Freezing/storing meals

emily_jackson

Hi guys, I want to do more home cooking, but need some advice please on freezing and storing meals once I've made them. What containers do people use? What do people use for labels (I know you can buy sticky labels, but they can be a nightmare to wash off)? Are there any meals that are unsuitable for freezing? I got some recipes from the Change for Life website, and it told you which ones were suitable for freezing, but the pasta carbonara and sweet and sour chicken weren't, I just wondered why they'd said this? How far in advance do people freeze? Sorry if I sound thick, and thanks for reading!

~Beanie~

I use the disposable foil trays, like the ones you get a takeaway in. I write on the lid with a felt tip.

Sometimes I use a freezer bag and again, write on it with a felt tip.

I'm not sure what you mean by how far in advance do people freeze? I just make stuff and freeze what is left over for another time.

Soil_sister_1

I use plastic freezer bags in a box, once frozen I take them out of the box in a nice stackable shape
We tend to do a 'big cook' once a month but I tend to freeze sauces, chilli, bolognaise and such like and the cook the accompaniments from scratch and I nearly always do some sort of meat, onion, gravy combo that we can just chuck over chips, have under mash etc and also prepared veg (I have an allotment) pastry and herbs.

trolleyrun

I use plastic take-away style tubs or ziplock bags to freeze food I'm planning to eat at home. I tend to use masking tape to mark what's in the tubs. I use the foil tubs for food I'm bringing to work and write on the lid.

I'm happy to freeze just about anything. I make big batches of soup, and these go in ziplock bags. That way I can freeze each portion flat and fit more in the freezer It turns out my potato soup looks quite disgusting when defrosted, but it tastes good. I'm guessing it looks bad due to there being no fat/oil/dairy/gluten in it

SailorSam

I re-use the sealable bags that you get cheese in. I've found you can squash those down better than plastic containers. I usually just write on a piece of card and put a rubber band around. Even the rubber bands are the ones you see all over the place that the postman throws away.

Jacqu79

Sorry to hijack your thread, but I'm keen to start bulk cooking and freezing too, as we've become very lazy and are spending a fortune on ready meals and take aways.

I worry about chicken though, for example I made a massive pot of chicken curry the other night and put half into tupperware dishes to go in the freezer, but then I started worrying about freezing the chicken and recooking it, so just put it in the fridge and we had it for dinner the next day.:o

That's obviously not ideal though. Would it have been ok to freeze and then reheat?

Ches

Yes it would have been fine Jacqu79. The rule is freeze-thaw-cook-freeze-thaw-eat. Or fresh-cook-freeze-thaw-eat.

trolleyrun

To put it this way, Jacqu79, have you ever eaten a ready meal that had chicken in it? Same thing Chicken is fine to freeze and then reheat, as long as you heat it properly like all other food you would reheat. I do it all the time and am still alive

crumblepie

I use masking tape as a label on plastic tubs. It's a tip I found on here! I found sticky labels had a habit of falling off in the freezer and the bonus is no sticky residue when its removed.

VJsmum

I use butter tubs for soups and casseroles. They stack really well.

I use foil trays for things like shepherds pie

I write on them with marker pen

Ladyluck1

Foil trays for things I cook prior or I can cook in the foil i.e lasagne.
Ziploc bags for most things, especially my 'dump' meals which I just thaw in the fridge overnight if I remember or for an hour on the counter top and shove in the slow cooker