Freezing lasagna without alluminum pans???

[rachie]

I'm trying to make and freeze a couple lasagnas for after baby is born (so we can have some home-made easy dinners) but I can't freeze my glass lasagna pan and I got some aluminum disposable pans but I'm hesitant to put acidic tomato sauce in it and I'm hesitant to bake in it. I wonder - can I line the tray with wax paper while it's frozen then pop it out into my glass pan to heat??

What do you think? Any other suggestions?

[serenbat]

I would use parchment paper- much stronger, if you can't get that, freezer paper is also strong- than I would wrap well and do an extra layer of foil to keep out freezer burn and just use the foil for another use later when you defrost- I think wax is just too thin

[ChristyMarie]

I just did this with aluminum pans for vacation. It was just fine and what I did just in case was set the entire aluminum pan into a regular baking pan before I put it in the oven.

[Magelet]

why can't you freeze the lasagna pan? What I would do would be to line the glass lasagna pan with parchment paper enough that it completely comes up the sides, and freeze it. once it's frozen you can take the lasagna and paper out of the pan, wrap it up/put it in a bag and keep it frozen, and take the pan out and slowly let it come back up to room temp. when your ready to cook, pop the lasagna ice cube into the pan (with the paper), and put it in the oven.

if you really really can't freeze the glass (vs can't leave it frozen, or can't freeze liquid in it, or can't freeze it then pop it in the oven), then I'd do the same thing in the aluminum pans. line them totally with parchment, freeze, though I might not bother to take them out of the pans. the parchment will keep the food from touching the aluminum.

don't use wax paper, as you can't cook it. parchment paper can be used in the oven. it's pretty widely availible here, if not, it's lightweight and I'm sure you can get it online with not too much shipping.

[hildare]

I freeze meals in my glass baking dishes all the time; however, if that's your only glass dish, that leaves you in a bind!
I'd think waxed paper would work fine, you may have to do some measurement taking to make sure you have something the right size to put the frozen chunk into.

[velochic]

We are a family of 4 (3 adults including my mom and an 8yo dd). We never eat a whole lasagne. It's usually 3 meals for us. What I do is bake it and then let it cool. I cut it into servings, then IQF (individually quick freeze) these portions on a sheet pan. Once they are frozen solid, I vacuum seal them and put them back in the freezer. Then I can pull out exactly how many I need and pop them onto an individual baking dish and into the oven. There is a bit of effort up front, but the end result is a super quick meal.

[rachie]

Originally Posted by velochic

We are a family of 4 (3 adults including my mom and an 8yo dd). We never eat a whole lasagne. It's usually 3 meals for us. What I do is bake it and then let it cool. I cut it into servings, then IQF (individually quick freeze) these portions on a sheet pan. Once they are frozen solid, I vacuum seal them and put them back in the freezer. Then I can pull out exactly how many I need and pop them onto an individual baking dish and into the oven. There is a bit of effort up front, but the end result is a super quick meal.

That's cool - but I don't have a way to vacuum seal it - I'd have to buy a mechanism or something - or I guess put the "squares" into freezer bags - ??

The reason I cannot freeze my glass pan is because it is HUGE and our freezer is a narrow side by side one to our fridge - would NEVER fit.

I was planning on making a dinner for us to eat and then one to freeze anyways - I wonder if I CAN just make this one, cool, freeze meal portions and then zip them in freezer bags - Hmmm???

[pear-shaped]

Originally Posted by rachie

I was planning on making a dinner for us to eat and then one to freeze anyways - I wonder if I CAN just make this one, cool, freeze meal portions and then zip them in freezer bags - Hmmm???

I used to do what velochic does, but my foodsaver broke. Since then, I either put the portions into a freezer bag or a container with an airtight seal. I've gotten really good at cutting the portion sizes to fit perfectly in the container. The food will hold up pretty well in the freezer bag too.

[luv2homeschool]

Growing up in an italian household, we froze lasagna (and many other dishes) right in the aluminum pans and never had a problem. took it out, cooked it and YUMM! Someone I know suggested freezing it overnight, then removing it from the glass pan and wrapping it in saran wrap or a large ziplock. Then when you are ready to use it, unwrap, place it back in the glass dish and cook!

[mamadelbosque]

Ziplock now has freezer vacume bags which work quite well (we froze chicken, venison, etc in them this past fall and its done quite well).

When I make lasagna I make it in bread pans instead of the big 9x13" pans - a recipe for a standard 9x13 will make two bread pans worth of lasagna - then we eat one and freeze the other. I've made it in the aluminum pans lots of times w/o issue too.