How do you actually defrost food stored in bags?

[janie85]

I'm pg with DC2 and learned from the first time that batch cooking about 8 meals is nothing! I'm planning to batch cook A LOT more this time and am thinking the best way to store the food (mostly pasta sauces, risottos, stews, soups etc) is in freezer bags...but...how do you defrost them? And how do you go about reheating the food safely?
Thank you!!

Defrost in fridge in a dish/ tupperware

Put the bag in a bowl in the fridge overnight would be the safest way to defrost. Then cook either on the hob, oven or microwave until it's piping hot throughout.

Shove in microwave

I just put the whole bag in a bowl/Tupperware in the fridge overnight. Then tip it out and reheat in the microwave.

Just defrost it standing in a tuppwear dish and plop* it into the dish when defrosted to heat up in the microwave or transfer to another dish for air fryer or oven reheat.

Storing in any plastic isn't great though. First it'd be better to use reusable plastic (I can never work out how you thoroughly clean a bag to reuse it) and second it is thought that even bpa free plastic isn't great for long term food storage. Better to go with pyrex flat dishes if you have the space.

*Sounds appetising!

Thank you ladies.
And without sounding like a right thicko, when I tip the contents into a bowl to microwave, should I put cling film on top of the bowl? Forgive me but I have serious baby brain and I'm used to just reheating in Tupperware with the lid slightly ajar...

I put a plate on top of the bowl to save on clingfilm.

@janie85 buy some of those foil containers with lids (that you can write on) various sizes, they’re brilliant then just turn out the frozen contents into a microwaveable dish to defrost, I personally don’t like using plastic containers for freezing as they get smelly and stained

Amazon Basics does a set of glass freezer to microwave dishes in various sizes with clip on lids. They are excellent for storing, defrosting and reheating.
I also have a similar set of Pyrex glass dishes.

Get a microwave "splatter cover", it's a lot more environmentally friendly than using cling film every time. Also, not all cling film can go in the microwave.

Plate on top of the bowl. No need to use clingfilm - plates are reusable!