The freezer is, without a doubt, a top contender in the ever-evolving Favorite Kitchen Appliance contest. Given an inch, the freezer will go a mile to enable you to plan meals ahead of time, cook in larger economical quantities and store all those spontaneous cooking adventures safely and efficiently. Once you learn the fundamentals of cooling, wrapping and freezing precooked dishes, your days of shelling out large amounts of money for commercially frozen foods will be nothing but distant memories. With a little forethought, delicious main dishes will seem to pop magically out of your freezer, into the oven and onto the dinner table!
Freezing Pre-Baked Dishes Not only do frozen main dishes make your cooking life less hectic, but they are also extremely economical. It is considerably cheaper to make your own frozen meals than to buy them pre-made at the grocery store.
Follow these steps when preparing and freezing your own main dishes to ensure their quality and safety:
1. Because precooked and frozen dishes will need to be reheated before being served, plan to undercook your dishes before freezing them. This ensures that the finished, reheated product is not overcooked.
2. Cool precooked dishes as quickly as possible before they are placed in the freezer. Cooling is necessary for two important reasons: First, the extra heat raises the temperature of the freezer; and second, the outer edges of the hot or warm dish will freeze hard quickly while the inside may not cool in time to prevent spoilage. For best results, cool the food down by floating the pan of hot food in a sink filled with ice water (or in a larger pan of ice water). Be sure to change the water often to ensure that it is as cold as possible.
3. Once the dish is cooled, portion it into meal-sized containers or packages. Then place them in the coldest area of your freezer until completely frozen.
It's a Wrap Not all freezer containers are created equal. Use specialty freezer bags, airtight containers, bags and wrappings made especially for freezing to ensure the quality of your foods. Foods frozen in inferior packaging run the risk of leaking or absorbing smells from other foods in the freezer. If fish-tasting carrots are not your idea of delicious, take special care to wrap and seal your foods effectively.
Follow these wrapping and container tips to ensure the quality and safety of your food:
.Use only specialty freezer wrappings - they should be both moisture-proof and vapor-proof.
.Leave as little air as possible in the packages (and containers). When freezing liquids in containers, allow a small amount of head room for expansion. When using freezer bags, be sure to remove as much air as possible before closing. Solids such as meats and baked goods should be wrapped tightly.
.Use rigid containers with a tight lid and keep the sealing edge free from moisture or food to ensure proper closure.
.Secure wrapped packages and containers with freezer tape.
.In most cases, meats and fish wrapped by the grocer or butcher need no extra attention before freezing. If the food you want to freeze was not specially wrapped by a grocer or butcher, then be sure to carefully wrap or contain them and put them in the freezer as soon as you get home.
.Freeze in small containers with no more than a 1-quart capacity to ensure that freezing takes place in a timely manner (i.e. within 4 hours). Ideally, food that is 2 inches thick will take 2 hours to freeze completely.
Best If Used By... Although freezing keeps food safe for an indefinite amount of time, we recommend eating the food within a reasonable time period for quality's sake. Label and date your foods so you don't end up with mysterious globs in frozen-over containers.
Here is a basic chart of recommended time periods for many precooked foods to ensure high quality results: Precooked Food Type Period of Time Meat (cooked) 2 to 3 months Poultry (cooked with gravy) 5 to 6 months Poultry (cooked, no gravy) 1 month Soups and stews 2 to 3 months Meatballs (with sauce) 6 months Poultry and Meat Casseroles 6 months Meatloaf (any type of meat) 6 months Tomato/vegetable sauces 6 months
Before thawing, cooking and eating frozen foods that have been frozen for an extended period of time, let your nose and eyes be the judge of their quality. If the food smells rancid, then it should be discarded. If there are any discolored spots (freezer-burned areas) on frozen food that you think is really fine, those areas should be removed before the remainder is thawed and eaten.
Keep the Temperature Low! 0 degrees F (- 18 degrees C)! Keeping the freezer door closed is more important for food quality than you may think. Keeping the door closed will help maintain the freezer's temperature at a constant 0 degrees F (- 18 degrees C) or below. Keeping the freezer temperature at 0 degrees F is imperative to inactivate any bacteria, yeast and molds that may be in your foods. Freezing does not kill these microbes; it merely holds them at bay by arresting their ability to multiply. If the freezer's temperature is disturbed often or altered for an extended period of time (e.g., from power outages or when the door is left ajar), then the microbes can become reinvigorated and compromise your food's quality. Any food in the freezer that is not carefully thawed should be eaten with caution (for tips on proper thawing, see "Safe Ways to Thaw Frozen Food" at the end of this article). Thorough cooking may not be enough to kill bacteria in some cases, so be sure to always inspect food carefully if it thawed under uncontrolled conditions.
Safe Ways to Thaw Frozen Food Thawing foods at room temperature will compromise the safety of your food. To ensure that your food is safe to eat, follow one of these proper ways to thaw:
In the refrigerator: Plan ahead as this is the slowest thawing technique. Small frozen items may thaw overnight in the refrigerator, while larger items will take significantly longer. In cold running water: Place the frozen food in a leak-proof bag and place it under cold running water.
In a microwave on the defrost setting: Plan to cook the food immediately after it has thawed in a microwave, because some areas of the food may have begun cooking during the defrost cycle.
Stay Cool for the Holidays Here are some foods that freeze especially well. A little advance preparation can go a long way!
* Soups and Sauces. Many soups and sauces freeze well. A batch of cranberry sauce will rest comfortably in the freezer until you're ready for it. Bean and legume soups freeze beautifully too, as do soups of pureed vegetables like pumpkin, borscht, carrot or tomato. Do avoid freezing soups with seafood, potatoes, pasta or sour cream in them--the texture of these ingredients will suffer. Purchase turkey legs and make a big batch of stock with them now: it will come in handy for making gravy and moistening the stuffing when the big day arrives.
* Dinner Rolls. Homemade rolls are one of those things that will make your meal feel like a true occasion. Making them can be time-consuming, but, the dough freezes well, so you can do the work now and reap the rewards later! After the dough rises the first time, shape it into rolls, place them in a well-greased disposable aluminum baking pan and double-wrap them with foil or heavy plastic wrap. If you allow enough space between the rolls, you can thaw and bake them in the same pan. Use a permanent marker to write the correct oven temperature and baking time right on the package. The frozen rolls will take a day to thaw and rise in the refrigerator, or several hours at room temperature. Bread dough will keep in the freezer for up to a month.
* Pies. Custard and cream pies do not freeze well, which unfortunately means that the requisite Thanksgiving pumpkin pie cannot be made ahead of time. However, fruit pies, especially unbaked ones, freeze beautifully, as do baked pecan pies and cheesecakes. To prevent sogginess, brush the bottom crust of fruit pies with egg white before adding the filling. Before freezing, wrap pies and cheesecakes securely in several layers of plastic wrap, followed by a layer of aluminum foil. Allow already-baked items to thaw overnight in the refrigerator before serving. To bake a frozen fruit pie, leave it at room temperature for 20 minutes to allow the glass plate to warm up, brush with beaten egg and sprinkle with sugar if desired, then bake as usual, adding about 20 minutes to the baking time.
