Freezing cooked food - is it bad for you?

sixtiesgal_2

Hi all, I have now got into the habit of batch cooking and freezing, I find its saving me money and the meals taste good. However, tonight my boyfriend worried me. I asked him if he wanted me to take one of my batch meals to him at work tomorrow for his lunch and he said he doesn't want to eat anything that was cooked a few weeks ago. I told him that its frozen and that preserves the food so its fresh once its thawed out but he sees it as 'old food' and thinks once its been cooked it should be eaten straight away. He has now made put me off this method, is he right in thinking this way?

krlyr

Would he not eat frozen pizza from the supermarket? 'Fresh' food made with frozen vegetables? Often fresh meat etc. in supermarkets has already been frozen too, to keep it fresh en route to the shops.

mum2one

sixtiesgal wrote: »

Hi all, I have now got into the habit of batch cooking and freezing, I find its saving me money and the meals taste good. However, tonight my boyfriend worried me. I asked him if he wanted me to take one of my batch meals to him at work tomorrow for his lunch and he said he doesn't want to eat anything that was cooked a few weeks ago. I told him that its frozen and that preserves the food so its fresh once its thawed out but he sees it as 'old food' and thinks once its been cooked it should be eaten straight away. He has now made put me off this method, is he right in thinking this way?

As long as the food has been cooked at high enough temp, (you wouldn't eat it if it wasn't), cool before freezing and then heat to a high enough temp it is perfectly serviceable for eating.

x

BitterAndTwisted

If things are cooked and frozen properly and then reheated to piping-hot there's nothing whatsoever wrong with them.

It's amazing how fussy people can be about things other people have sweated over for them. Let him sort his own lunches out and save yourself the trouble.

elsien

Food that's sat in a freezer for too long doesn't become unsafe unless your freezer isn't cold enough - below 18c at least if you want to check. But the taste and texture can change which is why supermarket frozen food tends to say eat within a month, or three months or whatever it is. If he eats ready meals he should have no objection to your batch cooking.

If it was unsafe, there'd be no-one left alive to post on old style, for starters.

Owain_Moneysaver

sixtiesgal wrote: »

Hi all, I have now got into the habit of batch cooking and freezing, I find its saving me money and the meals taste good. However, tonight my boyfriend worried me. I asked him if he wanted me to take one of my batch meals to him at work tomorrow for his lunch and he said he doesn't want to eat anything that was cooked a few weeks ago.

Perhaps what he really meant was he'd rather go to the chippy for his lunch.

[Deleted User]

let him go without then ,sorry but he is talking through hit hat.Unless he is at home when you cook a meal how on earth will he manage to eat.Does he not think that cafes use stuff thats been frozen or is a rosy cheeked old lady in the kitchen at the back of the chippy peeling spuds to cook fresh :):) I remember when microwaves first became commercially available in the shops folk worried that zapping food was going to make you grow and extra arm or leg :) they had been used in hotels and kitchens for many years before being made small enough for the general public to buy for their own kitchens.So if he wants fresh home cooked food then he'll have to either cook it himself or eat sandwiches.Virtually every hotel and restaraunt I know cooked stuff that at one time has been frozen Its 'suspended life'!!!!!! :):)

Skint_yet_Again

sixtiesgal wrote: »

....he said he doesn't want to eat anything that was cooked a few weeks ago. I told him that its frozen and that preserves the food so its fresh once its thawed out but he sees it as 'old food' and thinks once its been cooked it should be eaten straight away. He has now made put me off this method, is he right in thinking this way?

My first thought was ..... what a numpty he is !

I don't know where some people get their ideas about food from! A friend of mine once said that she thought the seeds in red peppers were poisionous. Told her they wouldn't be on sale if they were...

My nieces bf will only buy veg on a tray covered in plastic with a use by or bbf date on it ...and throws away any veg unused by that date.

However, I would say that both of these people have other issues around food and eating so I would like to say that I am not criticizing, but once people get an idea in their heads about food it seems very hard to get them to see sense. Does your BF maybe have some food /eating disorder issues ?

Callie22

I think it must be a bloke thing - my OH used to have a problem with frozen food and anything that he saw as 'leftovers'. He wouldn't, for example, eat a chicken pie if I'd made it with the rest of a roast chicken that I'd cooked a day or so before. It turned out that he had bad childhood memories of his mum's cooking, where 'leftovers' were left in the fridge for weeks and the freezer was a big bottomless chest one into which food was put and then it wasn't seen again until years later, when it wasn't much good anymore.

I've slowly managed to bring him round and now he's perfectly happy to eat frozen meals a I'm a label nut and he can clearly see how long it's been there. I also don't like freezing things for ages as I think it can make flavours deteriorate, so he's happy with that. And I pointed out the obvious that he loves ice cream and that does tend to be frozen ...

Leftovers are still a bit tricky but I'm getting there slowly - my trick is to make stuff and freeze it before he realises it's a 'leftover', and then bring it out a couple of weeks later

danih

Silly men!

Mine also fails to understand food storage. He v rarely cooks, when he does he expects exactly the right protein in the right form to be in the fridge - "why do we not have any mince / chopped chicken / pork chops / stewing steak / lamb joint?" Then he strops and won't cook.

its just the two of us, and we have a full chest freezer - containing several or all of the above. Silly man just can't get his head around the defrosting process. And he thinks our kitchen is a supermarket.

I wonder if op's partner has same background as mine - his parents still do all the household chores - they have three children in their 20's still living at home. My lovely husband has no clue of the process of putting meals on the table, having clean clothes etc. Thinks the magic fairy does it.

Farway

danih wrote: »

Silly men!
.

Not just silly men, there are dippy women as well

I was in pub when a dippy wifey phoned hubby to get spuds on way home, the ones at home were past use by date :beer:
And I know a woman who chucks everything out once over date, even if it was day before, she thinks it all goes bad at one minute past midnight