freezer meals

[marbles]

What do you freeze meals in? I'm not a freezer meal type of person, I've only ever done chili in gallon size bags. But I'm having a baby in February and it's number 3 so I'm thinking I should freeze some meals. Do you buy those aluminum pans and freeze in those? My MIL gave me some frozen meals in those once and it was nice to just stick it in the oven. I have mason jars I can do saucy things in, or soup if/when I make it. Other than that all I have are glass containers I use to store leftovers. We use Ziploc bags for some things, I freeze leftover pancakes in those. What's best for meal size quantities of food?

[mommychem]

We've recently received some new to us Tupperware but I get so nervous about plastic. I only have black beans in the freezer now in a large ziploc plastic container. I recently saw online about freezing soup in muffin tins then bagging them.

[esperanza]

I got some pyrex with lids. They stack and fit well in the freezer, though obviously you have to be careful since they are glass. Also not nearly as cheap as the aluminum pans. I know people talk about freezing in a pan then popping it out and putting it in a ziploc bag too. I haven't tried that.

[Mother of Sons]

I do most things in zippo is. I don't have space for stacking containers.

[ShangriLewis]

I usually don't use aluminum. But, I love those disposable pans! I finally got to make freezer meals with a group of friends before one of them had surgery. We did a bunch of casseroles in those pans and crockpot stuff in ziplocs. It was all pretty healthy as well. She doesn't do canned soups or anything. Some of it was just meat and a sauce to be served over a grain or on buns.

[schmamy]

Soups and such, I freeze flat in ziploc bags.

For stuff that goes in pans, I line a glass pan with foil, then freeze it in the pan. When it's solid, I pop it out of the pan, peel off the foil, and stick it in a gallon ziploc bag (if it's an 8x8 square) or leave the foil and wrap it well with saran wrap (if it's a 9x13). Then when you want to bake it, it pops right back into the glass pan. I take the foil off before thawing only because when I cook enchiladas or lasagna with the foil on, it comes apart and sticks to the food when you try to scoop it out of the pan.

I wouldn't freeze soup in jars other than a single-serving in a cup-sized jar. Food takes forever to thaw when it's in a solid block like that. Frozen flat in quart or gallon bags, it thaws amazingly quickly. I have greatly reduced plastic use, and wouldn't heat stuff in plastic, but I don't have concerns about freezing in plastic.