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[cindyanne1]

Now that school is coming back in session, I'm wanting to freeze pre-made meals (or meal starters) to make life easier in the evenings. My question is, what should I be doing differently if I'm making the food for the purpose of being frozen? For example, sloppy joe meat... should I make it "wetter" so it won't be dried out when it's defrosted/

Comments

[angel726]

For things like sloppy joe, I usually cook it all the way, and then just add a little more sauce when I reheat it.

For freezing something like a lasagna or a casserole, I usually freeze it uncooked, and either let it thaw in the fridge all day before cooking, or add some extra time to the cooking time. (Let's be honest, it's always that last choice lol, I never plan that well ahead)

[lisasimpsonfan]

I don't like to have things like sloppy joes already mixed up already in the freezer since IMO the flavor can change. I like to cook up batches of unseasoned meat (hamburger, shredded chicken, ground turkey, etc...) and then divide it up into portions that work for us and freeze those. Then when I want to make sloppy joes or chicken tacos I can just pull out the meat, add the seasoning/sauce and we are good to go.

I do the same with my meatballs. I use a recipe closer to my meatloaf so they are more flavor neutral that way they will go well in tomato sauce, sweet and sour sauce with rice, mushroom gravy, etc... It's nice to be able to pull out a few good pre-cooked meatballs and toss them in whatever sauce sounds good.

[runonthesun]

You should either freeze in raw form (and don't leave it at room temperature too long during preparation) or fully cooked form. Freezing nearly cooked but not yet safe to eat stuff puts you at greater risk.

Look for recipes that say, "At this point you can put it in your fridge for two weeks or your freezer for up to six months and then finisht he preparation."

[celtic_catgirl]

I would either cook something completely or leave it uncooked.

One of my favorite ways to do it is to make the bags that are ready to go in the crockpot. I'd do a search for crockpot freezer meals and look at http://onceamonthmeals.com/

You can use their recipes or once you get an idea of the method adapt your own.

[liannas_mom]

I get ambitious sometimes and do this...if you google 'once a month cooking' there are a ton of resources and recipes online.
To answer your question, for prepped meals I cook it all first, but omit any cheese on top. I often have additions that will have to be put in that I keep separate or not at all (noodles for chicken noodle soup I make separate day of and add).