Freezing Prepared Foods - Advantages

Foods for meals from sack lunches to elaborate dinners can be kept in your freezer ready for busy-days, parties, or unexpected company. By planning a steady flow of casseroles, main dishes, baked goods and desserts in and out of your freezer, you can make good use of your freezer and good use of your time.

Advantages of Freezing Prepared Foods

• You prepare food at your convenience.
• The oven is used more efficiently by baking more than one dish at a time.
• You avoid waste by freezing leftovers and using them as "planned overs.
• Special diet foods and baby foods can be prepared in quantity and frozen in single portions.
• You save time by doubling or tripling recipes and freezing the extra.
• If you cook for one or two, individual portions of an ordinary recipe can be frozen for later use.

On the Other Hand...

When you figure the cost of packaging, of energy use, and of the freezer itself, you will discover that freezing is expensive. Cooking, freezing, and reheating requires more fuel than cooking from scratch. Prepared foods have a relatively short storage life compared to frozen fruits, vegetables, and meat.

Unless you have a microwave oven, you must allow plenty of time for thawing. Some products don't freeze well. Others don't justify the labor and expense of freezing.

Preparing to Freeze

If you aren't sure about how a prepared food freezes, try freezing just a small portion the first time and checking to see if the quality is acceptable.

Slightly undercook foods to be reheated after freezing. Cool foods quickly for safety and freshness. Keeping foods at room temperature for several hours before freezing increases chances of spoilage and foodborne illness. Also flavor, color, texture, and nutrient content are likely to deteriorate.

To speed cooling, put pans of hot prepared food-main dishes, sauces, etc., in a pan or sink of ice water. This is especially important when preparing large amounts of food. Change ice water frequently or run cold water around the pan. When cool, package and freeze immediately. (NOTE: Do not place glass or ceramic containers in ice water-they may break.)

Packaging

Package foods in the appropriate freezer materials (see "Packaging Foods for Freezing") in the amounts you will use at one time. Once food is thawed, it spoils more quickly than fresh foods. Be sure to fully label each item.

Written by Susan Reynolds, M.S., former Extension Foods Specialist, University of Georgia, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Athens. First published: February 1994. Reviewed: June 1998.
Courtesy of the University of Florida, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS)