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Freezing Ahead



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wifey




 
 
    
 

Post Fri, Aug 05 2011, 7:20 pm
I would really like to cook and freeze but every time I do it something tastes off. Can you please share how to freeze and secret tips? What freezes well? What doesn't? Prepare everything and freeze raw or cook and then freeze? What if there is no sauce? What about kugels/pastas/fish and sides? I'm kinda clueless and feel like this should be really easy...TIA!
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wifey




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Aug 09 2011, 7:50 pm
bump
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ra_mom




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Aug 09 2011, 7:55 pm
What are you looking to freeze?
We can help with freezing methods, and defrosting/reheating.
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queen




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Aug 10 2011, 12:40 am
I am an avid freezer user. EVERYTHING gets double wrapped. First I cover actual food with two layers of silver foil. Then I place in 2 ziplock bags. Everything then gets labeled with item name and date made. You use a LOT of ziplock bags- but they are in essence totally clean, so I have a container I keep my 'used' ziplocks in order to reuse.

I freeze meatballs in gravy.
chix soup
matza balls (I freeze them initially in egg cartons - each matza ball in ind. egg holder. Once frozen, transfer to ziplock bags. I place in each bag exact number my family uses each Friday night - easy to remove one bag for use at a time.
cleaned (and at times in actual marinade) raw shnitzel.
apple muffins
carrot kugel
pumpkin muffins
cakes
orzo (made with fried onions and red/green pepper)
meat lasagna roll ups (lasagna noodles rolled up with meatball mixture in middle. with tomato sauce)
butternut squash soup
For kids I've even frozen mac 'n cheese (!!!!)

this is what I personally freeze all the time... but most things can be frozen with exception of potatoes - that is a little more tricky. I will place frozen potato kugel into cholent, but wont serve as actual potato kugel.


Last edited by queen on Wed, Aug 10 2011, 12:45 am; edited 2 times in total
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queen




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Aug 10 2011, 12:41 am
I just want to add- that defrosting kugels - I tend to do in oven as it will not taste soggy that you MIGHT get from stuff defrosting on counter.
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wifey




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Aug 10 2011, 1:31 pm
Thanks!

Basically if I want to make chicken (e.g. 40 clove garlic chicken or plum chicken or duck sauce etc) or meat (e.g. briset, french roast) is it better to clean the chicken, prep the sauce and then freeze or to cook it first and freeze it after? Is it enough to double wrap and put it in bags like you say you do Queen or is there something else I should do if its raw/cooked?

In terms of side dishes, what about cranberry apple crisp, zucchini/spinich kugel etc? Is there a way to freeze potato kugel?

Deserts - I'm looking to freeze a chocolate cake (and I assume frost/glaze it after defrosted), a chocolate tart in a pretzel crust, poached pears, banana cake.

With vegetables can I broil/roast vegetables with just seasoning and freeze?

What about meat and/or veggies that doesn't have a lot of sauce - something like beef and broccoli?

Sorry for all the questions I am totally clueless and want to have shabbos guests but I always get scared because its hard to cook with my baby around and if I could do a little bit at a time and freeze ahead it would make my life SO much easier but I don't want the food to taste like it came from the freezer....
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suzyq




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Aug 10 2011, 1:50 pm
Here's how I do it -

Baked goods freeze great. But yes, I wait to do glazes or frostings until defrosted. But I do tons of brownies and cakes and cookies and challah and freeze. It saves me tons of time.

Chicken - I freeze raw. I clean and put whatever sauce or breading or anything I want on it and then freeze before cooking. When I'm ready to cook it, I just take it straight from the freezer to the oven (takes a little more time to cook than if it's defrosted).

Meat - I cook meat first but would only freeze something if it's going to be used with a sauce later, or else it tends to get dry. Meatballs I freeze all the time, in a container with the sauce. I've also done corned beef and brisket and roasts - all of those I add the sauce when I reheat.

Kugels are usually fine to freeze after being made and then just thaw out - but like previous poster said, I warm up in the oven (once in a while on the blech after defrosting if I'm not organized enough). Potato kugel is more difficult, I also only reheat in the cholent.

Veggies I haven't mastered. But I also find that they are usually pretty quick to cook so those I leave for fresh.

Soups are fantastic to freeze - I've never had a problem. Just let soup cool and freeze in whatever container is a good size for the general portions you would want to warm up. I've done beef & barley, chicken soup, butternut squash, zucchini, mushroom barley...

Good luck!
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seeker




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Aug 10 2011, 2:33 pm
What suzyq said. Plus, I think some freezers just have more of that freezer taste than others. When I lived with a bad-tasting freezer, the best solution was an extra layer of wrapping plus just don't leave anything in there too long. Like, you can freeze maybe a month in advance but really not 3 months (like I was able to do with a better freezer)
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Lakewood




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Aug 10 2011, 2:46 pm
I freeze baked goods and soups. I make different kinds soups in the winter and always freeze about half of it.

Meat and chicken don't take so long to make and taste better fresh.
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ra_mom




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Aug 10 2011, 3:12 pm
To defrost potato kugel: place frozen in oven at 350, tightly covered, until heated through.
Then uncover, increase temperature, and bake until it crisps up again.

Or, for overnight taste, add a bit of water on top of kugel, and warm up covered.

-

Vegetables usually do not freeze well. You are probably better off just freezing raw cut up veggies, with a little spice packet prepared next to it, so you can just add olive oil and toss with prepared spices before placing in oven to bake.

Even better, just buy frozen veggies, and attach a homemade spice packet to the package, with instructions on how to bake when needed.
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seeker




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Aug 10 2011, 3:13 pm
I am also a big fan of freezing dough and baking fresh. I.e. when I make pizza, I'll freeze an extra crust and just pop it out and into the oven when ready to eat, tastes fresh. Same for challah, bread, rolls, etc.
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wifey




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Aug 10 2011, 7:12 pm
Thanks everyone! This was really super helpful. Seeker, I think you might be right about a "good" freezer - mine is a small one and I find the food always tastes like the freezer smell. Hopefully my next fridge will be different!
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whirlwind




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Aug 10 2011, 8:15 pm
queen wrote:
I am an avid freezer user. EVERYTHING gets double wrapped. First I cover actual food with two layers of silver foil. Then I place in 2 ziplock bags. Everything then gets labeled with item name and date made. You use a LOT of ziplock bags- but they are in essence totally clean, so I have a container I keep my 'used' ziplocks in order to reuse.

I freeze meatballs in gravy.
chix soup
matza balls (I freeze them initially in egg cartons - each matza ball in ind. egg holder. Once frozen, transfer to ziplock bags. I place in each bag exact number my family uses each Friday night - easy to remove one bag for use at a time.
cleaned (and at times in actual marinade) raw shnitzel.
apple muffins
carrot kugel
pumpkin muffins
cakes
orzo (made with fried onions and red/green pepper)
meat lasagna roll ups (lasagna noodles rolled up with meatball mixture in middle. with tomato sauce)
butternut squash soup
For kids I've even frozen mac 'n cheese (!!!!)

this is what I personally freeze all the time... but most things can be frozen with exception of potatoes - that is a little more tricky. I will place frozen potato kugel into cholent, but wont serve as actual potato kugel.


Queen, how do you freeze/defrost your orzo and mac n' cheese. I find that when I freeze pasta and rice they end up too soggy or hard. Are there any special tricks for those items?

For potato kugel, I do one of two ways. 1. Use Yukon gold potatoes (they don't brown as quickly) and freeze kugel RAW. To defrost, take straight from freezer to oven at 475 uncovered for half hour, then lower to 425 for a little over an hour. 2. Bake one hour at 425 then freeze to defrost, pour some water on top, bake at 350 for at least an hour (keep checking - if the water evaporates, add more or kugel will dry up)

I like the taste better when I do #2 but if I'm doing it late and don't have time to bake, wait for it to cool, and freeze then #1 is okay too.
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