Freezing - Tips and Quick Questions thread

lindseykim13

yup freeze it, i love getting them reduced and freezing for treats later

merlin777

i want to make a fish pie in parsley sauce with this. Will it survive the freezing and reheating process or will it go watery etc?

hbk2006

Hi there, you were all so helpful the last time I posted and was hoping you could help me again

Well since I was last on here, I have learned how to cook some basic (edible!!) meals and now am trying to move on to the next stage!

I can cook spaghetti bolognaise, a chicken pasta in a creamy sauce and bean curry and have been told if I cook more than needed, I can freeze it but that's where I got confused!

So my questions:

1. Can the above dishes all be frozen? (do I freeze the spaghetti as well?)
2. Can they be frozen in freezer bags?
3. (Most important question) How to I recook them once frozen? Do I defrost? Bung in oven? Zap in microwave?

Im so lost and really hope you can offer some more advice!

Thanks

Lou

daisiegg

Well done for learning to cook some tasty dishes!

Bolognaise and curry freeze extremely well. I am not absolutely sure about the creamy dish as I am allergic to dairy so don't cook creamy dishes but I am pretty sure it would be ok.

You CAN freeze cooked pasta, but it is nicer to cook it from scratch and it is so quick. It can go a tiny bit mushy when frozen cooked.

Ok, so, you can freeze them in freezer bags. In fact, if you make sure the freezer bag is very well sealed and then kind of flatten it out and lay it down in the freezer you can save space by making little flat slabs of food that will stack

As for defrosting, the ideal thing would be to take the freezer bag out in the morning of the day you want to use it, then by dinner time it should be defrosted. You then need to take the food out of the freezer bag and put it into whatever you want to heat it in. I usually reheat in a casserole dish or Pyrex dish with a lid in the microwave, but you could do it in a saucepan on the hob or I suppose in the oven. Whatever method you use, make sure you heat the food until it is really, really bubbling hot.

However, sometimes we are forgetful and you may end up wanting to defrost something more quickly. For this, I would get it out of the freezer bag if you can (you should be able to kind of pop it out, but may need to cut the bag) and put into a microwaveable container with a lid, and put in your microwave on a defrost setting. How long this takes will depend on how much there is - maybe start with 5 mins then keep checking. Then once it is defrosted you can heat either in microwave, on hob or in oven until bubbling hot.

Good luck and hopefully you will become a freezing convert! it is SO easy to make a bit extra, freeze it and then have a lazy home cooked meal for another day. And some things like bolognaise and curry even taste better when reheated.

louisaL

Hi All

I've found a recipe for cabbage casserole which consists of
red cabbage
apple
onion
raisin
chicken stock/dry white wine.

cooked for an hr in a casserole dish.

would really appreciate someone's view on freezing.

boredjellybean

yes I freeze a similar recipe & it freezes really well

hbk2006

Thanks Daisiegg, that was a really helpful post! One more question, what about reheating dishes with rice in them (like risotto etc)? I know rice shouldn't be reheated but I used to bung egg fried rice from the Chinese in the microwave the day after and am still here to tell the tale!

madnotstupid

I've heard that rice shouldn't ever be reheated but like you hbk2006 have always nuked leftover takeaway rice. As I understand it, the 'safest' thing to if you are going to reheat rice, is to get it to cool as quickly as possible once cooked. Freeze as soon as it is cold, and make sure you heat it to piping hot all the way thru before eating.

HappyMJ

Rice is fine to reheat as long as it was cooled as soon as you served whatever was needed....anyway rice doesn't take long to cook from scratch so only cook as much as needed in the first place.

daisiegg

I have frozen and reheated rice dishes like risotto and have never got sick. As others say, cool it quite quickly and then when you reheat make sure you heat really well. Mind you, I don't do this often as frozen rice can go a bit mushy and yuk - and like pasta, rice is pretty quick to cook!