September 1, 2010
Homemade Frozen Meals
A couple of weeks ago, I bought a box of frozen quesadillas carrying the brand name of a popular casual-dining restaurant. Opening the box, I found an extruded block of frozen "stuff" inside a folded tortilla. While the cooked product ended up tasting okay, the frozen version was unappetizing, to say the least. I knew I could do better, because I had already done better in the past; I had clearly gotten lazy. It was time to make up some of my own frozen convenience food.
In this day and age of obnoxious foodies touting their line that fresh is better, and that processed food will kill you, this may seem an odd direction for me to go in. Fact of the matter is, when you make your own frozen food, you have the ability to control what goes into it. Today I present three options, each of which does use ingredients processed at some level, but with the exception of the frozen chicken (which I'll get to), you could make these dishes fresh using exactly the same ingredients and procedures, minus the freezing process.
Let's start out simple with a frozen version of a favorite from my childhood: English muffin pizza. I don't know how common it is to make individual-sized pizzas using English muffins as the crust, but we did it when I was a kid and enjoyed the results. Feel free to use French bread (which I know to be common), rolled-out refrigerator biscuits, homemade crust, whatever you want. Whatever you choose, lay 'em out and sauce 'em.
If you're a guy like me (Hey! I'm a guy like me!), you add a layer of cheese before you add any other toppings. When cooked, the cheese will help glue the toppings to the pizza. You don't need much cheese, and in fact will probably want to use less than you need unless you really like cheese.
I like to add toppings after my cheese, like pepperoni. When the pepperoni bakes on top, I like it to get a little crispy. I'm like that. I realize that these are most likely to get microwaved, but there's a chance that they'll find their way into the toaster oven instead. Versatile, isn't it? Top 'em, and move 'em to a parchment-lined baking sheet.
Cover and move to the freezer overnight. In the morning, bag 'em and tag 'em.
Now that we have a basic understanding of what we're doing here, let's move onto our target: a frozen quesadilla. You'll need to use small tortillas; the ones I use are labeled "fajita tortillas". With my sheet pans I can get away with freezing 12 at once, but both my cutting board and my sheet pans only have room to actually make 6 at once. Lay them out and sauce 'em. And don't worry, you can use salsa from a jar. We'll pretend you canned it yourself.
It's up to you how you fill it. Some like meat, some like veggies only. Whatever you use, it actually is better to use pre-frozen. If you're like me, you've already pre-frozen your vegetables yourself, but meat is a different story. At my local supermarkets I can buy pre-cooked, pre-cut, frozen chicken and I suggest you do the same. I've tried freezing my own chicken strips and it's always ended poorly. If I ever figure it out, I'll let you know. A quick sprinkle of taco seasoning might not be a bad idea either.
Once you have enough quesadillas made up, fold them over and move them into a parchment-lined sheet pan. The tortillas will try to unfold themselves, so you probably want to put another sheet pan on top to keep them flat. Believe me, you don't want half-open, frozen quesadillas; they're a pain to store.
Freeze overnight, then bag 'em and tag 'em.
What's that? Don't have a microwave at work? Afraid the radiation monster that lives inside the magnetron tube is gonna getcha? Well, I'm pretty sure you're safe from that guy (they lock him up pretty good inside a faraday cage), but I can still provide you with a reasonably fresh option. It won't all be frozen, but some will be. Don't worry, no cooking required on this one, unless you want to toss it in a panini grill. Let's make a sandwich!
A lot of people freeze bread. It keeps the mold at bay, and while it doesn't taste quite as fresh as, well, fresh bread, it's pretty darned close. A lot of people also buy lunch meat in bulk and freeze it. And plenty of people... okay, so I don't really know anybody that freezes cheese. But I'm sure it happens. And it's what we're gonna do.
The basic strategy here is simple: build a meat and cheese sandwich on your choice of bread. It's a really good idea to pat the meat dry before you lay it down; otherwise you risk your bread getting slightly soggy when it all thaws. In my case, I like smoked turkey, Black Forest ham, and sharp cheddar.
I'm the type of person that puts sliced bell pepper in my freezer, and if you do too you can add it if you like. But this is a really bad time to add things like lettuces or condiments. Fresh lettuces don't tend to survive the freeze well, and a lot of condiments can cause sogginess before or after the thaw. It's best to avoid them until after the thaw.
Once my sandwiches are made, I like to wrap them in paper towels (or parchment paper, if you're feeling rich), and then in plastic wrap. That extra protection against freezer burn is important here. Tag 'em, move 'em onto a sheet pan, and then freeze them overnight. Once frozen, you can safely stack them.
Usage on these is a little more advanced than the others. I take them out of the freezer in the morning and put them in my insulated lunch bag. I add a blue ice pack and leave them there until lunchtime. I keep a bag of fresh spinach at work, but it's not unreasonable to put some spinach in a sandwich bag and store it with the sandwich. Same goes for condiments, but if you're in a situation where refrigeration outside of the blue ice pack is unavailable, then keep your condiments in small portions. By lunchtime I've found that my sandwich has thawed almost perfectly, and is ready to be dressed and eaten.
These recipes are just the tip of the iceberg. I'm sure you've got plenty of other family favorites that are just a step away from becoming freezer food, ready for use at a moment's notice. In a future post, I plan to discuss other freezer meals, so stay tuned.