothly frost the sides), just pop it in the freezer first.

When it comes to long-term food storage, the freezer is one of the most useful tools in your kitchen, but it's not as simple as throwing food in a container and letting it chill. To make sure your food freezes fast with minimal damage, freeze it flat.

Refrigerators can start smelling pretty funky after a few years of use. If you want to rid your fridge and freezer of lingering smells once and for all, this deep cleaning regimen will get the job done.

Like most foods, freezing eggplant is a great way to keep it fresh longer. Before you toss some in the freezer, though, give it a quick bake first.

Fatty foods freeze really well. The cold and darkness help prevent the fatty foods from getting rancid, which is why freezing bacon -- and even bacon fat -- is a great idea. The same holds try for leftover frying oil.

Vacuum sealers make it possible to keep your food in airtight packages, extending its freezer storage lifetime. This DIY vacuum sealer tool will work with Ziploc-style bags and is pretty cheap to build.