Can someone clear up these few things for me please?

[signet2012]

I seem to have some issues understanding/accepting things to do with cooking and I can't ask my mum because she can't cook!

1. If I make home made lasagne (except using shop bought white sauce) and put it in a dish with the pasta layers and cheese sauce.... can it be frozen like this?

2. If yes - can you cook it from frozen or would you defrost it?

3. Would I know if chicken is off? (I probably throw so much chicken away when I don't need to as I think its been there too long, mum says I would'nt be able to mistake the smell.)

4. Can you cook chicken and then freeze it after ie in a casserole.

Thanks very much!

1. Yes you can freeze lasagne (I'm assuming the meat sauce bit is already cooked)
2. You can cook from frozen on a lower heat, and maybe cover it for a while to stop it burning, but it would taste and cook better if you defrost it first
3. Chicken has a very distinctive smell if it's off, and the smell gets noticably stronger as it cooks (you really would recognise the smell, it's pretty awful) Also, it is a bit sticky and tacky to the touch if it's off
4. You can cook chicken in a casserole and then freeze it. Personally, I would then defrost it before re-heating. hth

Yes yes it stinks and yes.

Though, tbf, I find 3 is tricky because packaged chicked tends to develop an odd odour even before its use by date. I'm cautious with it myself, but yes, you can cook it and then freeze it.

I read this before anyone posted, but had to get up before I could reply, but I would have posted exactly what MyCat did.

As a general rule, you can freeze then defrost an item in each 'state' it's in, i.e. freeze then defrost raw meat once, freeze and defrost cooked meat once (even the same piece of meat). It's generally not a great idea to freeze then defrost something in the same 'state' more than once.

Defrost in fridge overnight anything frozen you want to cook.