Freezer Cooking Questions

Here are some common freezer cooking questions, I've received from others about freezing meals. If you have a freezer cooking question of your own submit it below. 

Frequently Asked Freezer Cooking Questions

1. Can I freeze green beans or other vegetables?
   Yes, especially fresh green beans will turn out well. Canned may turn out a little soggy because of the extra moisture. It is best when freezing fresh vegetables to blanch them. That means boiling them for 1 minute and then adding them to a bowl of ice water. Then drain on a paper towel or dish towel. This helps them stay fresh and retain their color. It is great to freeze vegetables in the summertime when fresh vegetables are in abundance.



2. Can I freeze homemade bread dough?
   Yes freezing bread dough is a great way to have a fresh loaf of bread or make dinner with a recipe such as stuffed hamburger rolls. See how to freeze bread dough on on our freezer recipes bread page.



3. Can I freeze meals to cook in the crockpot later?
   Yes. Using the crock pot and freezing meals ahead of time is really making quick work of preparing dinner. See crockpot freezer meals.



4. Can you freeze chunk cheese?
   Yes, however cheese frozen in a block will crumble easily and you won't be able to cut it in slices. You can cut a block of cheese in slices or shred before freezing, though.



5. Can you freeze cooked spaghetti and sauce?
   Sauce is great frozen and reheated. It is one of the most versatile freezer recipes because it can be used for so many recipes and freezes well. If you want to cook spaghetti or pasta and then freeze it won't turn out the same consistency because frozen noodles don't taste as good as fresh.
   
   If you mix noodles in a sauce such as spaghetti pie it will work well.
   
   However having said that fresh pasta noodles freeze well and you can make a large batch of homemade ravioli or pasta noodles and flash freeze them.



6. What does it mean to flash freeze?
   Flash freeze is when you quickly freeze something individually without it becoming totally frozen. Often times you place the food on a cookie sheet separated until the food is partially frozen. Then you place them in a bag. This makes it easy to pull out one or two because they don't stick together.



7. Can I freeze home made candy?
   Home made candy freezes well. Especially around Christmas time when many homes are busy baking you can do a little at a time and freeze little by little. Cookies are also easy to freeze.



8. What doesn't freeze well?
   Mayonnaise, sour cream, cooked potatoes (although you can work around that see below), pasta noodles in soups.



9. How can you freeze potatoes?
   You can freeze twice baked potatoes or mashed potatoes just keep in mind they will have more moisture from being frozen so bring from the freezer directly to the oven. Or for mashed potatoes heat up in a saucepan where the extra moisture can evaporate. Soups that have potatoes in them don't freeze well. So leave those out of any recipe you might be using.



10. How can you freeze fresh fruits to use during wintertime?
    Berries, sliced peaches, sliced apples and other fresh fruits can be flash frozen and then placed in ziploc baggies for easy meals, snacks and treats. These are especially great for fruit smoothies. Watermelon and melons are about the only fruit that won't freeze well.
    
    If you don't eat your bananas before they turn brown you can easily place them in the freezer. Leave them in the peel or cut them in smaller pieces and place in a ziploc bag. These can be used for smoothies, added to pancake mix or banana bread. If left in the peel take out of the freezer the night before. Another fun idea is to freeze fruit whole such as grapes or peaches. Then eat them slightly unthawed for a cold treat.

Ask your Freezer Cooking Questions here.

Ask your freezer cooking question here...

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Can you freeze uncooked quiches and egg casseroles?  Not rated yet
Yes! Eggs freeze very well. If I'm having quiche for dinner one night I like to freeze an extra one for another night. I either cook one and then allow ...

Can you refreeze TV Dinners?  Not rated yet
Power outage for 12 hours.

Answer:
If it has already been unthawed it is best to cook it and eat it that night. Just to be on the safe side, unthawing ...