Silly Question About Freezing Food (Containers You Use)

Depending what it is, I use those little foil tins for things like lasagne, and enchiladas, with press and seal on them, and into ziplocs. For things like steak, I do press and seal and into a ziploc. Stews, spaghetti sauce, straight into ziplocs. The point is to prevent the ice crystals, but that is difficult. The best way is to get out as much air as possible and those glad things don't allow you to do that.

The main thing is to get all of the air out - that's where you get your ice crystals. If you're doing lasagne, put a piece of plastic wrap pressed down on top of the food and then foil across the top of the pan. If you are doing the gladware, same thing, put a piece of plastic wrap down first.
I freeze marinara and soups in freezer bags and push all the air out. Then I freeze them flat so they freeze/thaw faster.

I freeze my things in glass casserole dishes after I make them and then take out the next day (put one hand to hold the frozen block of food, turn upside-down and run hot water over the bottom, and it will pop right out!)

Wrap in freezer paper and THEN in foil or freezer bag. Label and date.

Foil next to your food is NEVER a good idea- it is aluminum and HIGHLY toxic.

We also fill canning jars 3/4 full and use those with the plastic lids you can now buy in the canning section (the metal ones will rust.)

Hope this helps!

Use the glass or aluminum containers to store your meals. The best way to avoid the freezerburn crystals is to allow your dish to fully cool then cover and freeze. Once the dish is cool put in fridge for 30 min. then cover and freeze you will see much less condensation that causes those crystals we all hate. Good luck I try to not freeze in plastic containers.

I use the glad containers or freezer bags too. Even if they get ice crystals on them it seems the food is fine. I just never keep stuff frozen for too long (a week or two).

I have a Foodsaver device. Plastic bags, put the food in, and the machine sucks the air out and seals the bag. Pretty inexpensive to purchase and easy to use. All kinds

I too us a foodsaver - I tend to do it most when I get a good deal on meat/poultry - you can seal in with marinade so it marinates as it thaw out, but I realize sometimes you need something meant for a pan. Glad used to make this ovenware - it was this bakeable plastic container with a lid - I think they will at least have it out now for the holidays. So, what I will do is prep a full recipe that would go in an 9x12 pan and then split into 2 - 8x8 - one in glass that I fully cook & eat and the other in the glad ovenware that I only prep & freeze as I don't trust my family with glass/pyrex in the freezer nor do I use aluminum in the freezer ;-) I do this with enchiladas.

I know that they say you can partially cook pasta then freeze but over the years, I've decided I prefer to do the prep and only cook upon defrosting if possible.

The thing about freezer cooking is a lot is for the "main" course and you still need to cook the sides. So, you can do well coming up with healthy sides that you can cook in under 15 minutes like couscous & quinoa as well as once a week cleaning out your produce bin by chopping up and freezing what's left so you always have frozen (fresh) veggies on hand for sides or to add to main course - it is the prep of these veggies that can take some time. I always have a batch of veggie fajitas this way.

I have found for me that I have become more diligent about "recycling" leftovers as opposed to freezing & my family seems to prefer it. Even the $5 Costco/Sams rotisserie chicken - main course one night, then it goes into an enchilada, quesidilla or wrap or salad or even chicken tortilla soup - which is super easy (add diced tomatoes w/ green chilis, can of corn, can of black beans, 1/3 cup rice, some chopped carrots & 5 cups chicken broth & cook for 20 mins)

I just bought a book about freezing food - Don't Panic, Dinner's in the Freezer - and what they suggest for lasagna is to line your pan with foil and then line that with plastic wrap. Wrap it up this way and then put in the freezer until it canhold it's shape. Then, take it out of the pan and put in a freezer bag. So, the lasagna will be wrapped in plastic wrap, then foil and then put in a freezer bag. This prevents ice crystal from forming.

I make extra servings and freeze meals all the time, sometimes I specifically cook to make lunch freezer meals for the days my husband works downtown.
I bought some plastic containers with lids that restaurants use. Plastics wrap and label before I place the lid on.
Hubbie grabs one in the morning and it's defrosted by lunch-time.

We just use plastic tupperware type containers also to freeze things. I also get the white ice crystals on my stuff, but does not seem to make a difference in what I freeze, for taste or freshness.

You can freeze almost anything in a freezer bag even soup. Make sure it is cooled down, put in the bag, and freeze on a cookie sheet. I make most of my own broth along with tons of other things. I love to cook in bulk so on busy nights we are ready with a home cooked meal. I never worry about the ice crystals they never seem to affect the flavor.

Get the books Dinner's in the Freezer and More Dinner's in the Freezer from your library. It goes into great detail about how to do freezer meals. Plus I've found some of my absolute favorite recipes in those books.

Ice crystals happen, but you want to avoid them as much as possible. Make sure you squeeze all the air out of plastic bags before sealing. If using containers, cover the meal with tin foil before the lid goes on.