Freeze-ahead Cooking Group - Most Recent Comments | BigOven.com

Re: Excellent Book

I agree! I have this book and love it! One of our family's favorites is the Crock pot Hawaiian Chicken. I often make it in a large zip-lock bags and freeze it. When I want to use it, I defrost it inthe fridge, dump it in the crock pot and enjoy! - teachermom

Re: Using Big Oven SW for OAMC

I have used Big Oven for my OAMC cooking session. Right after Christmas my Mother-in-law and my sister-in-law and I spent a day making meals. Using Big Oven was really easy and saved us a lot of time! Once I entered the recipes we were going to use, I added them to our menu for cooking day. I also was sure to adjust the "servings" for each meal to make 3 meals (one for each of us). Big Oven did all of the hard work, multiplying ingredients, etc... I printed out the shopping list that combined ingredients for us. I checked the pantry and then shopped for our items. We also printed out the recipes and stuck it on top of the completed dish so we had all of the baking instructions right there. That is great if you give a meal away too! Hope it works well for you! I am looking forward to adding more recipes. It will be easier to plan a meal sessin if all of my recipes are in Big Oven!

[edited February-11-2009]

- teachermom

Re: twice baked potato casserole

I've used the foil-wrap freezing method but instead of instantly thawing it under running water, I defrosted it overnight in the fridge. I found out that if I thaw it that way, it needs to be thawed in the pan I will use to cook it. I didn't do this and I had a huge mess in the fridge. LOL you'd think that would be common sense! Thought I'd mention it to spare someone else from my mistake.
- laursaurus

Using Big Oven SW for OAMC

Has anyone used the Big Oven software to create a cooking day plan for once-a-month cooking? Any tips?
- laursaurus

Re: Re-freezing food

If you cook it, it's safe. I admit I break the rules and re-freeze raw meat if I've thawed it out in the fridge and it's never taken out where it could have reached above 40 degrees. Never experienced any illness. After all, that's exactly what it's like when it's bought at the store, and it's safe to freeze.
Bacteria grows when the temperature is above 40 degrees F.

- laursaurus

Re: What's In Your Freezer?

I freeze practically everything. I make extra batches of chili, split pea soup, tortilla soups, white chili's, pasta sauces etc. The only soups I've found that doesn't freeze well are those with pasta. It turns the pasta mushy. I freeze tortillas, and breads of all kinds. When I make too much quick bread (like a banana or pumpkin) I will freeze it whole, or in slices. I use a vacuum sealer for most non-liquid jobs. I also almost always have a lasagna in there. I use 2 - 9x9 pans instead of the standard lasagna pan. The one I put into the freezer is a disposable one so I don't have to lose a pan for several months. - scturner97

Re: What's In Your Freezer?

Would you be willing to share your soup recipes?
- ybreiden

Re: What's In Your Freezer?

What a great mom you are!

[edited January-18-2009]

- ybreiden

Re: What's In Your Freezer?

I make king ranch chicken and lasagna and freeze for meals later. I also make these for my two sons who are college students living in apartments. It gives them a quick and easy meal that is not fast food. I also make large amounts of meatballs which I bake in the oven and then freeze. These can be added to a jar of marinara sauce for a very quick spaghetti and meatball dinner. I always send a large bag back to school with the boys which they also use for meatball subs.

I also make them chili and a couple kinds of homemade soups for their freezers as well. The other big freezer hit for them is homemade cookie dough - normally chocolate chip. I freeze one batch into 4 logs wrapped in saran wrap and then put in a freezer bag. They can take one log out a time, slice and bake and have warm cookies for dessert.

- nanced1

Re: Any good tips for preventing freezer burn?

I use a FoodSaver vacuum packager which does a great job of sucking most of the air out of the bag. While this is not 100% effective over time, it does a much better job than just using zip loc type bags, and I find very little freezer burn.
- AnnieBananie