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Post by anxiousmom on Aug 2, 2014 1:26:05 GMT
I have a recipe for a chicken spinach lasagna (it has a white sauce-like a roux) and I don't know if I should cook it before I freeze it?
I am planning on making more freezer meals, but wondered if there was a rule about cooking certain dishes before freeze?
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Post by rumplesnat on Aug 2, 2014 1:29:55 GMT
Depends on the dish.
I would partially cook the lasagna in the oven, almost to the point of being done, before freezing it.
I've made batches of chicken cordon bleu and other similar stuffed chicken recipes and froze those uncooked.
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Post by anxiousmom on Aug 2, 2014 1:32:39 GMT
I cook a lot, but with two teenage boys, I never had enough left overs to freeze! With one boy going off to college and the other an active social life/study group(s) I am eating by myself a lot lately. I want to freeze meals to eat when I am alone, but find myself wondering what I should cook before freezing and what freezes well. I am venturing forth into a new world.  |
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Post by anniefb on Aug 2, 2014 2:00:11 GMT
I generally freeze things I've cooked e.g. casseroles. I found a couple of posts from Delia Smith which talk about the kinds of things that do/don't freeze well. Here and here. Apparently white sauce can be frozen but you should defrost it in the fridge and mix as it softens to avoid splitting. HTH! |
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Post by cadoodlebug on Aug 2, 2014 2:05:29 GMT
I generally freeze things I've cooked e.g. casseroles. I found a couple of posts from Delia Smith which talk about the kinds of things that do/don't freeze well. Here and here. Apparently white sauce can be frozen but you should defrost it in the fridge and mix as it softens to avoid splitting. HTH! You should also be careful because my sister gave my brother-in-law and niece food poisoning by setting it out to thaw. |
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Oct 7, 2024 6:28:45 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Aug 2, 2014 2:10:23 GMT
My end goal is to have single serving meals I can pop in the microwave and have ready to eat in a matter of a couple of minutes. So I freeze the majority of my meals precooked. If your end goal is to avoid prep later but you don't mind the cooking time then you can do an assemble and freeze uncooked.
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Post by shevy on Aug 2, 2014 4:21:00 GMT
I partially cook a lot of my freezer stuff. Single portions in containers or muffin tins. It thaws and reheats quicker that way.
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marianne
Pearl Clutcher
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Post by marianne on Aug 2, 2014 4:38:12 GMT
Most casserole-type meals I don't bake before freezing; I assemble the casserole, freeze, then thaw in the fridge and bake. It's just DH and I so I freeze our casseroles in individual dishes - works great for us. I precook taco meat and freeze so all we have to do is heat it up, add the extras, and eat. Chicken enchiladas freeze well too. I prebrown pork chops and freeze then toss a couple in the crockpot with a can of chicken rice soup.
There's not a whole lot you can't freeze so I think it's a matter of personal preference and/or time contraints whether you bake before or after freezing.
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momto4kiddos
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Jun 26, 2014 11:45:15 GMT
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Post by momto4kiddos on Aug 2, 2014 12:55:21 GMT
This place used to have a lot of good information on freezer meals. I see part of it is subscription, but I think you could probably gets some basic info off there. www.30daygourmet.com/ |
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Post by Scrapbrat on Aug 2, 2014 13:48:58 GMT
It depends on the meal. Normally I would not cook lasagna before freezing. Noodles get more mushy the more they are cooked. I'm not sure how your white sauce is going to come out after being frozen. A lot of times, things like that don't freeze well.
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Post by mom2jnk on Aug 2, 2014 14:11:54 GMT
I do not cook the meals that I freeze. Usually, I like the flavor better if they are not cooked twice.
Always thaw in refrigerator if you need to thaw before preparing!
Things that freeze well for us: raw meats in marinade (steaks, chops, chicken breasts), soups (not cream based ones), chili, stuffed chicken breasts, twice baked potatoes, mini meatloaves, breakfast burritos, cookies and cookie dough, mashed potatoes, crockpot meals, biscuit dough mix, cheese bites, tomato based lasagna and baked ziti.
I would really hesitate to freeze anything with white sauce and/or cooked spinach. In my experience, neither of them comes out of the freezer very well. White sauce and cream based sauces tend to break when frozen and thawed.
A great cookbook that I recommend for freezer meals: Fix, Freeze and Feast. Hands down my favorite for feeding my family of hungry teenagers.
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Post by anxiousmom on Aug 2, 2014 14:21:39 GMT
So, no go on freezing the white sauce lasagna. Darn. I really wanted to try to freeze portions of this one.
I am going to be doing some reading...I have had casseroles that have been cooked and frozen and some of them turn out and some don't. I am going to have to figure out what the common denominators are. It seems like from what y'all are saying is that there are no hard and fast rules (other than the white sauce) so it may also be a trial and error kind of thing.
Here's a question...what about cheese added to casseroles? Does that freeze well?
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marianne
Pearl Clutcher
Not my circus, not my monkeys. . . My monkeys fly!
Posts: 4,176
Location: right smack dab in the middle of SC
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Jun 25, 2014 21:08:26 GMT
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Post by marianne on Aug 2, 2014 15:17:50 GMT
Here's a question...what about cheese added to casseroles? Does that freeze well? I have no problem freezing cheese in casseroles - besides what's in the casserole, I almost always sprinkle some on top and freeze. It comes out fine. |
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