Last week we returned from traveling for a few weeks. With the time change and the long flight, we ended up returning early in the morning, getting back to the house about 7 AM. Even with a few hours sleep on the flight, I was still dragging the next day. I didn’t feel like making a big grocery store run, opting for a short stop for essentials only. Eating out didn’t sound appealing so I opened the freezer to see what I could heat up. The result was chicken noodle soup, homemade applesauce, sliced homemade bread (which I toasted) and I even managed to have some cookie dough in the freezer as well, so I baked a fresh pan of Chocolate Walnut Chip Cookies. All of these things were made the week before we left, and frozen to be enjoyed another date.
When I froze them, my thinking was I didn’t want this good food to go to waste as most of the time these days I’m cooking for two so it’s quite often that I make a regular size recipe and either share with my Mom or freeze in entrée size portions. I didn’t realize just how handy this would all come in to play when we returned a few weeks later. Here are a few tips that I would suggest:
1. Soups are good recipes to freeze for the most part. Here’s why I suggest this. Soups are usually made in larger quantities, which make for good items to freeze for another lunch or dinner. I like to freeze soup in 1 portion size servings using glass containers. Noodles can be an issue though. A suggestion if you don’t want your noodles to be soggy, would be to consider the possibility of freezing remaining soup while you were making it. This would mean only adding the amount of noodles that you plan to use for that first meal. When you go to defrost a frozen serving of soup, I would heat it on the stove.-more details on heating to follow up-and at the same time, cook some noodles in a small sauce pan as directed on the package. Then drain those noodles and add them to the portion of soup that you were heating up. Yes, this is a little additional work, but not nearly the work of making an entire recipe of soup for lunch/dinner and allowing you to enjoy a home-cooked meal on an evening when you don’t have time or feel like cooking.
2. When I heat up frozen entrées or meals, my first choice is to defrost in the fridge (if you have time, like placing the frozen entree in the fridge in the morning. Second choice would be to place the glass container of the frozen entrée in a bowl of water and allowed to defrost. I just don’t use a microwave for defrosting food. It’s just a “Mary Yana thing.” Once the food is defrosted if we’re talking soups, I will then put the portion of soup in a small sauce pan to heat on the stove top. If we’re talking and entrée like lasagna or chicken or any other meat after defrosting as described, I would then heat in the oven on parchment paper or the glass container-if the glass container is at room temperature and oven safe-like a Pyrex glass/ ceramic dish approved for cooking or any other acceptable cookware. I would not place a frozen glass container in a hot oven. The contrast in temperatures could cause the glass to break, making a huge mess to clean up.
3. Meals/Entree’s I like to freeze are Bolognese, Boeuf Bourguignon, baked chicken dishes, quiches, stews, casserole dishes. (on the noodles/pasta as described, cook pasta or noodles separately if you don’t want soggy/overcooked pasta or noodles (I usually don’t mind it.
4. Other items that I like to freeze are applesauce, slices of pie and cookie dough. Again, I like to freeze these in small batches, so that if I just need dinner for one or two, I am not wasting a larger portion of food. Your pie would already be baked so after defrosting, you are just heating up.
5. There is often frozen bread in our freezer-Aunt Amanda’s Basic Bread, Homemade Rustic Bread, Brioche or Cinnamon Bread. These recipes are found, some on my website and some in my book. I always slice the bread and store in a freezer bag, with as much air out of the bag as possible to avoid a freezer burn taste. Take out a slice or two and toast with unsalted butter.
6. When you make the initial dish, look at your week to come if you will be enjoying the food for another meal the next day store in the fridge. If you don’t anticipate needing it in the next day, I like to freeze the leftovers immediately so that they are ‘frozen fresh.’
7. A few other items I like to have in the freezer are sliced bananas or halves of bananas for smoothies. I like to keep protein balls on hand in the freezer. That recipe is also on the website and they make good snacks when you’re on the go or you just feel like something a little sweet that has a good amount of protein.
8. Another item of my freeze often are cubes of energy shots. Ginger Shots are on my website. This is a recipe with lemon juice, orange juice, ginger, and you can also add turmeric and black pepper to these. I freeze after blending these items the blender this mixture in cube trays. I take out two cubes at a time and pour hot water over them to melt and it’s a nice cocktail to boost your immune system or to have on hand when you’re feeling a little under the weather..
Ginger Shots, recipe here on the website.
7. Freezing your remaining entrée and baked goods allows you to always have good food on hand. Whether it is a busy evening or a night you just don’t feel like cooking having your own food prepared with ingredients that you are aware of, can make for many great days and nutritious meals leaving very little waste in your kitchen.
