practicality | Freezer Cooking

There was a day for the December posting meme about food, which I skipped and meant to come back to later and then never did, which is what this post is.

Basically, about a year ago, I got fed up with buying frozen lunches/dinners to bring to work that just left me feeling sad and disappointed because they were too small to be filling and/or not actually very tasty (only exceptions: the Marie Callendar chicken and broccoli alfredo, and the white cheddar mac and cheese. Which are usually like $5/each when I can even find them). Solution: once a month or so, cook three or four big dishes and divide them into containers and stick them in the freezer.

It's worked out pretty well so far, except for the problem of variety - I really only want recipes that I can re-heat in the microwave (rather than 'pull this out and bake it for an hour before serving'), and a lot of recipe resources are geared towards people who follow very specific Anglo-centric diets (paleo, keto, whole 30, etc), which I'm not really interested in. My dad enjoys both cooking and traveling, so I grew up eating Indian and Tex-Mex and Lebanese and Chinese, with only a smattering of 'typical' American food, and I haven't had much luck finding freezer-cooking resources more varied than Tex-Mex and Italian - both of which I like, but I'd really like some curry recipes and rice recipes and I am not skilled or knowledgeable enough to adapt things myself.

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The (inauthentic but tasty) curried lentil thing we do survives the freezer pretty well, but it definitely goes best with rice plus some yogurt on top, and I’ve never tried heating my own rice from the freeze. (I think Trader Joe’s sells some brown freezer rice tho.)

Here’s the recipe, if it’s any help.

(https://roadrunnertwice.dreamwidth.org/file/14953.jpg)

Honestly any curry I make will probably be at least a little inauthentic, because I am a wuss who cannot handle heat. That looks pretty tasty though, I will have to give it a try! Is the one cup of lentils dry, soaked/pre-cooked?

(no subject)

roadrunnertwice.dreamwidth.org - 2019-06-18 16:36 (UTC)

I dunno how well rice does in the freezer; I've had some success reheating it from the fridge by adding water to it before running it through the microwave.

And budget bytes does a number of freezer-suitable recipes: https://www.budgetbytes.com/?s=freezer - i've tried tons of stuff from her site and, tho there are some things i wouldn't make again, i've liked everything. the comments on the recipes can be pretty useful as well if there are substitution questions for some ingredients.

In my experience dal-type dishes survive at least decently in the freezer, and naan does alright if you get to retoast it instead of putting it in a microwave. This not authentic chickpea stew has done me well in the past. (https://www.tresamericain.com/blog/2019/1/8/alison-romans-chickpea-stew)

I don't trust the idea of freezing white rice, since that's actually a technique I use for congee (https://thewoksoflife.com/20-minute-congee-recipe/), which is not a texture I'd want for a side of steamed rice. Interestingly, that implies that something like cauliflower crumbles, which is usually sold frozen to be reheated in the microwave as a rice replacement, would be a 'better' choice. Brown rice might also hold up better, but I have yet to try it. Plain congee itself post-cooking actually reheats in the microwave fine, but many toppings wouldn't survive well. Could be worth making a batch of fresh congee, keeping a stock of toppings in the fridge, and topping as you go each day.

I need to play around with congee toppings at some point, because at base level it should be a dish I like (I like oatmeal and cream of wheat) - I've only really had it with pork fluff though, and pork fluff is... a little weird in of itself.

We do have toasters at work, and that chickpea stew looks delicious (chickpea anything tends to be delicious ime)

fandomonymous.dreamwidth.org - 2019-06-18 16:58 (UTC)

I'd have thought most curry recipes would freeze pretty well, but rice might be a problem. I have a vague memory that the bento communities have some recommendations about bulk cooking and storing rice (but they could easily be "put the rice cooker on a timer so it is ready first thing in the morning")

They probably do! I think if I was more confident in my curry-making I'd be willing to try things out, but growing up my mom and dad made those, and then I moved to a city where I could get good curry for cheap a short walk away, so I never actually picked up any recipes I know I like.

purplecat.dreamwidth.org - 2019-06-18 15:59 (UTC)

momijizukamori.dreamwidth.org - 2019-06-18 16:06 (UTC)

purplecat.dreamwidth.org - 2019-06-18 16:19 (UTC)

Mutton Curry

purplecat.dreamwidth.org - 2019-06-18 16:20 (UTC)

Kathirikai Kara Kulambu

purplecat.dreamwidth.org - 2019-06-18 16:21 (UTC)

Lamb Slow-cooked in Onions and Yoghurt

purplecat.dreamwidth.org - 2019-06-18 16:23 (UTC)

Chicken and Cashew Nuts in Black Spices

purplecat.dreamwidth.org - 2019-06-18 16:24 (UTC)

Re: Chicken and Cashew Nuts in Black Spices

purplecat.dreamwidth.org - 2019-06-18 16:25 (UTC)

For (southern) Chinese food, frozen food tends to be of the "requires a little cooking" type. You can make sticky rice variants like youfan or zhongzi, cook before freezing, and they will reheat fine in a steamer. I've never tried with a microwave but in theory it should be possible to microwave them as long as you have extra moisture in your microwave.

Regular recipes for jiaozi and wonton can be frozen right before the cook stage of the recipe. However that does mean you have to cook it once you take it out of the freezer.

Edit: steamed buns are actually pre-cooked before freezing! My bad. These need to be steamed though, I don't know if a microwave would work.

For Chinese soup noodle recipes, like beef noodle soup, you actually need to pre-make the soup base and meat, so I usually freeze these into single-serving portions anyway. You can pair with whatever starch you want (since cooking actual noodles takes time to boil + 4 mins).

Edit 2: when I say steamer, what I really mean is, my rice cooker that happens to steam things, which I find less scary to use than my microwave.

Edited 2019-06-18 06:05 (UTC)

Yeah, microwaves are pretty good at generating steam (which is why microwaving veggies works so well). I have never made steamed buns before though I do find them delicious enough to be worth trying, I think!

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