Your freezer is about to become your batch-cooking superhero with these great tips from MK Editor-in-Chief, Liezl Vermeulen. Both clever and handy, her tips will help you chill out (literally) and keep delicious dinners just a defrost away. 

Here are our top 4 tips to avoiding freezer fails.   

Tips to frozen meal prep success 

1. Consider when to under-cook when freezing: If you’re planning to simmer, boil, bake or roast your food when reheating, slightly undercook to compensate for this and to avoid dry or overcooked ingredients later. 
2. Add whole beans after defrosting: Most food will change slightly in texture after frozen. This is because ingredients contain water or liquid, which will expand during freezing, which in turn will break the fibers containing it. 
3. Some ingredients don’t want to be frozen alone: Already coating your cooked pasta in sauce, or oil if you don’t have the sauce ready, will avoid it mushing together when defrosted.
4. Add cream after defrosting: Most dairy ingredients is an emulsion (a stable mixture of water and fat that usually would usually separate into two parts). When it is frozen, it splits, returning to its natural state where fat droplets separate out. While this is very much still useable, the texture changes. By adding cream to sauces after defrosting, you can avoid this and end up with a silky-smooth sauce.  

Safety first

• Cool it! Food should always be cooled down completely before chilling or freezing. If you’re in a pickle where you can’t leave food out, it’s best to let it chill uncovered in the fridge. (Covering it will create a hot air vacuum above the food, which can cause it to spoil.) 

• Once-off deal: Don’t use previously frozen meat to make these recipes, as meat shouldn’t be refrozen.

• Plan to defrost: Take your food out ahead of time to defrost at room temperature to retain best texture (and avoid unplanned cooking in the microwave). To speed things along, you can submerge food in tepid water (not hot water) and continuously drain and refill as water gets cold.