Freezing Food Questions (1 Viewer)

[JohnVee]

Maybe this thread will take off, and maybe not, but I've got a question to start it off:

I rarely freeze food or buy frozen food so this is uncharted territory for me. Say I want to freeze a cooked pork butt for use later. Is it best for flavor or texture to freeze it whole or shredded? I figure that the entire thing will be used at once when it is thawed instead of just smaller portions for individual meals.

I sometimes freeze cooked pulled pork butt in quart-sized bags filled half full for small meals and it turns out fine for the couple weeks it might be frozen.

--john

 

[spressomon]

Theoretically a whole piece will be exposed to less freezer effect than the same piece broken down into smaller pieces (exposed surface area). Having said that, like you, for short term I've frozen left-over pulled pork for < 6-months without any significant detriment.

For short term and vac sealed it probably wont matter much if any. This assumes a non-self defrost freezer and good temp management (guessing 0 degrees F)...but all conjecture with some experience on my part.

 

[splitshot]

Theoretically a whole piece will be exposed to less freezer effect than the same piece broken down into smaller pieces (exposed surface area). Having said that, like you, for short term I've frozen left-over pulled pork for < 6-months without any significant detriment.

For short term and vac sealed it probably wont matter much if any. This assumes a non-self defrost freezer and good temp management (guessing 0 degrees F)...but all conjecture with some experience on my part.

I concur, vac seal is the key and a non-defrost freezer. I have even had good results with the Ziplock vacuume bags and the hand pump (standard purchase before a large Costco run).

 

[rusty_tlc]

Frost free / not frost free is immaterial when you vac seal.

I have never had good luck freezing cooked meats unless they were in some kind of broth or sauce. Cooked meat frozen dry gets some kind of funky taste to it, for me anyway.

To vac seal meat in broth I first freeze it in tubs then pop out the contents vac seal it. Works for sauces and soups too.

 

[JohnVee]

So let's assume something like stuffed shells (cooked shells filled with ricotta, mozzarella, raw egg, etc). Is it best to freeze 2-person sized portions uncooked - I only wonder because of the raw egg? Freeze it with sauce? Can it go straight to the oven while frozen? I'd guess that it could.

I dont have a vac seal machine but I'm not against getting one if it best serves my needs. My main concern is that I usually eat anything I freeze within 2 months, usually less, so would I really notice the benefits of vac seal?

--john

 

[spressomon]

I freeze extra canelloni, manicotti, ravioli, etc., uncooked...and I've never had issue with it not being appetizing when baked.

You may get by for a month or two in the freezer without vac seal...OTOH since I have and regularly use a vac system most of my freezer fare gets vac'd...it can't hurt

Having said that apart of my renewed infatuation with all things pizza I make 3-pizzas at a time now...1 to eat off the grill and the other two for later via freezer. The frozen slices get eaten within 2-3 weeks or so...I typically leave them on the aluminum baking sheets without even ziplock, etc...and they've always been fine.

 

[rusty_tlc]

I wouldn't be without my vac sealer. We got the wide mouth jar attachment this year and use Mason jars to store a lot of the foods we buy in bulk.
I've had mixed results freezing cheese, soft and semisoft types work well hard cheese tends to get grainy. Other foods that I've had poor results with are potatoes and beans. Pasta always works well.

Sent via the ether from my candy bar running ginger bread

 

[FLATU8ER]

Vacume seal all the way. eliminate the or all air spaces, and there is no place for the ice crystals to form resulting in burn. That said, for delicate stuff (BREADS) I will freeze 1st, and then vac seal as not to crush the product. I vac seal almost every thing. Cheese (Sandwich type), I will break down to usable sizes, vac seal, and have had Costco American cheese last for 5+ mos. in the fridge. Never had experience with pasta - cooked or uncooked, but will buy the industrial size bag of roasted salted peanuts, and break down to useable size portions, just listen to the sealer and hit the seal button before it crushes the peanuts.
I do not have a very organized freezer, and stuff gets shuffeled around as you are looking for other things, and once found a tri-tip that was about 3 yrs old. It cooked up great.
-Jim

 

[JohnVee]

Okay, coming back to this. It's time to buy a vacuum sealer. Tell me which one to buy. I'm not doing large scale production/storage here, just leftovers or prepared, uncooked future meals for convenience.

 

[spressomon]

I've bought a few over the years and the next one will be one of two FoodSaver Game Saver models (reason: Guarantee). The $140 unit comes with a 10-year warranty and the $200 unit comes with a lifetime warranty. If you expect to do back-to-back sealing...like game/bigger batch sealing...get one that can handle it otherwise you need to wait 30-60 seconds (or more) to allow cool down for subsequent bag sealing.

Also if you want to be able to vac seal glass jars (think wide mouth pint and quart canning jars) get one with the accessory port. I use this feature on my FoodSaver all the time...

If your needs require a commercial unit: http://www.dougcare.com

 

[rusty_tlc]

Tough to go wrong with the FoodSavers. Mine is at least 10 years old, the accessory port broke so I may get another one.

Like Spresso I use the accessory port to seal mason jars, I use the 1/2 gallon jars to store beans, oatmeal etc. I also have a flat dish with a vac port. You can use it to speed marinate meat it works very well.

The other feature you want need is a bag cutter. The pre made bags get expensive so you will want to buy rolls and cut your own. A built in cutter makes this very easy.

One big advantage of the FoodSaver is the consumables are easy to find, Walmart , Target etc. all sell the bag rolls. FoodSaver also sells direct on-line and runs web specials every three months or so.

 

[Teddy]

Kind of coming in late to this, but I cook and freeze a ton of BBQ. I always make enough for about 10 meals worth of leftovers for the wife and I. This gets used within a couple months. I just portion out two servings per Ziploc freezer bag and defrost when ready to eat. Never had any issues with this.

We use the pulled pork leftovers for pizzas, pasta dishes, tacos, sandwiches, etc. Maybe it's just being from the south east, but I much prefer pork to red meat.

 

[Rambrush]

We also use and suggest the foodsaver gamesaver deluxe. It has been good to us.

 

[FLATU8ER]

Food Saver
I have bought afew from Walmart, as I use/am rough on them. I'm kinda cheap, and am on my third one in the last 15 years.
Also keep an eye out at Costco for (not only the Vac units) but for specials on the rolls to make your own bags.
-Jim

 

[splitshot]

On the cheap, and if you aren't planning on bagging large items (gal size works up to a Costco tri-tip), these do work well.

http://www.ziploc.com/Products/Pages/VacuumFreezerSystem.aspx

 

[JohnVee]

I got a Gamesaver Deluxe for my birthday last night. Looking forward to using it.

 

[FLATU8ER]

Cool

 

[JohnVee]

Loving the Foodsaver so far. Already bought and stored a bunch of sale meat (lamb racks & legs!) , pasta sauce, chicken stock and BBQ.

 

[rusty_tlc]

Heres something to try with your new toy;
Make a big batch of spaghetti sauce freeze some up in tubs, the semi disposable kind work well. Pop the frozen sauce out of the tub and vac seal it. The next time you go on a trip you have boil in bag sauce ready to go.
This works with anything to "wet" to vacuum seal.

 

[rusty_tlc]

Here's another tip, when you seal something like a tri tip leave enough extra bag to re-seal it. Thaw, add a dry rub then reseal and stash in the fridge for a few hours.