When i batch cook and reheat it never tastes as good

[YoureBeingASillyBilly]

I do things like stew, pasta bake, bolognese etc in doubles. So we eat half and half goes in the freezer. But when i reheat the second batch it always gets burnt round the edges (pasta bake) or is watery and tastes bad and not worth eating. I only reheat in oven as i hate microwave heated food. When i try and take pasta bake out before it gets burnt it isnt heated through properly.

What am i doing wrong?

[Dilidali]

Do you defrost it?
As in: overnight in the fridge, or in the microwave etc?

[YoureBeingASillyBilly]

Overnight on the countertop then in the fridge while i'm at work

[stargirl1701]

I would only freeze the pasta sauce, not the actual pasta.

[hmc]

Burnt around the edges? - sounds like you are trying to heat it up too quickly at too high an oven temperature? Better to go for longer at a lower temp.

Not everything freezes well and then tastes good upon defrosting and reheating. Stew, Bolognese etc should be fine though....I batch cook from this recipe book:
dinner in the freezer

[YoureBeingASillyBilly]

So when i make pasta bake we have to eat it two nights in a row?

[YoureBeingASillyBilly]

Thank you Hmc. Lower temp for longer. Will try your link aswell.

[stargirl1701]

No. I batch cook pasta sauce then cook as much pasta as I need for the family.

[YoureBeingASillyBilly]

But you cant do that with pasta bake though as then your basically just making it from the start which is what i try to avoid by batch cooking.

[Artandco]

I would just do the sauce, then make small bake with half the sauce and some pasta, then freeze sauce and make fresh pasta next time. It's the making of he sauce that takes the time anyway. Pasta is 10 mins, just mix in sauce and add cheese, don't even need to bake

[ZenNudist]

With pasta bake the crispy outer bit won't be good reheated in an oven. I usually take as much crispy crunchy stuff the first time when I know it tastes best. Then I reheat the juicy central parts later by micros or sprinkle more cheese & oven cook.

Stew & spag Bol taste better left. Time for flavours to sink into meat. & make it vvvv tender

[Artandco]

Any pasta is rubbish at freezing

[UnicornsNotRiddenByGrownUps]

I wouldn't freeze pasta. I also don't freeze things like fajitas or stir fry. Soup/casserole/chilli/sauces like Bolognese/curry all freeze well

[YoureBeingASillyBilly]

Ok thanks all- will try freeszimg just tje sauce and see how i get on.

[stargirl1701]

No, it's not. I batch cook at least 4 portions of pasta sauce from scratch. I use one that night poured over pasta with cheese. I freeze the other 3 portions of pasta sauce. Each time I plan pasta bake, I take a portion out of the freezer in the morning and defrost it. In the evening, I pour it over dried pasta, add cheese and water and bake.

I'm not cooking the sauce from scratch each night. The bulk of the work is done.

[lolalotta]

Star girl I'm intrigued! How much water to dried pasta to sauce do you add????

[Artandco]

Lola- I would add cooked pasta to the sauce not dried

So cook pasta, 10 mins. Heat sauce in microwave 2 mins and mix. Add to an oven dish, sprinkle cheese over and grill for 5-10 mins. Quicker still is just skip the grilling and add cheese and mix

[lolalotta]

Star girl adds hers to dried and just adds water...quite like that idea and would mean less washing up!!!!

[gretagrape]

Lasagne is fine if you freeze it - seems to taste pretty much the same when it's reheated. The first time I cook it it's only the last 10 mins that it's uncovered so it doesn't really go crispy, so maybe that's why it's ok 2nd time round.

[stargirl1701]

I add half again of water so 300ml sauce plus 150ml water. It works for us! Cheese added to top half way through cooking.

[lolalotta]

Sorry to be a pain, do you mind me asking how much pasta is with that? Thank you!

[lolalotta]

Ooooh and how long do you find it takes to bake? Sorry for quizzing you!

[Firsttimer7259]

Generally find stews and curries taste better the second or third day - flavours meld more. If I'm making huge vat to freeze I leave added veg out as I think they tend to defrost rubbery and can make it runny. So make a mince or curry separate out what I'm going to freeze. Then add veg to the portion for tonight. But you could also try a low heat to reheat and cook out the water - doesn't help w flabby veg tho

[MoreBeta]

I agree about stews and curry tasting better after freezing. Flavours definitely meld.

Personally I would never reheat pasta. I do often freeze meatballs and the sauce separately and then reheat and do some fresh spaghetti and combine them for the DCs.