So I’ve never made lots of food and frozen it for later. Can any foods be frozen? Are there guidelines that I should be aware of? I am trying to prepare a few dishes for when we come back from a trip.
Re: Freezing cooked foods
All I know is lentils can be frozen and defrosted easily
Re: Freezing cooked foods
In my experience, anything can be frozen except potatoes. They become sort of crystalised and mushy 
… Try freezing things like kebabs and curry pastes (i.e., the tomato, onion, ginger, garlic, masala etc) and defrost it and bhoon in the fresh meat/chicken although we freeze the chicken in with it too sometimes.
Re: Freezing cooked foods
Oh and you can also freeze lasagne sauce with the mince and just defrost and add the pasta/noodles.
Re: Freezing cooked foods
when freezing foods, I like to use this Glad Press 'n Seal wrap…it really creates a tight seal, and protects food from freezer burn…use this when you make large quantities of shammi kabab, tikkas, chapli kabab etc…
I also like to use a layer directly over the salan or whatever food i’m storing in the container before putting the lid on, i’ve found it really help protect against freezer burn/crystalization!
Re: Freezing cooked foods
I have done this before.You can very well freeze any form of daals (with or without meats).Keema stores well..either cook it with peas or peas & carrots or just plain qeema.Chicken freezes great...qorma,karahi or any other form of gravy.Meat salan ,again either qorma or karahi or any other gravy freezes well.
Then there are kababs etc.But you would have to cook them before eating.Anything else will just need to be defrosted and used.
I am not too keen of freezing veggies and also they do not freeze well.
P.s...Great minds think alike...:p..I am freezing stuff for when we return from a trip as well...
(So far I have two containers of chicken qorma frozen..more to follow).
Re: Freezing cooked foods
^ Thanks, guys!
I don't want to do anything that will require work other than defrosting and heating, cuz hubby will return before us and I want to make sure it's straightforward enough that he won't just order pizza all week :p
Re: Freezing cooked foods
Any recommended storage methods? Freezer bags? plastic containers? Pyrex?
Re: Freezing cooked foods
I have freezer bags of dry items.
What I nomally freeze in them: Marinated chicken, marinated fish, kababs of all kinds
For salans, I use bpa free plastic containers. I usually freeze nihari, haleem, the curry for biryani without potatoes, bhuna huwa gosht that can later be used to prepare a salan with fresh sabzi. I avoid freezing cooked sabzis. I don't like the taste of frozen daal beyond a week.
Re: Freezing cooked foods
You can freeze pretty much anything and later on heat and eat. Some foods will lose their texture , but who cares if they still taste the same and they do. The microwave oven is the best method to use to reheat frozen desi dishes.
Also it does not matter what you use to store them , freezer bags , plastic containers or Pyrex.
I have frozen , reheated and then eaten and enjoyed pretty much every desi dish on the planet.
Re: Freezing cooked foods
^microwaves are good for the daals and vegetables but i find it doesnt work as well for chicken/meat products. It makes them sort of rubbery and chicken smells odd.
Btw we freeze leftover cakes too when theres no one willing to take it home with them. Like chocolate cakes and make trifles or cheat-tiramisus after defrosting them! Perfet when theres surprise mehmaan! :)
Re: Freezing cooked foods
Usually I freeze food in plastic containers and stick a white sticker on it to label what it contains. Because sometimes you can't recognise whats in the box if it is all frozen. With daal I feel if you just add zeera ka tarka and dhaniya (which can also be frozen) to the defrosted daal it tastes great.
Re: Freezing cooked foods
Any recommended storage methods? Freezer bags? plastic containers? Pyrex?
I guess it also depends how much space you have in the freezer.I have used plastic containers and Ziploc bags both,but have always found Ziplocs to be better.I just take one out when needed,cut the bag and put the solid block of food in a microwaveable dish and heat it.I find this most convenient.
Re: Freezing cooked foods
Another tip that you may find useful is that a couple of weeks before going, every time you cook something just freeze a portion of it while its freshly cooked. That in itself will give you 8 or 9 meals and save you the effort of making something specifically to freeze!
Re: Freezing cooked foods
^ Oh! Thanks for the idea!
Also, how long can these types of frozen foods last?
Re: Freezing cooked foods
I am also using it. its good. cant spread tyhe smell of garlic when i freeze it.
Re: Freezing cooked foods
BONES can NOT be frozen so take the bones out if you freeze paaye 
Re: Freezing cooked foods
^ Oh! Thanks for the idea!
Also, how long can these types of frozen foods last?
Forever , they have dug out animals from under ice which were frozen millions of years ago. They look like they died yesterday.
Re: Freezing cooked foods
^lol
yum
Re: Freezing cooked foods
^ Oh! Thanks for the idea!
Also, how long can these types of frozen foods last?
*if you freeze properly to avoid freezer burn, meats can be good for [taste-wise] for a year and after that quality goes down...veggies i guess for not more than 6 months. we once lived in a place where zabeeHa meat wasn't available so we did our own zabeeHa and kept the meat for a year by vacuum freezing them in freezer bags. *