Cooking and freezing. Tips please.

ferranski

Hi, I'm into the idea of cooking dishing up and freezing.

I'm just wondering if anyone else has tried the ideas I have and may find them useful? I'm a student so trying to be healthy for a low cost and low effort.

Can I freeze and micro a plate of sausage, mash and peas for example. Im worried as I'm re-heating different things for the same time- I know you can with spag-bog etc.

I'm thinking of buying a load of pie dishes to put stuff like curry, chilli, bol-sauce n that in? Good Idea? I can cook-freeze-heat-eat out of them?My mum uses Mason Cash pie dishes to cook lasagne etc in, might buy a load as they seem pretty good for this?

Any tips on containers, got loads of 50p asda tuppawear's they come in handy for lasagnes, anything else??

Thanks- james

Annisele

I wouldn't go for your sausage, mash and peas idea. It wouldn't kill you, but you'd lose the crispiness of the sausages and frozen mash goes a bit watery and oddly textured. As for the peas - they're so quick to cook to start with that you'd be cooking them, cooling them, freezing them and then cooking them again. Twice cooked peas don't sound so nice.

Curry, chilli, bolognase sauce should all be fine.

jenniewb

Hi, I think you may have more luck with answers on the food board (this is the health and beauty board ) but I will try to offer some suggestions because I eat previously frozen foods and basicly survive like this (cooking in mass, freezing in batches of freezing what supermarkets have reduced/end of day). I haven't made myself ill doing this and have done this for many years now.

I'd firstly say, if you freeze anything and want to reheat it to eat, make sure its only reheated once and its reheated until its boiling/bubbling. If you reheat in a microwave then don't forget to stop halfway through, stir so the whole portion gets hot (not just the outsides) and then eat as soon as its cooked: don't leave it on the side to cool before warming again. The risk to breeding germs happens when food is reheated repeatidly.

If your worried about certain foods, what you can do is cook the sauce separatly, keep it in portions when you freeze. Then add the meat/fish to it each time you cook- this is what I prefer to do but mainly as I prefer to play around a bit with different meats in difference sauces.

If you are cooking with meat which has already been cooked and then frozen and your warming up to cook again, you'd probably be best not freezing again or keeping the meat separate. If the meat is being cooked from raw the first time you add it to the sauce then it should be fine to freeze.

Don't freeze pasta, rice or gnocci as they don't have the same texture when they are frozen, they lose their bite and end up a bit 'fluffy'.

I'd say the pie dishes are a good idea but can take up vital space in a freezer, when I was at Uni I wasn't able to afford dishes and would cook, wait for my meal to cool down before freezing portions in sandwich bags. When reheating its just a matter or leaving your portion on a plate or inside a bowl (inside sandwich bag) and its ready to cook up properly when you get home at night.

I'd also say that although many may disagree with me, foods heated up on a stove/in a pan do have a different taste/texture to those that are done in a microwave. See what works for you.

Oh and your example of freezing sausage mash and peas? I'd not do this, thats a dish thats best eaten cooked the first time: sausages can often come from meat which has already been frozen the first time, you can though put the sausages straight into the freezer once they have been bought or made (before cooking). With the mashed potatos you'd probably find the water crystalizing makes the texture taste really strange. Peas? Can be frozen but again, I'd only do this once so unless you have bought peas fresh I'd not freeze them. If you do buy them fresh just cook only what you eat and freeze the rest from fresh/raw.

pippa_h

My top tip: roast a very large chicken. Let it cool and strip the meat from the carcass. You can then bag and freeze this meat in portion sizes and use it for pasta, soups, curries... all sorts, really. It both cooks really fast and tastes delicious and it's SO much cheaper than buying chicken breasts etc. Whole chickens are fairly inexpensive anyway, but always seem to have reduced stickers on them!

**Juice**

I was going to say soups as well - easy to make, easy to freeze, reheat and store. Plus healthy!