Freezing Food - Plan B for Easy Dinners

The freezer compartment belongs to the most important accessories of my kitchen. It keeps me a happy housewife. On any given day I have 3 or 4 frozen meals tucked away. When I don't feel like cooking for whatever reason, I take out a meal and dinner is done. I don't remember my mother using frozen food. She never put ready cooked meals into the freezer: This space was dedicated to ice creams. The capacity of my mother's freezer compartment was limited and she had to cook every day. I remember her asking desperately: "What do I cook today? Give me an idea!" If I run out of ideas, I open my freezer and study the contents.

Beware of freezer burn

There are only a few rules to follow when freezing food: One thing to avoid is the so-called freezer burn. When food is not properly wrapped, it looses moisture in the freezer. It can absorb or transfer smells from other frozen foods. It is rather simple to avoid freezer burn: Use special food grade plastic bags with a zip or press seal or containers made for this purpose. When using freezer bags, be sure to remove as much air as possible before closing. When you want to freeze liquids in containers, for example fish stock or pasta sauce, keep some head room for expansion.

Label frozen packages

Write the name of the dish and the date of freezing with permanent marker. Frozen food changes appearance and you might forget what you have stored. One time, I thought I was thawing tomato sauce for pasta, when in fact I had pulled out fish soup - labeling prevents similar mistakes. I try not to keep anything longer than 2 months in my freezer.

Never put anything warm into your freezer. Food to be frozen should have room temperature or - even better - be cooled to fridge temperature. The outer edges of a warm dish will freeze quickly while the inside may not cool in time to avoid spoilage.

Freezing meat:

Sometimes I see a nice piece of fresh meat at the supermarket, but I don't really need it straight away. When I reach home I clean the meat, wrap it tightly into cling film and freeze it.

Mostly I freeze prepared foods like meat balls, chicken nuggets or goulash. I fill meat with sauce into plastic containers. I spread meat balls and other small pieces on a tray and freeze them, until they are hard. Then I place them into freezer bags, squeeze out excess air, label and store them. In this way the items do not stick together. You can take out as many as you need at a time. It is not necessary to thaw these meats before frying or baking them. You can put them straight away from the freezer into the pan or the oven.

Freezing vegetables:

Seasonal vegetables like Brussels sprouts or asparagus can be frozen after blanching. Clean the vegetables and remove any unwanted stalks and leaves, then cut them into bite size pieces. Without blanching many vegetables lose color and flavor when frozen straight away. To blanch vegetables, boil water in a pot and place a bowl of ice water next to it. Put a handful of vegetables for a couple of minutes into the boiling water, and then transfer them to the ice water. Pat dry, package and freeze them. Most vegetables require around 3 minutes blanching. Brussels sprouts need about 5 minutes.

Freezing herbs:

I stock a variety of rare herbs in my freezer compartment. Frozen herbs are not good for decorating food, but they keep the taste. It is perfectly fine to use frozen herbs in sauces and salad dressings. As always, packaging is most important. I own many small containers for freezing herbs. When I find herbs in the market I take them home and immediately wash them well. After chopping I fill them into containers and stash them in the freezer. Only sage does not need chopping before freezing, because you don't eat the leaves.

The author Kornelia Santoro manages a website called 'Kornelia's Kitchen', http://www.mediterraneancooking.in. This website focuses on Mediterranean cuisine and provides free recipes which are easy and fast to execute. She addresses all the needs of busy mothers and fathers who want to feed their families in a healthy way without spending hours daily in the kitchen.

One section of the website contains information about the nutritional value of ingredients. Articles about freezing food, kitchen design and weight loss without diet help organizing your kitchen for happy cooking experiences. 'Nothing equals home cooking when you want to keep your family healthy', says Kornelia. 'Chemicals in industrial food and bad fatty acids from restaurant fare are largely responsible for widespread overweight today.' She promotes the use of healthy fats like olive and coconut oil and butter. Living in India with a limited supply of ingredients has forced her to experiment with classical Mediterranean recipes. The result are easy, yet delicious dishes with ingredients you find everywhere on the planet.

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