frozen food - Healthy Lifestyle Message Board

sundaysun · 12-15-2005, 04:52 AM

i'm not sure if i'm in a right board but i have a question about food freezing.
how do you know which food can be frozen and which can't? i always cook a lot but only for myself and i don't feel like eating same thing every day. so i freeze the rest. however i noticed that most recipes say that a meal can't be frozen. i don't use them, i cook my own food, still how do i know if i can freeze a meal?
recently i was freezing pasta, vegetable stews, i'm vegetarian so i don't freeze any meat. after microwaving the taste is ok, only the texture is a bit different from freshly cooked.
i'd really appreciate more information on that.
by the way if you freeze something how long can you keep it in the freezer?

Magpiezoe · 12-16-2005, 09:46 AM

If you get yourself one of those bag sealers that sucks the air out, you can freeze just about anything with one of those. The great part is that all you have to do is boil the bag with the frozen contents when you're ready to eat the frozen food. Vegies freeze well if you blanch them first.

HELLASRULES · 12-17-2005, 09:02 AM

Yeah, some foods just do not freeze well at all. I've found pasta, potatoes all tend to get really mushy after freezing them. Pasta can be ok if it's undercooked before freezing. I've made lasagna in smaller portions, and frozen it before baking it, and that comes out fine. Cooked potatoes just don't seem to hold up as well, if they're already cooked. Mostly just experimentation as to what does ok and what doesn't when freezing.
I cook for one too, so I have a vacuum sealer and sure saves time & money. Well worth using, as it's hard to cook just for one.
How long you can keep things frozen varies, but it's supposed to keep longer with the vacuum sealer, and I believe the one I had came with a chart of some sort for times, but have no idea where it is.

kehorner · 12-17-2005, 08:32 PM

I freeze pretty much anything. You're not going to make it dangerous or anything by freezing it. I freeze lasagna, veggie pot pies, chili, soups, eggplant parmesan, just about everything. I generally don't freeze tons of pasta or whole potatoes, so I don't really notice any texture changes, although I do freeze mashed potatoes. My general rule of thumb is that if it comes in a frozen dinner that you can buy at the store, it's okay to freeze.

I usually eat stuff within a few weeks to a month. I've never run into problems with anything tasting freezer burned. I just store them in single serving sized plasticware.

Another thing I like to do is thaw a few at a time in the fridge, because a bowl of soup frozen solid takes a long time to microwave.