Everything You Need to Know About Freezer Meals Leave a comment

Everything You Need to Know About Freezer Meals: Freezer meals help save time and money. If you are having a hard time deciding on what to make for launch, or you want to try out a variety of dishes but you are not sure how long they can last, freezer meals are the solution to your problem.

Relieve yourself from the stress of making food every minute of the day. You are back from work but too tired to cook, freezer meals settle that, they stay fresh and are fast too, no need for take-out or snacks.

Instead of stocking your freezer with junk food, take out time to make your favorite dish in advance and stock them up in the freezer for future purposes.

There are several ways to try out freezer meals and trust me, you won’t be disappointed with this decision you made.

Fix a date on weekends to prepare large meals and freeze them, you can do this every weekend or twice a month, the choice is yours.

Do you have little concerns or questions about freezer meals, like the meals to freeze and not to freeze, how long freezer meals last? Don’t worry, we provided answers to all these questions in this article, just sit back and read carefully!

What dishes freeze well?

Some people do not buy the idea of freezing meals due to one or two experiences they had. Maybe the last time they tried, it didn’t turn out well, the food either got spoilt or didn’t taste good when reheated.

Now, what you should know is not every food is freezer-safe (they can’t be frozen). And on the other hand, some are made to be frozen.

These are the things you need to know before making preparing meals in large quantities. Here are some of the meals that are freezer safe;

  • Soups (all kinds of soup) do great in the freezer. Baked chicken, Chili, Pies, Fruits, vegetables (lettuce).
  • Toast bread, bread loaf, Frittatas, Muffins, cooked rice, mayonnaise, jam. You can stash them in the freezer using a stasher bag or freezer bags.
  • Tomato sauce, beans, Meatballs, cabbage, chicken stock/beef stock.

Note: Stasher bags are freezer safe and oven safe. You can take out food in stasher bags from the freezer and put them directly into the oven to be reheated.

Stasher bags are made of silicone, it helps preserve the juice, and makes the food taste and looks fresh. When reheating, keep the stasher bag open so it heats evenly. However,not all freezer bags can be put in the oven except it’s written in the description.

 

What foods do not freeze well?

It’s funny how some dishes freeze well while others don’t. Well, let us look at some of the dishes that don’t do well in freezers;

  • Fried yam, fried potato/plantain, bean cake. They will become heavy and doughy if you freeze them and thaw them.
  • Dairy products like yogurt, sour milk, vegetable, and fruits with large water content like watermelon, cucumber, bananas, tomatoes, pumpkin leaf, spinach. This food doesn’t look nice when thawed.

How To freeze and reheat meals?

We have been going on and on freezer meals, meals to freeze and not to freeze forgetting the most important thing, which is how to freeze meals.

Some people might find this a little off – like how hard can it be to freeze meals, does someone have to be tutored on how to freeze meals.

Well, as cheap as it sounds, freezing meals is a lot more complicated than you think, if it wasn’t, we wouldn’t bring it up. Here are a few guides on how to freeze meals:

  • After cooking, put the food in a container and allow it to cool for a few minutes (to let out the steam) before taking it to the freezer.
  • If you freeze meals for guests or family, you can pack them in a large batch using stasher bags before throwing them into the freezer. But if your food is meant for one person, you can pack it in a small batch so there will be no leftovers. The stasher bag will come in handy at this stage, they freeze fast and makes reheating easy.
  • When you want to reheat meals, take them out from the freezer and directly into the microwave, oven or you can decide to thaw the food overnight whichever one you prefer.
  • Thawing is perfect for soup, stew, cooked meat, or fish. You can reheat by placing them in a pot of water on a gas cooker.
  • Foods like raw fish or meat can be thawed overnight in lukewarm water.

Note: Thawing meals and putting them back in the freezer is unadvised. 

 

Best ways to store freezer meals?

Storing freezer meals is easy. You can put it in a transparent container or a stasher bag. Stand-up and Half-Gallon stasher bag is ide for packing up huge chunks of food, then Sandwich stasher for a little portion of food for a single person.

One very important thing to remember is labeling. Ensure you label every dish you pack up using a marker (not a permanent marker).

Write the date you made the food, the type of food, this is to avoid leaving a particular dish in the freezer for too long. 

How long do freezer meals last?

How long freezer meals last is dependent on the type of food. Most freezer meals can last for long without getting spoilt, but this doesn’t mean you should leave it on ice for so long.

Some last up to three to six months while others take longer time, like fruit and vegetable without high water content e.g carrots, berries, grapes, nuts, etc.

Conclusion

We decided to make things a lot easier for you by giving out this useful piece of information about freezer meals.

We know how frustrating and exhausting it is to get back from work and head straight for the kitchen to make dinner.

You don’t have to through all that stress any longer, just cook your meals ahead and store them in the freezer. You can have it anytime!

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