Freezing onions and other things

TeaAndCake

Hello
I was reading an old thread about freezing onions and it seems the consensus was that it is ok to chop and freeze onions for future use in cooking. However, I was wondering if you used the frozen onions to cook a meal, can you then freeze that meal? I know that you can re-freeze supermarket frozen veg like peas.
The same question goes for cheese. As I love to make lasagne and freeze it I thought it would be great if I could freeze off portions of the right amount of cheese to use in the cheese sauce.
Thanks for any advice.

Just starting on an economy drive

Mojisola

TeaAndCake wrote: »

I was reading an old thread about freezing onions and it seems the consensus was that it is ok to chop and freeze onions for future use in cooking. However, I was wondering if you used the frozen onions to cook a meal, can you then freeze that meal? I know that you can re-freeze supermarket frozen veg like peas.

The same question goes for cheese. As I love to make lasagne and freeze it I thought it would be great if I could freeze off portions of the right amount of cheese to use in the cheese sauce.

Yes, you can cook something using frozen ingredients and then freeze it.

[Deleted User]

Yes I have been doing that for years and I have never had a problem

Linda32

Yes you can do that. No problem at all.

The rule of thumb for just about anything food wise is you freeze it once raw (as in your onions or cheese) then you freeze it once cooked (as in your lasagna)

What you don't do is defrost your lasagna then re-freeze it. This would count as freezing twice


The re-freezing of supermarket veg is different as you say. Manufactures have different faster methods of freezing to domestic methods. I expect that is why you can buy ice cubes from supermarkets :rotfl:

Captain_Bluebear

Once a month I like to grate up a few blocks of cheese in my food processor. I then lay these out on oven trays lined with cut up cleaned old plastic "Bags for life" I lay these flat in the freezer until frozen and then bag up in tie top bags and use as an when on top of lasagne etc.

While that is freezing, I give the processor a good rinse then chop up a MASSIVE bag of onions. These get frozen and bagged up in the same way. When needed for a recipe I just chuck in as much as I need straight from frozen (they go a bit watery so wouldn't be any good to use raw but fine for chucking in a recipe)

THEN.....While they are also freezing, I chop up a stack of garlic cloves finely and freeze in small spice jars topped up with white wine vinegar. These get popped straight in the freezer and taken out and used one at a time just as you would with "lazy garlic" (It might go an interesting shade of green but I've been told that is normal and safe.

Doing the cheese first, then the onions, then the garlic means that you only have to give the FP a good rinse between the different foods without making your cheese taste of garlic!

I would like to point out that I do have a MASSIVE freezer that I bought on gumtree from a girl that just bought a old pub....It is seriously huge and I only ever need to go shopping once a month...I love it!

I really hope that helps

TeaAndCake

Thanks for the great responses. Linda32 that makes perfect sense about freezing once raw then freezing once cooked!
We also have a chest freezer and trying to eliminate food waste from our house!

IndigoGirl

Yes you are fine to freeze something you've made using frozen ingredients. The key is you're changing the state of the ingredient. Same as for meat - you can freeze fresh mince, thaw it to make lasagne and freeze portions of the lasagne. As mentioned, you wouldn't thaw and refreeze the lasagne again.

I find cheese freezes brilliantly, grated or in a block, and I have open-frozen onions, celery, peppers etc with great success. The reason I freeze celery is I love a stick added to soups and stews but would never use a whole head. Peppers and onions we often have a glut of them.

I saw an idea on MSE years ago which was to throw left over bits of veg into a tub or bag in the freezer and use it for surprise veg soup. Same idea for ends of bread to make breadcrumbs. Sorry I can't remember whose idea it was but it stuck with me as a fab idea. We do it all the time now.

Linda32

I freeze leeks and celery the same for casseroles.

I find it is also handy to freeze cooked chicken in portions. Then if a recipe calls for chicken and says 'cook until the chicken is cooked through' or something along those lines. Well in this case you know it is already cooked, you just add it at the correct time.

Of course, on this occasion you can't freeze a meal such as this as the chicken has already been frozen. But so long as you have only defrosted a portion you wouldn't need to anyway.

VfM4meplse

Worth bearing in mind that anything with a high water content will be mushy when defrosted / cooked - fine if making a soup, sauce or curry. Not ideal if making onion rings for example, unless you like them slimy!