Yum! January 2006: Company's coming

Yum! Jan. 9: Foods that freeze
Lamenting the amount of prepared dinners you buy? Or is one of your resolutions for 2006 to cook more and take out less? Then stay tuned over the next three weeks as we make cooking a little easier with tips and recipes for foods that freeze well.

To regain control over weeknight meals, the first step is to develop a repertoire that you can prepare ahead, especially dishes that can be slow cooked on weekends or easily doubled on weeknights then frozen. In the first installment, you'll see that foods cooked in sauce are ideal for freezing.

Saucy foods freeze well:
1. Just-Like-Moma's Pasta Sauce
2. Braised Beef and Rosemary Pasta Sauce
3. Really Good Beef and Bean Chili
4. Jerk Pork Stew
5. Chicken Braised with Sweet Peppers

Avoid freezing:
• Cream sauces can split or curdle after being frozen and reheated. For dishes such as Beef Stroganoff Toss for Two, freeze without sour cream and horseradish; stir in when reheating.
• Vegetables with high water content can become mushy after being frozen. Sauces with eggplant, green beans, potatoes and zucchini are best eaten fresh or refrigerated and reheated.

Storing and reheating:
• Stock up on plastic containers with tight-fitting lids (some, such as Gladware, even make the transition from freezer to oven). Depending on your routine, single-portion containers can be handy.
• Cool foods completely in the refrigerator before freezing. Leave space in container for expansion during freezing.
• Use foods within one month, discarding anything that has freezer burn.
• Defrost foods in refrigerator before reheating. Once defrosted, foods should be eaten immediately and never refrozen.