OT, Using frozen veg then re freezing after cooking?

[Mick IOW]

Hi all, In my efforts to eat more healthily I am making Stews and soups.

I make a Stew in my slow cooker, using meat like Beef Brisket and cook it very slow and get good results, I tend to cook a larger cut of meat as it works our cheaper that way.

I need to make more Veg stew with no meat included to use the extra meat I have.

I would like to use frozen Stew or Casserole packs of ready prepared vegetables for conveyance But as the veg was frozen can I then freeze them again after cooking safely?

As this is a bit OT for this group, is there a UK based group for cooking? Any input welcomed. Mick.IOW, UK.

[cl]

There's uk.food+drink.misc but it's pretty quiet.

[Andy Cap]

Personally I would just keep a bag of mixed frozen veg, broccoli, carrots, cauliflower and the like and lob a handful into a steamer for a few minutes.

[GB]

I'm not convinced that these packs are really going to be suitable for slow cooking, in the first place. It may turn to mush. However, each to their own taste! Once you have cooked the stuff, there's no problem at all with freezing it, though.

I know the packs probably say not to refreeze if it defrosts, but they don't mean that you can't freeze cooked stuff.

HTH

[Adrian Caspersz]

With the exception of potatoes and other roots, I avoid cooking vegetables.

Ye can have ya meat and gravy laid on a green salad, much can be home grown. My daily salad is most of the following chopped

Olives Baby Spinach Rocket / Corriander Lettuce Tomatoes Cucumber Pickled Courgettes Pickled Peppers Garlic clove Mashed Ginger teaspoon Crushed black pepper Olive Oil Balsamic Vinegar

And cooked meat / fish, or black pudding ...

[News]

In message , GB writes

Agreed. Although we don't buy those stew packs of frozen vegetables, we do buy fresh veggies which are then cleaned, chopped and frozen, ready for stews later. The stews are usually enough for two servings each, so we freeze half for later. Been doing that for many years without problems. Mushrooms, carrots, leeks, onions, swede, parsnips etc.

[Chris Hogg]

It always used to be recommended that veg are blanched, i.e. briefly cooked or steamed, before freezing, anyway, so I can't see why you shouldn't do what you're proposing.

Meat may be a different matter though, although I have made batches of casserole containing meat and veg, divided them up into individual portions, frozen them and reheated them as required, with no ill effects. But the reheat does involve boiling in a pan on the stove for several minutes, rather than just thawing and warming e.g. in a microwave.

[Thomas Prufer]

What he said.

I would not hesitate to eat a frozen and reheated casserole with frozen vegs as an ingredient. I'd reduce cooking times drastically for the veg, because they are already blanched and maybe cooked, and are softer due to the freezing, and will be reheated again after thawing...

Thomas Prufer

[newshound]

+1

[Peter Parry]

Yes it is perfectly safe.

The exhortation not to refreeze previously frozen food is only because each defrosting allows spoilage organsisms to become active for a time and if food is going through a large number of defrost/refreeze cycles it isn't possible to keep track of the total length of time it has been defrosted and this increases the possibility of unnoticed spoilage. It is far more of an issue in commercail kitchens. A small number of defrost/refreeze cycles won't do any harm except perhaps to the texture of the food.

[S Viemeister]

The quiet of the dead. The FB incarnation of that group is a bit more active.

[Huge]

[Gag]

[pamela]

And, of course, bad bugs like salmonella and E. Coli are not easily killed by being frozen.

That chunky stew might turn out mushy!

[GB]

Yes, salad on a separate plate, please.

[The Natural Philosopher]

Freezing (ex of liquid nitrogen) or re freezing vegetables splits the cell walls leading to a generalised lack of texture and mushiness.

Personally I don't do it really.

meat and sauces, yes, veg? No.

[The Natural Philosopher]

EXACTLY to the texture of te food. Home frozen fruit and veg lose all the texture. If you are cool with mush, its safe, its just (to my taste) rather disgusting.

[charles]

In the days of home made apple wine, many people put the apples in the freezer first as it made it easier to get the juice out.

[Mick IOW]

Thank you everybody for some helpful suggestions.

I may just make it in small batches to get 2 servings and keep the 2d in the fridge for next day use. Mick.