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Jim Coleman: Go ahead, freeze your meals: Make sure to use top-quality food & mark the storage date

Q: I enjoy cooking, but since I live alone I would like to ask what meals freeze best. When I make a recipe, I would like to freeze part of it for future use.

Q: I enjoy cooking, but since I live alone I would like to ask what meals freeze best.

When I make a recipe, I would like to freeze part of it for future use.

- Anna S.

A: It has been my experience that the foods that taste the best, freeze the best.

By the way, freezing prepared foods is not just for those who cook for one. Freezing foods also makes sense for anyone with a busy lifestyle. Not only do you save cooking time for extra meals, you consolidate your shopping time as well.

Recipes that take a long time to prepare are great for freezing. Leftovers that do not keep well in the refrigerator are also perfect candidates for freezing.

Keep a roll of masking tape and a pen to label the foods that you put in the freezer. Also, date each item so you'll know how long it's been in the freezer. Remember to keep the most recent additions in the back. If you find something that dates to the '90s, either throw it away or give it to someone you don't like.

If I planned to do a lot of freezing, I would go out and purchase a variety of microwaveable freezer containers that could hold the portion amounts I wanted to serve. Whether you are using freezer containers or resealable bags, everything must be airtight.

The biggest enemy of freezing is freezer burn. You can tell a product has freezer burn if it has become gray and dehydrated. This means the product has lost all its moisture and is no longer good for cooking.

Anything that has freezer burn can simply be tossed.

Remember that freezing does not improve any product, so you want to start with top-quality ingredients to get the best result. The fresher the better.

Keep in mind that freezing acts like another cooking method. If you know that you are going to reheat a dish at a later date, slightly undercook the recipe to help keep the product from being overcooked and dried out.

There are some ingredients that do not freeze well, such as mayonnaise, which separates when frozen. Cooked egg whites become very rubbery when frozen and thawed.

Sauces made from either a roux (equal parts fat and flour) or a slurry (cornstarch and water) have a good chance of separating when thawed. If you need to use one of these cooking methods, you are much better off thickening your recipe after you thaw the basic preparation.

Pasta in a casserole or in some other dish with a sauce freezes well; however, cooked pasta by itself does not.

Anna, everybody's taste is a little different. As I said in the beginning, foods that taste the best, freeze the best. So here are some recipes that I believe fall in that category.

ANNA'S BEEF

POT ROAST

3- to 4-pound beef pot roast

Flour for dredging

1/4 cup butter

1 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon pepper

3/4 cup low-sodium beef broth

12 to 18 small white onions, peeled

4 large potatoes, peeled and quartered

1 pound carrots, peeled and quartered

For the gravy:

1 cup drippings

1/2 cup red wine

3 tablespoons cornstarch

3 tablespoons cold water

Approximately 1 cup sour cream, room

temperature (for the complete dish)

Coat both sides of pot roast with flour. In a Dutch oven or large, deep baking dish, melt butter; brown meat slowly on both sides.

Sprinkle with 1 teaspoon salt and the pepper. Pour the broth over the meat. Cover and place in a preheated 335-degree oven; cook 1 1/2 hours.

Add onions and carrots; cook 15 minutes. Add potatoes; sprinkle with a little more salt. Cook about 45 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Remove meat and vegetables to a warm platter; keep warm.

At this point, remove what you will be having for dinner tonight and set aside. Divide the remaining food into freezer containers and evenly divide the roasting juices among the containers.

For the sour cream gravy, proportions are given for the whole recipe, but only prepare the amount you will use tonight.

Pour drippings from pot roast into saucepan. Blend together the cornstarch and water. Heat drippings and wine to boiling; gradually whisk in the cornstarch mixture until desired thickness and cook, stirring constantly until gravy is thickened. Cook 2 minutes longer. Remove from heat and slowly stir in the appropriate amount of sour cream for the desired proportion. Heat through, but do not boil. (This process will be repeated when you thaw and prepare each freezer batch.)

Makes 6 to 8 servings.

For freezing: Use appropriate freezer containers. Allow to cool to room temperature; remember to label and date the containers before freezing.

When reheating, remove container from freezer the night before and place in refrigerator to thaw. Thirty minutes before cooking, remove from the refrigerator to the counter to remove the chill.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place meat in oven-proof container in the oven till heated through. At this point, repeat the sour cream sauce preparation.

Add variety to your menu with the Greek-style chicken stew with olives, topped with feta cheese. Serve with warm pita bread.

GREEK CHICKEN STEW

WITH RICE

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 chicken (3 to 3 1/2 pounds), cut into service pieces

1 small yellow onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 cup long-grain brown rice

1 3/4 cups chicken stock or broth

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1/2 teaspoon salt

Freshly ground pepper to taste

1/2 cup pitted kalamata olives or ripe black olives

1/4 cup crumbled feta cheese

for topping (divide accordingly)

In a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat, warm oil. Add chicken and brown, about 5 minutes on each side. Transfer browned chicken to a plate. Reduce heat to medium. Add more oil if needed.

Add onion and garlic and saute until tender, about 5 minutes. Stir in rice. Return chicken to pan. Add stock, lemon juice, oregano, salt and pepper. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook, covered, until chicken is no longer pink in the center, rice is tender and liquid is absorbed, about 1 hour 15 minutes.

Stir in olives. Place rice mixture on a platter, put chicken pieces on top and sprinkle with feta cheese. Serves 4 to 6.

For freezing: Use appropriate freezer containers. Allow to cool to room temperature; remember to label and date the containers before freezing.

When reheating, remove from freezer the night before and place in refrigerator to thaw. A half-hour before cooking, remove from the refrigerator to the counter to remove the chill.

At this time, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place chicken in oven-proof container and cook till heated through.

Top with feta cheese before serving.

Chef Jim Coleman, corporate chef at Normandy Farm and Blue Bell Country Club, is the author of three cookbooks and hosts two nationally syndicated shows: "A Chef's Table," noon Saturdays on WHYY (91-FM); and "Flavors of America," 1 p.m. Saturdays on Channel 12, and 4:30 p.m. weekdays on CN8.