Freezer Cooking Tips:

• Sour Cream does not freeze well. Choose recipes you can add it to when reheating.
• Tin pie plates work great for foods that go from freezer to oven, just remember to put a cookie sheet under it.
• Potatoes should be undercooked so that they finish cooking during the reheat process.
• Cutting onions and other vegies in bulk the night before saves time when cooking.
• Meatloaf should be undercooked so that it doesn't get dry during reheating.
• When wrapping for the freezer, use plastic wrap and then foil.
• If you find yourself needing to cook one night, double the recipe and freeze the remainder for later.
• Create dinner kits by packaging main meals and side dishes together in tupperware in your freezer.
• Keep your recipes in plastic sleeves to protect them during cooking and use a white board pen to make notes that you can erase later.
• Most foods can generally be frozen for up to 6 months. See our freezing guide for more info.
• To cook a dish from frozen, triple the thawed cooking time as a general rule. Be sure to keep an eye on the dish just in case.
• For meats that need to marinate, freeze them in the marinade for juicier, more flavorful meat.
• Slightly undercook meats, especially chicken, so that they can finish cooking during the reheat process. Otherwise, you have overcooked meat.
• Use 2in x 4in address labels to label each meal, the date it was frozen, and reheating instructions.
• Substituting lower fat beef cuts for higher fat cuts can dramatically reduce fat intake. Ask your butcher for help selecting an appropriate substitute. You can also check out our guide to the 7 leanest cuts of beef.
• When a recipe calls for oil to braise vegetables or meats, substitute with a low-fat chicken, beef or vegetable broth instead. You can remove a lot of unnecessary fat. If you must use oil, choose olive, canola or saffola, which provide good fats.
• Rinsing ground meats after frying can remove up to 50% more fat. See our guide.
• Undercook pasta in dishes that will bake when you reheat to avoid overcooked pasta.
• Use non-fat cheese if it's mixed into your dish with other ingredients, you won't notice. We don't recommend using it to top a dish. Use a low-fat cheese as a topping.
• To significantly lower the fat content in a dish calling for ground beef, substitute ground buffalo. You can't taste the difference! Remember to cook buffalo slowly and to rare or medium rare so it doesn't dry out.
• Using the new non-stick foil makes it easy to peel off your instructions label, saving you from having to remove the old foil and add new!
• Buy low sodium soy sauce and skip the salt in recipes! We've found salt gets saltier after freezing!