Freezing - Tips and Quick Questions thread

Swishy_bell

Just dont cool it quickly in the fridge! This will cost lots as your fridge has to cool down again and can shorten the life of other things in there as the enviroment hasn't stayed at a nice cool constant temperature. My Mum always used to cover and leave in the garage to cool food before freezing (the freezer was in there anyway so she just popped back in an hour to move it into the freezer).

albacookie

Pretty much everything will freeze fine, I don't bother freezing any left over pasta or rice though - just use it for tuna pasta or rice salad for lunch the next day.
If you forget to take something out I sit it in a bowl of water to defrost faster.

heavenleigh

Thank you all for taking the time to answer, a couple of questions, is it better to portion it before you freeze it? and does it need reheating on the day you defrost it? (who would believe i actually have a levels and a degree behind me lol)
Oh! and tonight i have done my usual and cooked far too much chicken and veg curried pilaf for us, how do things like pasta and rice taste when frozen and reheated?

Pink.

Hi heavenleigh,

I normally freeze whole (unless I'm freezing leftovers) but it works either way so choose the way that suits your family best. I usually reheat on the day the food is defrosted but assuming it wasn't hanging around for long before it was frozen, defrosted food is usually fine kept chilled in the fridge for a day or so.

In my experience pasta doesn't freeze particularly well but I've never had any problems freezing rice. These threads may help:

Can you freeze cooked pasta?

Can I Freeze Rice

and this thread may help with leftover pasta left over pasta??

We have a thread with lots of freezing questions and answers that may help you:

Freezing - Tips and Quick Questions thread

I'll add your thread to that one later as your queries may help others.

Pink

falady

Hi there,

As there are only 2 of us at home, I portion meals into 1 or 2 person sized portions and freeze them.

I find the best way to do it is put the food in tubs while you are dishing up the meal. Put it to one side with the lid off at an angle (to let the steam out) and let it cool for an hour or so. When cool, put the lids on properly and put the tubs (labelled) in the freezer.

Rice freezes fine and pasta is OK, though can go a bit mushy once defrosted.

Put food in the fridge to defrost and use it within 2 days. make sure it is heated very thoroughly and is piping hot throughout.

HTH,

Ali x

waddy80

I freeze everything. I freeze things that perhaps others wouldn't - for example if I made a spag bol with previously frozen mince, I would chuck the leftovers in the freezer. I've been doing it for a few years now and I've not been ill yet!

My tip - A good quality dry wipe marker. You can write on the top of tupperwares and it will just rub off! This can save you from defrosting the wrong thing!
Also it is worth investing in a few containers which are the right size for a portion or two. I tend to use the plastic containers that you get chinese in. I have actually bought some extras from wilko's, cost me about a pound for 5.

missychrissy

I'm with you on that waddy80, I too freeze just about anything. If I think that I am not going to use something up then it goes in the freezer.

I often freeze pasta. I made a bacon, pepper, onion stir fry with pasta and parmesan cheese about 3 days ago and froze 2 left over portions. I have always found it perfectly ok.

I have to confess that I hardly label anything, but I live on my own. It is quite fun just taking a box out of the freezer on my way to work and then discovering what I have to eat when I open the box. However, I can see that within a family with specific likes and dislikes it makes perfect sense to label. I only label cheese. If I think a cheese has been in the fridge for a while I grate and freeze it. I have Stilton, Parmesan and Cheddar in my freezer at present. I find that you can add frozen cheese to almost anything cooked or to be cooked.

jem620721

Does anyone have a good recipe for a white sauce that doesn't 'split' in the freezer?

Many thanks.

Primrose

If you have a big freezer and stuff tends to stay in there for a long time it's always preferable to label things rather than rely on your memory. My worst mistake was throwing an unlabelled bag of "chicken stock" into a saucepan of simmering vegetables for Minestrone soup. It turned out to be gooseberry purree and I had to throw the whole lot away.

zippychick

Can i freeze beansprouts?