Just found the podcast and website, great stuff! I have been catching up on past episodes and am enjoying it!

Jeff mentioned that he cooks in bulk, and freezes the meals to have ready throughout the week. Any tips on this? What types of foods freeze well, and which don't? Do things turn out better when you freeze items separately? (chicken, veggies) What types of containers would you recommend? Regular tupperware I would think would be ok.

I am eager to try this, but hoping to avoid cooking a massive amount of food and having it taste bad or get freezer burn.

I performed a quick search, but could not find anything. Thanks in advance for your help!

I freeze about 75% of my food and most of it turns out really well. Stir fry freezes really well or any combination of meat, vegetables, sauce and rice. I froze thai green curry for the first time this week and was very happy how well it turned out. These I freeze altogether with everything in the container including the rice. White rice tends to disintegrate, but brown rice keeps its texture really well.

For fajitas or things that are vegetables and meat with no sauce, I freeze the veggies and meat separately, otherwise the meat can get wet and kind of gross when microwaved with the vegetables. I freeze baked vegetables and potatoes to eat later. I freeze pre-cooked, shredded and seasoned chicken for my buffalo chicken salad. I do not freeze the sauce (yogurt, blue cheese and vinegar)though (it turned out really badly).

I think the key is to portion your food before freezing. Once it is frozen you want it to remain frozen until you are ready to warm it up and eat it. The more often you defrost and refreeze the item, the more damage you will do to the food.

I use freezer safe containers and have had no problem with freezer burn. My containers are sale products I bought at Linen's N Things but they do have the little symbol for freezing and microwaving on them. I also don't leave anything in there for over a month really. Since all of my items are pre-portioned and pre-packaged, it is really easy to just grab a meal out of the freezer for lunch or snack. And on those days I just really don't want to cook, I usually have several options.

If you have any questions about whether something is ok being frozen, I suggest portioning the meal into containers and freezing one of them. Try it the next day. If it is horrible, you still have the rest of the meal in the fridge. If it is ok, pop the remaining portions into the freezer for a later date.

Hope this helps

Anything that it high in fiber doesn't freeze that well. The texture changes, especially if it's in there for a long time - but it is still edible. If it's only going to be in there a week, I wouldn't worry about it too much. Examples would be beans or potatoes.

I don't freeze my food in individual serving containers because I don't mind eating the same thing for several days. So I cook in bulk, freeze some and keep a few days of servings out. Then I rotate what I use from the freezer. So I'll eat what I've just cooked for a few days then remove something from the freezer from a week (or few weeks) ago and eat that for a few days. Then I eventually get back around to eating what I just froze after I've eaten something else for awhile.

Fantastic! Thank you for your helpful input. Exactly what I was looking for.

I came across even more information on this subject, if anyone else happens to be interested.

National Center for Home Food Preservation

This site has a ton of detail, for those who appreciate such things (me).

Ziplock twist and seal containers are what I use. They're pretty cheap, very sturdy, and since they screw shut, the lids don't pop off. No freezer burn either.

I made a post on how I do it over at Fat2Fit Radio. Here is the link: http://www.fat2fitradio.com/2009/01/welcome-to-jeffs-kitchen/

There are some great comments after that post that gives some good points as well.

I put my chicken bowls in gladware. I have a 1/2 c. brown rice, 3oz of baked chix and then I fill it up with frozen veggies - a little more than a cup. When I have these in the fridge, it's very helpful.

Also,it takes such little time to prepare the bowls.

Thanks, Jeff!

I am following Jeff's Kitchen "recipe" and it has allowed me to not fear lunchtime. Usually I would not know what to eat for lunch, so I would get take out. Preparing and freezing my meals has helped me in so many ways.
An example...
Every time there is someone's birthday in my office the boss treats everyone to a meal of the birthday person's choice. Well last week the birthday person chose Swiss Chalet! MMMMMMmmmmmmmmmmmm! Anyway, I managed to stay on track and eat my pre-made lunch and forego the birthday meal. Everyone at the office ate fries smothered in gravy, etc. etc...while I ate roughly the same type of food but more controlled. Thanks Jeff!