TdeV

Life goes in mysterious ways. I was fed up with moving all the stuff around my freezer so I could lay in the containers of freshly prepared meals to freeze, so from BestBuy I bought a small 7.1 cu ft freezer on 30th Dec which was delivered on 2 January. Naturally, it came incomplete which took hours and hours of communicating with an AI interface to talk with a human and get parts shipped, hence so long between my batches. I was in a hurry to abandon my computer so I could attend to the day's batch of Meal Prep for Freezer cooking. I had recently signed up for Windows 10 ESU and so have not been afraid of system messages that I need to upgrade o/s. However what the d### upgrade did was upgrade me to Windows 11! So I didn't touch my computer. Nor it seems did I take any photos beyond these first two. Contents were Bacon, cabbage, RG Super Lucky black eyed pea, lots garlic 2 ways, onion, yukon gold potato, gouda, cheddar. Sauce made with cream cheese, sour cream and bean water. The dish has quite a complicated layering of semi-cooked ingredients. No idea if it will make a difference. If you're interested to know, PM me and I'll send along what I did. Here are the 20 empty containers.

In this post, I erroneously identified the contents of the photos with a partial description of an other batch. That other batch was a lamb casserole done on 2025/12/21. I have 3 separate mentions of what might be in the batch but I believe it has: Lamb shank, stock, barley, Rancho Gordo Good Mother Stollard beans, onion, celery, carrot, fresh corn, slow roasted and fresh cherry tomatoes, and green pepper.

Can I freeze red beans + rice?

This post is wrong. Where I wrote "In case I made the jpg too small to read, this dish has . . ." the photos belong to 2025/12/28 Duck w Stamppot: potato + sweet potato, carrot, crème fraiche, cream cheese, duck fat. Base: Duck, Rancho Gordo Mayocoba bean, was fresh corn, endive, pea, baked garlic baked in duck fat + wine, Penzey's air dried shallot (14). Used Breville Paradice 9 to cut veg, didn't mash garlic; Bamix to mix Stamppot; Instant Pot to soak and cook beans.

@SLB, under the sofa is BRILLIANT !!

I bought these by accident. They are outside diameter 4 7/8" inside diameter 4 1/4 water weight 217g water volume 7/8 cup https://www.amazon.com/dp/B083962QCL This is what I bought (correctly) Same as above 5 1/2" 5" 400g 1 1/2 cup https://www.webstaurantstore.com/bakers-lane-5-3-4-x-1-13-16-extra-deep-foil-pie-pan-pack/999PIEBL6EDEEP.html

I'm sorry for disappearing, it's a long story. @ElsieD said Just checking, the ingredients go into the freezer bag raw?

I'm sorry for being such a rube, @patti, but which part of that meal is "the dressing" ?

Montréal is great if you're travelling public transport and visiting farmers' markets. There are neighbourhood butchers!!!! Maybe renting a bicycle. And you can eat at Au Pied de Cochon (maybe get a reservation now). I recommend the pig's head (feeds two). Outstanding! Québec has amazing things to see. Great restaurants, even 'round the touristy spots. In either place you can practise your French. 😁

Yes, please!

Thanks, @Smithy. The cabbage I bought is huge, 5 lbs at least. It will be good for more than one batch. So far I have prepared and lightly cooked sliced onion, garlic, sliced celery, cubed potato, gorgeous bacon. I haven't sliced the cabbage yet, because I don't want to slice it then leave it uncooked. So I'm only missing the sauce. (I'm not good at making sauces!)

@blue_dolphin @SLB and @Smithy Here's why I'm asking about sauces. My usual way is to look at a bunch of recipes then start cooking (mostly without a recipe). The current dish I'm trying to design involves cabbage. I've collected half dozen or so recipes. The sauces are made of: evaporated milk, flour, parmesan, breadcrumbs milk, flour, cheddar, sour cream French demi-glace cream cheese and mustard potatoes and Gruyère I think if the dish gets too complicated, it loses something. Seems the sauce could be simpler. Maybe I don't know how to make a sauce?

A friend has offered to help cook some meals, so I pinched stuff from that email. 😃 Right now I'm making up dishes with stuff from the fridge, though I do go out and buy a couple of things if it seems sensible. However, there's a certain sameness to what I cook, because I do it the same way. This is how I make a batch so far. (Credit to @patti and her Cooking for a Community Fridge) The pie tin pan is the same size as chicken pot pies from the grocery. For those, DH and I usually eat 1/2 pie apiece, but they are overflowing with pastry. The plastic container is how I got the pies home from grocery. They're handy to stack pie tins in the freezer to freeze. Each pan has been foil covered, then labelled with a printed file folder label. After being frozen, meal is slid into a 8x12 vacuum sealer bag (fits perfectly!) and then vacuumed. Nice little hockey pucks. In case I made the jpg too small to read, this dish has lamb, beetroot, onion, fresh corn (frozen by me), green pepper, tomato, and Rancho Gordo Good Mother Stollard beans. To be truthful, there might be barley &/or mashed potato in there too (because I never remember to put everything on the label).

@SLB, do you do anything special about sauces which go in the freezer? With a casserole, I think there ought to be a sauce. Or maybe two, to add some variety to the batch.

Very gracious (blush). Your post is full of most helpful information, and thanks to the pointer to rutabaga recipe. Sadly, I'm afraid of deep frying – what if I liked it? I suppose the people who deep fry regularly know how to minimize the volume of fat in finished coating . . .