Freezing cooked food
Moms View Message Board: General Discussion: Archive January 2008:
Freezing cooked food
I am pretty sure I can do this, but wanted to say it out loud to make sure I am not over looking anything. LOL
Dh and I are dieting and I have found that poor dd is suffering with us. LOL I am not cooking her the kind of dinners I should be every night since she is the only one eating those kinds of foods.
If I were to get some fresh meat like pork chops, steaks and burgers etc., could I cook/grill them and then freeze them and thaw and microwave them and they would still taste great for her? I have a food saver system, so they would be vacuum sealed nice and tight if that matters. I guess I am thinking they would be safe, but would they still taste good?
Thanks!
I do not know about freezing BUT I cook meat on the grill to use all week long. Why not do that for her? She can simply reheat the meat in the microwave.
We do the same thing as Yvonne.
I have a question though - you said your DD is *suffering* - what are you cooking for yourself and DH? If you are cooking a healthy, well balanced meal, it's a good way to encourage your child to develop healthy eating habits now, while she's young.
But in answer to your question, yes, you can freeze cooked meals and they should taste just fine.
Karen, it isn't that she isn't eating healthy well balanced meals, but they are very boring and bland for a 13 year old who is under weight as it is to be eating.
Dh and I might eat grilled chicken salad 2 times a week for dinner. She is just getting tired of it and so am I so I can't blame her. LOL There is no reason she can't have meat and a starch and a veggie every night for dinner. There are also many nights that dh might work until 7pm or sometimes even later. On those night, dh and I eat seperatly and we will have lien cuisines with a salad or something. Meaning I am not really "cooking" anything. I just want to have fast, easy, and good tasting things I can do for just dd.
Vicki,
We have discovered a lot of great (and nothing bland) healthy recipes on cookinglight.com.
We have bumped up our healthy eating (hubby had a bad check-up) and eat healthy as a family. My son tends to fit in the same category as your 13 year old. I simply add more meat and sides to his plate.
I can't really add more meat and sides to her meals, she doesn't eat enough. LOL What I do get in her needs to be fattening for her to even maintain her weight.
A few years ago she went through a lot of a child her age with 2 class mates passing away about a year apart, her first ever stomach flu and on and on. She lost weight and it was not good. She had to go on a medication to get her eating good again and we saw a nutritionist and I know how much fats she needs and how to get more fats in her and all of that. I really have to keep on it for her to even maintain her weight and not loose a couple pounds. She eats more fattening things than anyone I ever met and is skinny as a rail. She is very healthy, it is just the way she is right now. She has a very high metabolism. It is not realistic to think that the three of us can all eat the same things and dh and I loose weight and her gain. She NEEDS red meat a few times a week, she NEEDS butter noodles and mayo and all the little things I can add to what she eats without adding more "food".
I am actually in the same boat as Vicki with my skinny dds. They are on ADHD meds so they don't have the greatest appitites. And I am on a diet right now. What I do is just make them and extra side every day at dinner (mashed potatoes with real butter and mac and cheese). If I am having a lean cuisine for dinner then they get a more fattening tv dinner too. I also make sure that there are lots of healthy but not diet snacks in our house. Good luck with this.
If you want to grill the meat ahead of time that is fine but I wouldn't freeze it either I would just cook enough for a week and keep it in the microwave. I would think you would lose some of the taste or texture if it were frozen and then thawed.
Vicki,
I totally understand where you are coming from, my DD is underweight, and VERY picky. We've been eating low calorie dinners lately, they are very yummy and good for normal people or people trying to shed a few pounds, but for her they are disasterous. She refuses to eat most of them, and in the past the doctors have encouraged me to give her whatever she will eat. She only gained 0.5 lbs between 12 and 18 months (I recently found the checkup slips), and at 5.5 only weighs about 33 lbs, so we can't afford to *not* give her whatever, no matter what the rest of us eat. Good luck with your meals, and your diet!!
It is so hard to have a skinny kid isn't it? LOL Keeping weight on them is hard enough, lets not even talk about buying pants! LOL
She is very healthy, she is in 7th grade and has missed 4 days of school from being sick since she started school! She is just tall and skinny. She has been in the 25th percentile or lower since birth!
It really isn't even that she is picky so much as she just doesn't gain much weight. We have found ways to get more calories and fat in her and it has helped. For instance, she doesn't eat just an apple. We slice it and she dips it in peanut butter. She loves cauliflower and green peppers, but she dips them in ranch dressing. When I make her a salad with dinner, I put shredded cheese, bacon bits and egg on it too. All ways to add fat and calories without adding much "bulk" of food. The nutritionist said that she NEEDS to eat a high calorie snack right before bed, so 95% of the time she has a big bowl of ice cream about 30 minutes before she goes to bed.
I did grill her 4 pork chops and 2 steaks (cut in half for 4 meals) today and they are now in the freezer. I can get two night out of side dishes for her, so I think this will help me. I also cooked up 3 pounds of hamburger and made 1 pound into taco meat, one pound into sloppy joes and 1 pound for this hamburger macaroni/cheese casserole she likes. I bought some of those glad containers and froze it all into meal sized portions for her. So I am feeling better now. LOL
Dh and I are doing a pretty strict diet. There will come a time that we start adding some of the above mentioned foods back into our diets, but not yet. Maybe when we only have about 10 pounds more to go or something. LOL We are both motivated and doing good now, so I am going with it while it lasts. LOL
I hear you! My oldest, almost 10, is very tall and only weighs 65 lbs. He doesn't have an ounce of fat on him. I would just cook the red meat at the begining of the week, and reheat when you need it. I would refrigerate it, and not freeze it. I also cook a lot of chicken. I add a little more seasoning, or whatever to his. I also give him fattening sides, baked potato with everything, mac and cheese, and then I make a more healthy side for dh and I, and we all eat the veggie I make.
Have you thought about making a casserole, or other favorite dish of hers, then dividing it into individual portions, and freeze?
LOL, we were posting at the same time. It sounds like you have it all under control!
Crystal, your dd is even smaller than mine was. I remember wondering how on earth she was going to ride the bus to school when she wasn't out of a car seat yet! She started K when she was 5 years and 8 months old and she was about 38 pounds at her check up right before K started!
You all have me nervous now that this meat isn't going to taste good since I froze it. LOL I will let you know what she says about it!
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