Cooking for the Freezer..

zippychick

ive merged this with our thread on cooking for the freezer

how to freeze different veg may also help?

I always cook double and we use loads of veg in our m eals. I cook and freeze quorn and veg curries, bolognese with loads of veg, pasta sauce with veg, stews, soups, anything really!!!!!

Have you checked out our batch cooking thread?

This post from thriftlady may also be helpful as she makes up tubs of veggie hash to use for cooking.

Zip

lozza1985

When I'm on my late shift (every other week), my only option for a hot meal is the microwave...so I've always bought ready meals for this.

Me & my husband have been looking at where we could save money, and I'm wondering if it will work out cheaper for us if we make batches of things and freeze them in small portions, for me to take to work.

What I'm wondering is - what sorts of things is this ok to do with? can you microwave them straight from frozen? Any advice or tips would be great, as you can tell I've never done this before and don't want to end up giving myself food poisoning!:p

Linda32

Hi,

I'm certain it will work out cheaper and will taste nicer as well. When and if you buy a ready meal again which you buy now after tasting your own made will not be very nice. (I know )

Will you be re-heating at work (with only the microwave) or do you mean when you get home so you will have your cooker?

During the winter months I make batches of bolognaise, casseroles, pasta bakes, lasagna etc and portion into individual portions and freeze.

I defrost first, so if we want it for tea on Monday say, I take it out of the freezer and into the fridge at tea time on Sunday. You could obviously do the same with the same timings. I then re-heat in the oven (I do have a microwave but just tend to re-heat in the oven) The main thing is that is needs to be pipping hot all the way through. I know my oven generally takes 30 mins at gas mark 6 for meat type meals or 15 mins for re-heating pasta bakes.

Pasta bakes are much nicer re-heated in the oven. You won't come to any harm with re-heating in the microwave its just nicer from the oven.

You can check that anything is hot by spooning a little out and testing it, you'll soon know.

I think it is best to defrost things yourself first if you have frozen them yourself. I do realise that you don't have to defrost ready meals bought from the freezer, but these have been frozen in a way which is much quick and efficient than the home freezer.

HTH

lozza1985

Thanks for your help, They'll have to be re-heated in the microwave at work as that's the only way to have a hot meal.

I take it I just leave everything to cool completely before freezing? Am I best using fresh mince etc, or can I use mince that I've frozen at home, then cook it and freeze?

And is it ok freezing rice?

BitterAndTwisted

You won't give yourself food-poisoning if you only ever freeze things in the same state once. Also popping things in the freezer as soon as they've cooled rather than leave them hanging about after cooking for hours on end. At the moment this wouldn't be so much of a problem but in August when it's 80 degrees plus (we hope!) it wouldn't be wise.

Personally, I'd defrost any home-frozen meal before heating it up, but as long as whatever you're heating truly is piping-hot when you eat it, I don't think it matters all that much.

What you are proposing to do it "batch-cooking" and there's loads of information about this if you do a search on this forum. What you will be able to take advantage of is economies of scale, and that's before you've factored in buying things on special offer, like the weekend deals at places like L!dl, for meat and veg or even better: yellow-sticker-time when the supermarkets mark-down their fresh-produce. It's just a matter of adapting your plans to take advantage of them.

No, I would not risk freezing cooked rice. It has a particular mould that thrives at room-temperature (or maybe lower, can't remember) and can be quite nasty.

lozza1985

Ok thanks for your help, I think I'm going to give it a try, just need to get some containers for this

madvixen

lozza1985 wrote: »

Ok thanks for your help, I think I'm going to give it a try, just need to get some containers for this

I do a lot of batch cooking as OH works away during the week and the meals on camp aren't great so I send him away with a cooler bag full of meals. I used to pop them in proper tupperwares but they took up too much space so I now just use freezer bags. They take up a lot less space and are far easier to label.

Linda32

I get my containers from Poundland, Wilkinsons, Tesco's places like that. You can obviously wash them out and re-use over and over again.

As for labels, I buy a roll of address labels from Wilkinsons, iirc about 80p for 100. Then cut them in half and use half at a time to stick on the box. They do stay on in the freezer.

I wouldn't freeze rice either, its not a good idea. I think you can get microwave rice though, or Uncle Bens which I think can be microwaved. I'll stand corrected though as I've never used it.

If you batched cooked curry, say, then you could have it without the rice and just take some naan bread with you

As for food cooling down to put in the freezer. Once I've cooked something which I intend to freeze. I pop the oven timer on for another half an hour. So that I don't forget, after the half hour I portion up and freeze then.

Oh and I've always used fresh mince.

As BitterandTwisted said, cook once, freeze once, defrost once, re-heat once and you will be fine.

redlady_1

Thai green curry with micro rice. Freezer to table in 5 mins

Oliver14

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

No, I would not risk freezing cooked rice. It has a particular mould that thrives at room-temperature (or maybe lower, can't remember) and can be quite nasty.

Freezing Cooked rice is not a problem if done properly. When cooked it needs to be cooled quickly as sitting around waiting for it to cool is where the bacteria form. I normally put it in a sieve and run cold water over it until the rice is cold. Once you have drained all the water just freeze it in portions.

When you reheat make sure you heat it up properly to at least 70 degrees and thoroughly you should have no problems.