Freezing - Tips and Quick Questions thread

flutterbyuk25

ravylesley wrote: »

IMO a bit of a pointless exercise as the spring rolls would need crisping up again after defrosting so I would freeze them uncooked if I wanted to batch cook and then cook the defrosted rolls as and when required

Lesleyxx

Do you know I didn't even think of doing that!

Thanks!

x

BeenieCat

If i was to make a corned beef hash pie, would i cook it and then freeze it, or prepare it and freeze with pastry raw?

Also would i leave it to fully defrost before cooking or cook from frozen?

BeenieCat

Another one from me...

My mum gave me some meat out of her freezer but i think some is over a year old. Chicken thighs mainly. Should i just bin it, or will i know if it's no good when it's defrosted?
What would i be looking for once it's defrosted?

Primrose

Beenie - once it will be safe to eat, although I think it's fair to say that the texture of any meat which has been frozen for that length of time will have deteriorated somewhat in that it will have become slightly frosted, and obviously the smaller the piece of meat, the greater the risk of frosting affecting more of it. If you can do something tasty with it which can disguise the effect of any frosting, then you can still use it.

jb5

I read somewhere, that in order to prevent / help reduce "freezer burn" wrap the item to be frozen tightly in 'something' (clingfilm etc) and expel ALL air between the meat/item and the packaging.

Primrose

jb5's tip of wrapping everything in clingfilm does help. We buy high quality sausages from our butcher and because we don't eat huge quantities, freeze them individually wrapped in clingfilm and then stored in another plastic zip sealed or pinch sealed bag out of which all the air has been squeezed. They keep very well this way.

nopot2pin

Yup...
That seems to make sense.
I took out of the freezer, some fish, that was in a plasic tray, with the usual supermarket covering.
The fish was quite freezer burnt, that didn't have anything touching it.

So the way ahead for me, is unpack, then rewrap with clingfilm, making sure all parts are "touched" before freezing in zippy bags

Chris25

jb5 wrote: »

I read somewhere, that in order to prevent / help reduce "freezer burn" wrap the item to be frozen tightly in 'something' (clingfilm etc) and expel ALL air between the meat/item and the packaging.

If you're using poly bags, rather than boxes, you can also use a balloon pump to expel the air and the bag itself then wraps against the food.

Olliebeak

I made dumplings a couple of weeks ago and had loads left over. I froze the remaining uncooked ones, but then wondered if this was really such a good idea after all.

1 - Has anybody on here any experience of freezing home-made dumplings?

2 - At what stage did you freeze them - before or after cooking?

I'm making some fresh ones today, but will decide what to do with the frozen ones later when I've seen what the rest of you say about them.

Many thanks - Ollie xx

rachbc

roasted butter nut squash and sweet potatoes? a recipe I want to use takes on 4oz of sp and bns can I roast the rest in cubes to use in the same recipe again next time I fancy it (not something that will freeze complete) or would I be better whipping up a batch of soup with what's left? No one else in te house will eat it!