Deep Freezing?

Hi,
Great questions. When you cook a casserole, like lasagne, you would want to pull it out the day you plan on cooking it. Then, you just heat it until it is warm. The caution of putting it directly in the oven from the freezer would be if you have a glass pan, you want to preheat the oven with the casserole in the oven so that there isn't a huge thermal shock. It should already be cooked fully before you freeze it, so warming it is all you are trying to accomplish in the oven before eating.
Meats can be frozen for about a year (depending on how good your freezer is) before cooking and eating them. The exp. date is for fresh meat unfrozen before consumption.
I would not cook the vegetables before freezing. They will lose more nutrients that way. Just freeze them and cook when ready. If you can, you might put them on a cookie sheet to flash freeze them first. Then, put them in a freezer bag to freeze them. This way, they won't all stick together when you want to get some out to cook (like bags of corn, peas, etc.).
Enjoy your freezer!!
ETA: I forgot to mention that you can also cook meats, like ground beef, before freezing. Then, put them in a freezer bag to freeze. When you need a quick meal, you have cooked beef already to go. You can add seasoning (taco) or sauce (spaghetti), and you have a meal ready. It's quick and much better than store bought fast food.

Good questions! I would like to know myself and wait and see what the moms have to say.

Yes, definitely blanch.

These other responses are great. My only other comment is with freezing the lasagna. I usually freeze it in the pan I prepare it in. Once it's frozen, I dump it out of the pan and wrap it in cling wrap and then overwrap it in foil, sealing carefully to keep out the air. If I just wrapped it in foil, the aluminum interacts with the acid in the tomato sauce and gets eaten away. Anyway, this way I can keep using my pan while the lasagna is in the freezer. When I'm ready to use the lasagna, I take it out of all the wrapping, put it back in the pan to thaw (or to cook) and cover it again, just with the foil this time since there's not much time involved.
Good luck!!!

You have gotten some good answers. A few tricks I have learned it to let things cool completely before you freeze them. This will help crystals from forming. I have a vacuum sealer that works fantastic for some items and not so great for other things. I imagine your bags will work fine.

Thawing makes things much easier, but I know from experience that, in a jam you can cook casseroles and lasagnas frozen. It takes much longer. Sometimes it makes my lasagna just a bit soupy. And cover things with tin foil while it's cooking. This will prevent cheeses and crusts from over browning.

We have a garden and veggies need to be blanched before you freeze them "Blanching is the scalding of vegetables in boiling water or steam. Blanching slows or stops the action of enzymes. Up until harvest time, enzymes cause vegetables to grow and mature. If vegetables are not blanched, or blanching is not long enough, the enzymes continue to be active during frozen storage causing off-colors, off-flavors and toughening." I often refer to this website to know how long to blanch foods for http://missourifamilies.org/features/foodsafetyarticles/f...

Here are some tips:

- put meat in the freezer before the expiration date and it will be good to eat for up to one year, I usually put the date I froze it on the package before I put it in.

- Cook veggies first, then freeze, you can put them in boiling water for a few minutes frozen to heat them and eat them

- For casseroles, I usually cook them and then put them in the freezer. When I am ready to eat them, I take it out the day or two before and let it defrost on the frig the cook it until warm. You do have to be sure to have an airtight container that is suitable for the freezer so you do not get freezer burn. You can even use the aluminum pan and then use one of your storage bags around the whole thing then suck out the air and seal.

Basically, keep the food airtight, remember food is good for up to a year and defrost before cooking unless it's plain cooked veggies.

Good luck and happy freezing.

I freeze a lot of stuff. I love it! I buy in bulk when it's on sale and it saves me a ton of money on meat.
If I'm not going to store it for very long (maybe a week or two) I just throw the meat in the freezer in the package it comes in. If it's wrapped in butcher paper, you can store it in the freezer for quite awhile. I have some stuff that came directly from the butcher over a year ago and it's still perfectly fine.
If you want to freeze your raw meat in smaller portions, use freezer bags. If it's ground beef, sort of smush it so it's flat in the bag, then roll it to get all the air out. You HAVE to make sure you get all of the air out or you'll get freezer burn. For things like chicken or pork chops I freeze them in a marinade. I make up the marinade, put it in a freezer bag, toss in the meat, squeeze all the air out and freeze. I like all of my meat to lie flat in the bag for several reasons 1) it's easier to stack in the freezer 2)it unthaws more evenly 3)unthaws faster.
I don't freeze a lot of meals, other than soups. I just don't really care for re-heated lasagne or casseroles, that's just me though :) If I'm going to be busy I make them in the crock pot.
As far as vegetables, I always blanch mine and then lay them on a cookie sheet to flash freeze, then you can put them in a freezer bag. My stepmom likes to blanch hers and then toss them in a bag with a little bit of water. She reheats them in the microwave right in the bag.

If you have individual lasagna it takes about 45mins. A whole one would take maybe 1.5 hours. If you thaw it it is quicker. I often put it in the microwave for 10 mins then finish in the oven. You do not need to thaw if you don't want to.
Purchased meat that expires on the day you freeze it is good to freeze but when you thaw it needs to be used immediately.
I wrap all meat in cling wrap in individual cooking portions. Then place in a FREEZER ziploc bag. This will prevent freezer burn .
You can blanch veggies before freezing. Meaning boils some water, get the veggies washed, cut, peeled or whatever shape you want them and then put them in. But do not cook. Just leave them in the water a few mins. Until they get very bright in color then take them out and pt them in ice water, drain and freeze. Freeze on a cookie sheet first the place in ziplock baggies.
I would not bother blanching corn. But I would do it with green beans, broccoli etc