So you decided to freeze your meals/foods? What’s most important now is SAFETY and how long to freeze for. Here is a quick guideline:

1 YEAR

• Poultry
• Steaks
• Vegetables
• Fruits reserved in Syrup

9 MONTHS

• Butter
• Squeezed Fruits
• Minced Meats
• White Fish

6 MONTHS

• Broths
• Cookies and Biscuits
• Cookie Dough
• Breads

3 Months

• Soups
• Sauces
• Pastries
• Pizza without Cheese topping

Ramadan is 12 days away, I cannot believe it’s the time of year again and we happen to be on lock down during this Holy month because of COVID-19. As the case of many people over the course of the last three weeks, being on lock down really throws us off our routine, especially with children around the house; this blog post is no different, whether you’re a family, working from home, or trying to cook up in advance and freeze, here is a list of meals that can be done in advance and frozen without losing texture or taste.

SOUPS

• Lentil Soup, Tomato and Basil Soup, Vegetable Soup, Chicken Freekeh Soup – as long as your soup does not include a cream or dairy base you can happily freeze it in advance.

APPETIZERS

• This goes without saying as most of us do it already, Sambosek, Cheese Rolls, Kibbeh, Spring Rolls, those are all freezer friendly bites that you can make now, and take out to thaw/bake later.

MAIN COURSES

• This might be tricky for some but not many, it just depends on how much freezer space you have to make meals in advance, here is what we like to freeze:
  • Poultry: Chicken freezes beautifully and does not lose texture. We make our chicken escalopes with breadcrumbs in advance and freeze them, or you can marinate a chicken and bake it fully before letting it cool down and freeze. Just remember only freeze chicken that is fresh. Do not thaw chicken, coat it and freeze it again.
  • Pasta: If you make fresh pasta it’s a great way to freeze it, like stuffed ravioli and tortellini, and even Shushbarak! You can also freeze Spaghetti sauce and your pre-assembled lasagna.
  • Meat: Yes you can freeze steaks with their marinade to save time but you can also pre-cook your kufta. So if you wanted to make Kufta bil Seneyeh I pre-bake the Kufta and freeze it, and when I take it out choose to smother it with tahini or with potatoes and tomatoes. So easy.
  • Grains: Honestly I do not do this but it’s totally safe, you can freeze your rice with vegetables or without for further use but I feel it takes up lots of space. I cook rice in batches that last three days and keep them in the refrigerator.

BREADS & DOUGH

• BREADS: Everyone freezes Arabic bread and pita bread, but you can freeze more than that. With this lock down due to COVID we need to minimize stepping outside so if you get burger buns, dinner rolls, hotdog buns, and toast bread go ahead and freeze it to minimize going out to the bakery.
• DOUGH: You can also freeze Pizza dough, roll it out and bake for 2 – 3 minute with sauce. Top with vegetables and freeze without the cheese.

DESSERTS

• COOKIES: Whenever we make cookies at home we freeze half the batch. So we end up baking half the dough and freezing the other half for another day. Just shape them with your ice cream scooped and freeze between parchment paper.
• Qatayef: Make them, fill them with walnuts or cheese, and freeze them. Take them out a few hours before Iftar and fry and top with Qater. Win-Win for everyone.

OTHERS

• I freeze flour so it remains fresh at all times.
• I buy cheese in blocks (mozzarella, cheddar, parmesan) and I shred them in my food processor and freeze.
• I freeze all kinds of nuts even after they are toasted. Saves time.
• I freeze fried pita bread. It doesn’t lose texture and saves a lot of time when making fatteh.

DO NOT FREEZE

• Milks or Cooking Creams.
• Food cooked with sea food.

I hope this helps. I’ll keep it posted for more.