Reheating question

purplepatch

Hi, sorry for being so ignorant but I'm currently bulk cooking some food for my 4 year old dd with the intention of freezing small portions. Cottage pie cooking at the moment.

Question is, how long do you have to reheat things for? Do I have to defrost it before I cook it or can I cook from frozen - if so how long do I cook for? What oven temp?

Also, what about microwaving - how long for a 1000w microwave to reheat? And is it ok to reheat from frozen in the microwave and if so, how long?

Sorry for all these questions, but once I get a bit more clued up about all this, I might be a bit more confident to bulk cook more stuff. At the moment I cook from scratch every mealtime and it's getting a bit tiresome what with having a 6 month old to look after who won't let me leave the room without crying :rolleyes:

HelzBelz

It really all depends on how big the portion sizes are, you should be fine cooking things like cottage pie from frozen, in the Oven at 200ºC it should take about 30-40 minutes to reheat in the oven, but you'd be better checking after about 20 minutes to see how it's doing, as for microwaving blast it for 7-8 minutes and see how it's doing then give it more time depending on how warm it's got.

All you really have to make sure is that it's hot all the way through before serving, so if you put a knife into the centre, then when you pull the point back out touch it to see how hot it is.

Helz:A

bukup

Try covering it with foil in the oven for 25-30 mins.This will create a steam style effect,eliminating the chance of overcooking,drying the food out.It will thouroughly help to reheat the food,then remove the foil to crisp up the potato topping.Try sprinkling breadcrumbs on the top,drizzle some butter and put under the grill ,this makes a tasty difference and looks great.To be different follow the foil technique then sprinkle some grated cheese and maybe some tomatoes thickly sliced,or chives sprinkled on before adding the cheese,and again either grill or put back in the oven until the cheese has melted...very tasty !

FRUGAL_4

I am too thinking about doing batch cooking, can I freeze homemade soup - particularly carrot soup and Potato & Courgette soup, can you heat bolognese sauce from frozen, I don't currently have a microwave but I am going to invest in one, my DD loves jacket potato but I cannot justify putting the oven on for 1.5 hours for a spud, sorry if this advice has been posted on another thread, I did try and search but keeps telling me to try in 15 seconds. Can I freeze food in plastic bags, I saw Anthea Turner do that last night - special bags?, and how long does homemade food last in the freezer. eg. homemade soup, bolognese sauce & chilli for starters will be fine, I currently cooking three meals each evening as my OH is home late and I am finding that I spend too long in the kitchen each evening - doesn't help as my DS is a real fussy eater, DD loves vegetables but DS won't touch anything remotely green and anything with a sauce, or anything that is mix together, e.g bolognese, mince in gravy, everything has to be a dried food e.g nuggets, fish in batter, sausages - he has been like this since he was a baby, he wouldn't touch pureed food - boys eh? I've tried just about everything I can think off - starcharts, treats etc to get him to eat the food we do, but as yet nothing has worked - I am for ever hopeful, and I keep thinking he will grow out of it - he's eight now and no sign as yet!

I just need to make dinner time a less stressful affair, so I am going to batch cook, and I have only the DS to think about then.

Thank you in anticipation

FRUGAL

Ytaya

This is one occasion when ready meals can be useful. Take a look at their cooking instructions Next time you're in the supermarket, look at the 'from frozen' instructions on things like cottage pie, fish pie, lasagne, etc. I was clueless about reheating some homemade frozen lasagne (oh my. I thought I was intelligent, but I rely on convenient instructions as much as the next person), so I went to Sainsburys and looked at the instructions on the ready meals. Worked a treat

boo81

Ive frozen homemade soup and it works fine. Potato soup does tend to seperate though but its fine if you cook it on the hob or in the microwave and give it a good stir part-way through.

I use normal sandwich bags and they are fine for freezing, I wouldnt cook things actually in them though normally , only a short defrost as the bags tend to sort of melt.

My mum taught me a trick with freezing soup as its so liquid. You stand the bag in a square plastic container and leave in the freezer like that for a few hours until set. Take the container out and you have perfect squares to stack!

TracySouth

I have just made a mushroom rissotto for the first time and it was yummy but I have cooked too much so my dh is going to have it when he gets in from work about 9pm but will it be ok to reheat? I thought if I heated up some of the stock I have left and then add the rissotto to warm through it wouldnt get too sticky and stodgy. Has anyone tried reheating their rissotto?

Frugal, when I batch cook i use foil containers which you can buy 8 for a £1 in poundland, maybe not money saving but you can put them straight into the over from the freezer. I also noticed in Mr T's the other day you can buy freezer bags for putting liquid in.

grannybroon

DD batch cooked (as I did) when boys wee and starting weaning. First off ice cubes then increased portions in tubs. We both still freeze larger portions for the boys in case they need to eat something 'normal' when we are having a hot curry etc! . Tend to bring everything to boil and simmer for about 1 minute on low heat, put in dish to cool down and stir. Never have had a problem.

When boys were wee even frooze small portions of mashed potatoes so just about had ready meals.

I always set aside soup when I make it so the boys can have it (a favourite), again applying the same criteria above.

Hope this helps.

GB xx