Since I’m planning on a move in May or June (assuming I’ve found a job and passed my comprehensive exam), I need to make a serious effort to save money, so I need to make sure I take in lunch and dinner on those days that I’ll be on campus all day.
I have access to a fridge and a microwave, but what I don’t really have are recipes that freeze well. Since we’re on winter break at the moment, it’s the ideal time to make items and freeze single servings so I can pull them out of the freezer, tuck them in the fridge at school and heat them up at meal time.
I’m not picky: with meat, vegetarian, casseroles, soups…basically, whatever will be just as good after being reheated as it was the first time around.
Pasta and ant kind of sauce - often better reheated.
Make up a huge batch of pasta sauce - bolagnaisse with mince.
Mix into huge batch of cooked pasta (spirals and other short stuff is best)
Put good sized handfuls into ziplock bags and freeze.
Whatever frozen meals you carry always have on hand in little bottles - parmesan cheese, DL Jardines Blazing Saddles, thai sweet chili sauce and minced garlic. You can change the taste of anything and just throw them away when you’ve had them too long.
Why not with potatoes? I’m not arguing, just seeking information. I’d like to start freezing meals too. Makes it easier to work nightshift and still eat semi-well.
The thing I’ve found when freezing pasta and sauces is that the sauce is absorbed into the pasta. There’s never enough sauce for me so I put it in a different container.
Brown meat with onion & taco mix. Combine with other ingredients in large pot with enough water to make soupy. Heat 1 hour or until thoroughly heated and mixed. Serve with cornbread.
Potatoes become mushy when they’re frozen and re-heated. If you can live with that, go ahead and freeze some potatoes. Actually if it’s a stew or soup with some potato in it, go ahead and freeze it, but if potato is a main ingredient, don’t bother.
Corn Pone keeps remarkably well in the refrigerator, but can be frozen with few ill effects other than having to thaw it out. Cooking traditionally requires frying in a pan, and so may not meet your requirements, but microwaved pone with butter and/or syrup (use restaurant serving packets if you’re hard up) is almost as good.
Turkey meat, picked off the bone and dumped into its own gravy, can be sealed in Tupperware containers and reheated in a saucepan or the microwave, and tastes better every time you reheat it! Pour over freshly made waffles for a winter brunch that will keep you skiing all day long.
Most chili recipes keep well. My Guinness and Black Bean Chili has survived freezing and reheating in microwave and saucepan with no deleterious effects. I’ve never made a batch with the intention of freezing and reheating it, so I don’t know what the long-term effects on the spiciness or flavor might be.
Pretty much anything can be frozen and reheated…I made two quiches and froze them (before baking) and when I took them out and baked them later, they came out great.
One trick with all of this stuff you are freezing…get good ziplock bags and a straw. Put the straw in and zip the bag as far as you can and then suck all the air out of the bag and quickly zip the bag. Airtight, and frozen things do better without the air…also don’t have to worry about freezer burn.
And Miller… speaking of that “patented ice cube recipe”…what do you say to people who throw out ice cubes because, “they are too old”…seriously, I have heard that before.
Perhaps as an ice expert you could shed some light on the topic.
