A Full Freezer Fresh Scones and the Changing Shape of Summer
- Meg
- Aug 14
- 10 min read
The first week of August seems to have vanished in the blink of an eye.
Here in the western Highlands, we have been enjoying gentler, more temperate weather. The hedgerows are overflowing with wildflowers, ferns and grasses; our lawns remain a wonderfully lush green; and the water level in Loch Awe is still healthy.
Meanwhile, images of scorched farmland, tinder-dry forests and struggling gardens across other parts of the UK, Ireland and mainland Europe are both shocking and deeply worrying. At times, it feels as though we are living in a parallel universe.
These extremes are a sobering reminder that the food on our tables begins long before it reaches a supermarket shelf. It starts with healthy soil, reliable rainfall, thriving pollinators and farmers who are increasingly being asked to produce food in unpredictable conditions.
Many of us still remember the restrictions on pasta, flour and sugar during the pandemic, followed by sharp increases in food and energy prices after the war in Ukraine began. This summer’s drought and poor harvests may place further pressure on the availability and cost of certain foods later in the year.
We cannot control the weather or global food markets, but we can make thoughtful choices closer to home: cooking with what is naturally abundant, supporting local growers and producers when we can, preserving seasonal gluts and wasting as little food as possible.
It is not about stockpiling or worrying. It is simply about making good use of what we have.
Make the Freezer Your Friend
A properly managed freezer is one of the most useful tools in any kitchen. It can reduce food waste, make seasonal produce last longer and save both time and money.
If you are considering buying a new freezer, I would always suggest looking at an upright larder freezer rather than a chest freezer. In my experience, chest freezers can become black holes into which food quietly disappears—rather like the enduring mystery of where all the odd socks go in the washing machine.
An upright freezer makes it much easier to see what you have. Shelves can be organised by category, and food is less likely to become buried beneath several bags of frozen peas and an unidentified casserole from 2022.
When batch cooking for ourselves, we freeze meals in silicone portion moulds. Once solid, the portions are removed and either vacuum-packed or wrapped very carefully to prevent freezer burn. This saves space, allows us to defrost only what we need and makes the freezer far easier to keep in order.
Meg’s Five Freezer Rules
Label everything. Include the name of the dish, the number of portions and the date it was frozen. Even if you are certain you will remember what it is, you probably won’t.
Freeze food in useful portions. A family-sized container is no help when only one person needs supper.
Cool cooked food quickly before freezing. Divide large quantities between shallow containers so they cool more efficiently, then refrigerate before transferring to the freezer.
Keep a freezer list. A small whiteboard on the door, a notebook or a list on your phone will prevent forgotten food and unnecessary duplicate shopping.
Rotate regularly. Put newly frozen food behind older items and plan one “freezer supper” each week.
Remember that freezing pauses bacterial growth but does not reverse spoilage. Freeze food while it is still fresh and appetising—not when it is already at the very edge of usefulness.
Seasonal Food News: What to Look for in August
August is one of the most generous months in the Scottish food calendar.
Courgettes can seemingly double in size overnight, runner beans are arriving by the handful, and gardens and markets are filled with beetroot, carrots, tomatoes, cucumbers, salad leaves and fresh herbs. Raspberries, blackberries, blueberries and early plums bring colour and natural sweetness to the table.
It is also an excellent time for Scottish seafood, including mackerel, mussels and sustainably caught white fish.
A few simple seasonal swaps can make everyday meals more interesting:
Replace imported berries with Scottish raspberries, brambles or blueberries.
Use grated courgette to add moisture to cakes, muffins, fritters and meatballs.
Swap bottled pasta sauce for roasted fresh tomatoes, garlic and herbs.
Stir chopped chard, kale or beetroot leaves into curries, pasta sauces and soups.
Make herb butter with any parsley, chives or soft herbs that need using, then freeze it in slices.
Turn soft berries into compote rather than throwing them away.
Replace some of the meat in a casserole, chilli or pasta bake with locally grown seasonal vegetables.
Freeze chopped herbs in olive oil in an ice-cube tray for adding to soups, sauces and stews.
Abundance is an invitation to be inventive.
Organising to Avoid Waste
I have yet to find a space in our home that I cannot organise.
Simon has become accustomed to the fact that whenever he takes the dogs for a walk or goes out on the loch, there is a distinct possibility that he will return to find I have rearranged the kitchen, office, cleaning cupboard—or all three—and that whatever he needs has acquired a new and, to me, perfectly logical home.
When I am stressed, organising helps to calm my mind. It gives me a practical task that I can control and complete. Sorting the cutlery drawer, rearranging the serving plates or putting the spices in order is far more relaxing to me than meditation or a mindfulness exercise.
I do not know whether my need to organise, sort and label everything is part of my neurodivergence. If there is space for a checklist, I will almost certainly add one. What I do know is that it has helped enormously throughout my career as a chef.
A professional kitchen relies on knowing what you have, where it is and what needs to be used first. The same approach works at home.
Before you shop this week, try a ten-minute kitchen audit:
Look through the fridge for anything approaching its use-by date.
Check which vegetables need to be used first.
Choose one meal built around what you already have.
Move older freezer meals to the front.
Group open packets, jars and baking ingredients together.
Add only what you genuinely need to your shopping list.
Ten quiet minutes can prevent a surprising amount of food from being wasted.
Scones
These scones can be frozen unbaked and cooked straight from the freezer. They take only a few minutes longer than freshly made scones, making them perfect for unexpected visitors, slow weekend breakfasts or those moments when only a warm scone will do.
And this is a hill I am quite prepared to die on: a scone should be eaten within a couple of hours of being baked. After that, it is never quite the same.
Makes: 20 scones
Preparation: 20 minutes
Cooking: 12–16 minutes
Ingredients
500g self-raising flour, plus extra for dusting
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp fine sea salt
50g caster sugar
150g cold butter, cut into small cubes
250ml whole milk
A little milk or beaten egg, for glazing
To serve
Jam
Clotted cream
Butter
Optional additions
100g sultanas or currants
Finely grated zest of 1 lemon or orange
Method
Preheat the oven to 220°C/200°C fan/Gas 7. Line a baking tray with non-stick baking parchment.
Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into a large bowl. Stir in the sugar.
Add the cold butter and rub it into the flour with your fingertips until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Work lightly and quickly so the butter remains cool.
If using dried fruit or citrus zest, stir it through the flour mixture.
Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients. Add the milk and mix gently with your hand.
Turn the dough onto a lightly floured worktop. Bring it together gently without kneading. The less you handle the dough, the lighter the scones will be.
Pat the dough to approximately 3cm thick. Cut out the scones with a 6cm round cutter, pressing straight down rather than twisting. Bring the trimmings together gently and cut the remaining scones.
Place the scones on the prepared tray. Brush only the tops with milk or beaten egg, taking care not to let it run down the sides, as this can prevent an even rise.
Bake for 12–14 minutes, until well risen and golden. Transfer to a wire rack and cover with a clean tea towel for a softer crust.
Serve warm with butter, homemade jam, fruit compote or a generous spoonful of clotted cream.
To Freeze and Bake Later
Place the unbaked, glazed scones on a parchment-lined tray, leaving space between them. Freeze until solid, then transfer to a labelled freezer bag or airtight container.
Bake directly from frozen at 220°C/200°C fan/Gas 7. Brush the frozen scones with milk or beaten egg and bake for approximately 16–17 minutes, depending on their size.
Cheese Scone Variation
Omit the sugar. Add:
1 tsp English mustard powder
A pinch of cayenne pepper
150g mature Scottish Cheddar, grated
2 tbsp finely chopped chives
Reserve a little cheese to scatter over the tops before baking.
Roasted Hake and Summer Vegetable Traybake
This colourful traybake brings together tender hake, buttery new potatoes, courgettes and sweet cherry tomatoes. Finished with lemon and parsley, it is a light but satisfying summer supper—and there is only one roasting tin to wash afterwards.
Serves: 4
Difficulty: Easy
Preparation: 20 minutes
Cooking: 35 minutes
Ingredients
500g baby new potatoes
3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil, plus a little extra for finishing
1 small red onion, cut into slim wedges
350g small courgettes, cut into chunky pieces
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
150g red and yellow cherry tomatoes
4 thick skinless hake fillets, approximately 150g each
1 unwaxed lemon, finely grated zest and juice
A generous handful of flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped
Method
Preheat the oven to 190°C/170°C fan/Gas 5.
Place the potatoes in a saucepan of boiling salted water. Return to the boil and simmer for 8 minutes, then drain thoroughly.
Pour the olive oil into a large, shallow roasting tin. Add the parboiled potatoes, red onion and courgettes. Season generously with salt and black pepper, then toss everything together until evenly coated in the oil.
Roast for 25 minutes, turning the vegetables halfway through, until the potatoes and courgettes are tender and beginning to turn golden around the edges.
Add the cherry tomatoes to the roasting tin and gently stir them through the vegetables.
Pat the hake fillets dry with kitchen paper and season lightly. Sit them on top of the vegetables and drizzle with a little olive oil.
Return the tin to the oven for 8–10 minutes, depending on the thickness of the fillets. The hake is ready when the flesh is opaque and flakes easily when gently pressed with a fork. Take care not to overcook it.
Squeeze over the lemon juice, then scatter with the lemon zest and chopped parsley. Finish with a final drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil and serve immediately.
Meg’s Seasonal Swaps
Replace the hake with cod, haddock, pollock or another firm white fish.
Use halved plum tomatoes in place of cherry tomatoes.
Add strips of red or yellow pepper with the courgettes.
Swap the parsley for dill, chives or a mixture of soft garden herbs.
Add a handful of green beans or sugar snap peas with the tomatoes.
For a little extra flavour, sprinkle the fish with Meg’s Highland Seasoning before roasting.
Chef Meg’s Tip
Choose fish fillets of a similar thickness so that they cook evenly. If your fillets are particularly thin, begin checking them after 6–7 minutes. The fish should be moist and just cooked through, rather than dry and tightly flaked.
Serve the traybake just as it is, or add a crisp green salad and a spoonful of lemon and herb yoghurt.
From My Recipe-Testing Kitchen
Those of you who have tried our Heat & Eat meals may not realise quite how much testing takes place before a new dish reaches the menu.
Every recipe must cook beautifully from frozen. Just as importantly, all our main dishes must work at the same oven temperature so customers can heat several different meals together. That requirement has sent more than a few perfectly lovely recipes back to the drawing board.
Some sauces split. Some vegetables released too much water. Some dishes tasted wonderful when freshly cooked but lost their texture after freezing and reheating. If a meal does not meet the standard, it does not make the menu.
One of the happiest discoveries during this testing was that unbaked scones cook beautifully from frozen. They take only a few extra minutes and emerge golden, well risen and ready to be eaten warm. It is a small piece of kitchen magic and a genuine game changer.
This weekend, we will also be adding two new dishes to our Heat & Eat range: a rich Luxury Fish Pie and our vibrant Spanish Cod.
Our Heat & Eat meals are designed for the nights when you want proper, carefully made food without the shopping, chopping and washing up.
Three Recipes Down, A Great Many Still to Come
Over the past few weeks, I have also been working behind the scenes on the Meg’s Scottish Kitchen website.
As of 4pm on Tuesday 11 August, I have transferred three recipes into our new recipe collection. Three may not sound like many, but every useful resource has to begin somewhere.
My aim is to create an approachable seasonal recipe library for everyone—from confident cooks looking for fresh inspiration to complete beginners who need clear instructions and a reassuring voice beside them.
Alongside the free recipes, you can also find my cookbooks, My Spring Kitchen and My Kitchen Feasts, filled with the sort of generous, seasonal food I love to cook and share.
If there is a particular ingredient, technique or family recipe you would like me to cover, please send me a message or leave a comment on social media. Your suggestion may become one of the next recipes added to the website.
A Little Challenge for This Week
Open your freezer and find the oldest labelled
item inside.
Plan a meal around it, use it up and tell me what you made. If you are feeling brave, share a photograph of your newly organised freezer and tag Meg’s Scottish Kitchen.
I would love to know which camp you belong to:
The beautifully labelled freezer librarian—or the fearless explorer uncovering mysterious frozen parcels?
Until next time, cook what is plentiful, freeze what you cannot use and never underestimate the comfort of a warm scone.
With love from the shores of Loch Awe,
Meg x
Explore the new seasonal recipes, browse my cookbooks and baking mixes, or order from our Heat & Eat menu through the Meg’s Scottish Kitchen website.
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