Lasagne - freezing and defrosting questions

LJM

Lol Alison I think that's us for dinner tomorrow since I have it in freezer

MrsCrafty

I chop, carrots, onions, celery (buy chop and freeze) courgettes and mushrooms into small bits and lightly fry in olive oil and garlic. Put aside and then I fry 2 bags of 500g Lamb mince from Asda (it's lighter than beef). Then 2/3 tubs of smart price passata and some basil/orgegano. Chuck it all in to a big saucepan and bring to the boil. I use fresh pasta from Asda as I think it's nicer. 3 lays of stuff and it's all done.

I get 3 ceramic dishes about 10'' x 8'' and 2'' deep out of this.

Like one of the other posters, the two left over ones will be left to go cold, then cut into 4 portions and we have this as a meal. I also freeze the portions on a tray then bag as I was using too many freezer bags otherwise.

newMS

i use cottage cheese instead of white sauce, i dont like white sauce and follow slimming world

flea72

first question, how do you plan on reheating the lasagne?

will you be reheating from frozen, or will you defrost first?

if heating in a microwave, dont make them in foil tins, or wrap in tinfoil

if cooking from frozen in the oven, dont wrap them in clingfilm either, as it gets stuck in the creases, and you cant remove it before cooking

also, dont freeze them whole in china dishes. it means all your bowls are tied up in the freezer, and they are also more susceptible to cracking

if reheating in oven, then dont cook them fully before freezing, otherwise the top layer of pasta and cheese, goes hard

i find it easiest to make them whole, then leave to stand overnight. slicing a lasagne is so much easier once it has rested a good while (also improves flavour). then cut into portions and put into old margarine tubs or tupperware boxes - they can easily be turned out from frozen, and i can then microwave or oven cook as required

for me i usually just microwave from frozen, in the tub i froze it in - but my homemade lasagne does take a long while to reheat from frozen, as i make mine alot deeper than the shop bought ones

as for speed, i find since i started making white sauce in the microwave, its not so time consuming (and i also dont have to watch it like a hawk, stirring all the time)

F

sarahsarah

Thanks Everyone..

My plan is to take out of the freezer the night before rather than heat from frozen.. I did thinking about just making a huuuge batch of the meat/sauce and freezing in portions but its the part-cooking lasagne sheets/layering up that I hate doing so I'd rather get it all out of the way and done. I know foil trays are not the most economical/environmentally friendly way of doing it but it must be better than buying a ready meal version surely!

Thanks to MrsCrafty for the meat quantites and tray sizes.. I'm thinking if I can find roughly 5x8" foil trays then that would work perfectly making 6 which are about the right size to split between 2 girls. I make that roughly 80g of mince per child size portion, does that sound about right?

freyasmum

We love this lasagne. My daughter specifically requests that I make it sometimes.

It makes 10 portions. You can remove some of the mince and bulk out with lentils if you like. I think it's usually 800g of minced beef I use, rather than the kilo and it always makes loads.

I usually make it into two huge lasagnes. It gives a really healthy portion.

Nicki

sarahsarah wrote: »

but its the part-cooking lasagne sheets/layering up that I hate doing so I'd rather get it all out of the way and done. I know foil trays are not the most economical/environmentally friendly way of doing it but it must be better than buying a ready meal version surely!

t?

I never part cook the lasagne sheets. I always use the ones which don't need it, and the pasta is always fine when the lasagne is cooked.

My cheat when I am feeling lazy is to use a tub of fresh cheese sauce from the pasta sauce section of the fridge in supermarkets, though it doesn't really take long to make a homemade cheese sauce in the microwave.

ska_lover

Hi there,

I have been trying to become more OS recently, and have batch cooked lasagne for the freezer this evening.

I just realised that when it comes to using it, I don't know if it needs defrosing first or cooked from frozen, do you microwave it or oven for best results?


Many thanks

nomuny

I defrost and then oven cook- wouldn't know how long to cook in microwave

Linda32

Hi, Yes I freeze in portions, defrost in fridge overnight, take out Wednesday Tea-time for Tea on Thursday, for example, then cook ½hr at gas mark 6 for my oven.