Quick Question - Lasagna

Gillby1

Hi all,

I'm keen to start making double quantities and freezing half (if I can hide it from my partner - the man can eat!). I wondered whether i could cook uo the mince and layer the cheese sauce, mince sauce and pasta, then freeze without cooking. Would it be ok to then defrost and cook in the oven - as the mince would be being cooked twice?

Thanks in advance. I'm still learning when it comes to both cooking and moneysaving, and you lot know your stuff!

Gills

squeaky

That shouldn't be a problem. Alternatively you can cook it all at once and then freeze your extras. As long as you defrost and reheat thoroughly it will be fine.

Rikki

It works with fresh pasta, I don't know about dried.

MrsB_2

Beat me to it Rikki - was just going to say not sure about how the dried pasta would work.

Best suggestion is to go with Squeaky's idea of cooking it all in one go and freezing half once cooked (and cooled). That way you'll only have one lot of oven heating and when you come to eat the frozen one a quick zap in the micro should be all it'll need, rather than having to start cooking it through from scratch. Does that make sense??

Good Luck!!

jaybee

I do this all the time! Never tried it with fresh pasta so have always frozen it fully cooked and then reheated it when required for a lazy meal!

Gillby1

Perfect sense - thanks to all for your advice! I'll cook the lot then freeze the remainder.

Ta! x

rchddap1

The next time you make lasagne you could always make up a very small test portion and put in the freezer before cooking. Then the following day you slap it in the oven and see if it comes out okay.

Princess_Fiona_2

Just ensure that you use fresh mince to begin with. You shouldnt re-freeze defrosted mince. Let us know how it goes. PF

MrsB_2

So long as the mince wasnt cooked first time you froze it and it was cooked the 2nd time it'll be fine. It's only a problem if you refreeze it without cooking it.

Noozan

I often make up portions of lasagne (using dried pasta) and freeze it uncooked. I used to line a dish with cling film, make up layers of lasagne, wrap in more cling film, semi freeze and then take it out of the tray to free it up but decided this was too much hassle (especially when it had more than semi frozen and I had to prise it out of the dish :mad: ) so now I used the double portion size ceramic dishes from Asda which cost 58p and just leave it in the dish for freezing. Just defrost overnight and then bang in oven then next day. I actually find it tastes better than when it's freshly made. Probably because I put chilli in 90% of our food and the flavours have had a chance to mingle and develop.