Hey cucks, What do you think of the meals I made ready to be

>>8440973
Maybe just bake a tray of potatoes so you can choose to heat them and mash them or slice and fry them or just melt some cheese on them.

I'd also caramelise some onions but that's because I don't mind stirring them for half an hour. Also maybe mix it up with some pork or beef? But maybe your goal is to keep it simple and prep a week of dinners in a few minutes.

Herbs?

>>8440973
Good diet portioning, my friend, and your roast vegetables look browned and yummy.

But, I can tell you those corn kernels and peas will be overcooked by the time the chicken or the mashed potatoes will be even close to not cold in the centers. :( Use a 30% defrost for a few minutes (or oven bake). Instead for myself though, I'd be squeezing out a few peas or some of those delicious corn kernels out of a freezer bag on top of my dinner during the last two minutes of warm up instead. You're going to need to stir those taters halfway in cooking Birds Eye sells some individual portions to do in steam-in-bag. I just bought the 4packs for $1.99 at publix and the BOGO sale gave me twox4, so it makes it .12 cents a portion to have them perfectly cooked on their own.

My favorite do-ahead freezer meals are casseroles such as stuffed shells, lasagna squares, stews on polenta, chili already topped with cheddar and cilantro on top, which I sometimes spoon out over the top of a baked potato, a salad, nachos or on a hot dog for the dinner, not just to enjoy as stew. I love mexican food from the freezer. I'll assemble a stacked enchilada casserole, some fresh corn tortillas assembled like a lasagna, cheese, green or mole sauced chicken, black beans, corn, etc. It heats nicely in a pyrex.

With my food processor, I sometimes make a whole mess of filling for dumpling pot stickers, which go from freezer to lidded saute pan with about 1/4 cup of water to steam before getting crispy.

Can anyone tell me why my cooked chicken tastes funny after freezing it and then reheating it?

>>8440994
I have no shortage of time, but I'm not sure why I would want to caramelise some onions or add pork or beef to my chicken dish? My goal was to make 5x the same meal and freeze. I already have 5x a different meal in my freezer so I have 2 choices for lunch each day.

>>8441000
Thanks pham. The corn came out of a can but the peas were frozen. I think you're onto the root cause of my problem. I've been doing frozen dinners like this for a few months and when reheating they're always watery.

I suspect it's because of the veg I am putting in, and if I were to portion them into ziplock bags and throw them in for 2 mins at the end it would most likely make a big difference.

I've done mashed potatoes before and you're right it does need a stir in the middle but overall I'm happy with how it tastes at the end so won't look into the frozen birds eye stuff

I do appreciate your tips though, next time I will try to put the protein and carbs only in the container then any frozen veg can be easily portioned into bags ready to add in towards the end of heating. Standard office lunch room so no oven, have to either make do with a microwave or spent $60 AUD per week buying lunch. Fuck the latter.

>>8441021
>frozen birds eye stuff
oh I meant they do single portions of peas, corn.
But, for something to look into, steam in bag brown rice can be a nice pair to your frozen main.

My favorite work lunches are soups I made from scratch or one random day in the crock pot (13 bean with ham, beef stew, cabbage tomato beef vegetable, curried butternut squash, corn chowder, matzo ball soup with dill), or last night's BBQ grilled meat on top of today's salad or a sandwich That's all usually enough to instill "ooh, what's that?" envy and satisfy, but not be so heavy as to cry from hours of painful coma sleepiness the rest of the afternoon, haha. Sometimes I make a nice neutral chicken salad or pasta salad, and change it up for a couple of days by adding fruit, herbs, other flavors. I hit leftover rice with vinaigrette and my leftover meat, add some chilies or tomatoes, and it's like a pasta salad ;)....all prepped the night before when I'm not a morning zombie trying to get out of the door. Tortilla wraps with cream cheese take your salad really nicely with a bit of smoked turkey or sliced steak and park nicely in the fridge.

>>8441027
The difference seems to be that you're from north America and I'm from Australia and we don't really eat the same style of food as you in general. It makes it frustrating looking up recipes online at times, but luckily there are plenty of local ones to try.

I like to keep things quite basic. We have no Mexican food in our diet nor do we eat much corn like you guys do. Nothing wrong with that, it's just different. This means I have to try and make meals that I will like to eat and some that can be frozen if possible because buying lunch at the office here is expensive af.

>>8441027
Soup that's home made is my favourite in winter also but we're in summer now, so it's either sandwiches or whatever else I can cook and manage to eat on a 100F day in an air conditioned office.

>>8441008
Water expands by around 7% when you freeze it. When you freeze anything with water in it (such as animal cells) the expansion causes the cell membranes of the chicken to burst or become perforated because of the expanding ice and so when you thaw it or any other organic material its just not quite the same because the cells are damaged and leaking.

Thaw a frozen tomato and it will seem to be perpetually wet and leaking, same rule applies there.

>>8440973
Too much corn and peas, not enough carrots and other fried vegetables

>>8440973
>I made ready to be frozen to eat during the week?

If you're only keeping the food for a week then you don't need to bother freezing it. Just put it in the fridge.

>>8441230
>I don't mind week old leftovers

>>8441230
>If you're only keeping the food for a week then you don't need to bother freezing it. Just put it in the fridge.
yikes, that's uncooked frozen chicken there. Don't be a fool, it can't go into the fridge.

>>8441238
I don't personally. But then again I don't store food that would go bad after a week.

>>8440973

> Do you have any suggestions on how I can improve?

Kill yourself

>>8441261
>kill yourself
Is it summer?

>>8441242
No, the chicken was at room temperature before I baked it in the oven. It is fully cooked now and sitting in my fridge.

>>8441261
Thanks for the suggestion

>>8441287
It is in my part of the world but usually it doesn't affect the quality of posting until it's summer In your part m80