Cooking & Baking
Related: About this forumQuestion about freezing cooked potatoes.
I made chicken with pan fried potatoes, onions, and green recipes (Recipe here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/115759429) and I have more leftovers than would be convenient or desirable to eat in the next couple of days. I know the chicken will freeze nicely, but how about the veggies?
Anyone know?
Chiquitita
(752 posts)Maybe if you separate them, when you reheat you can see. I'd say that if you'll have them within the month, it would be fine to freeze and they'll taste pretty good, maybe just lose a little texture.
SheilaT
(23,156 posts)It wouldn't really be practical to separate out the onions and green pepper.
How would you freeze them? Zip-lock bag?
Chiquitita
(752 posts)and just sort of separating them in the bag. I am not speaking from a lot of experience though.
Warpy
(110,912 posts)The green peppers will lose some texture no matter what you do with them. The potatoes and onions should be just fine and the green peppers will taste just fine.
Yes, I speak from experience. Just cool them, dump them into a freezer bag, and freeze them.
The one thing I really never recommend freezing is cucumber unless you cube it small and eat it still frozen. When it thaws, you get slime.
SheilaT
(23,156 posts)Not that I'd have been inclined to do so.
Warpy
(110,912 posts)It was pretty good on a hot day but burp city afterward.
packman
(16,296 posts)You can get frozen fries and potatoes at the store. Would recommend you separate them and freeze them (maybe on a cookie sheet as such) before putting them together in a freezer bag - somewhat how you would freeze blueberries or strawberries. To defrost, probably do them gently over time.
SheilaT
(23,156 posts)of stabilizers and I don't know what else added.
Tomorrow night I'm having dinner with a friend, and on Sunday another friend is passing through town, although I'm not yet certain if we'll have lunch or dinner together. So Saturday I can eat another portion, and a third on Sunday perhaps.
It's not a vast amount of expensive ingredients, that's for sure, but I wind up throwing out so much as it is, that I try to minimize the waste. Plus, it's always nice when I have something in the freezer I can just haul out for a quick meal. Right now I have a nearly unconscionable amount of meals in the freezer. I'm trying to work my way through them. But then I get happy about cooking up something fresh.
A while back I made chicken cacciatore for the first time ever, and I still have two portions frozen, just staring at me and wondering when their turn will come.
Major Nikon
(36,814 posts)The reason some fruits and vegetables and some meats don't freeze well is the ice crystals pierce cell walls and allow moisture to escape. Starchy vegetables might get a little more mushy, but they will still retain the moisture well. Stone fruits usually do OK.
SheilaT
(23,156 posts)I'll give it a try.
rusty quoin
(6,133 posts)Are you a professional chef? You seem to know most of the right answers in this group.
Major Nikon
(36,814 posts)I have a particular fondness for food science. Also a good friend of mine has been to culinary school and we do some cooking together. There's one or two professionals that are here in this group from time to time who have far more answers than I do.
If you want to learn more about the nuts and bolts of cooking, a very good read is this book.