Frozen vacuum-sealed meals?

[ofdustandgold]

The last year I went to the burn I went the route of preparing meals beforehand, vacuum-sealing, and freezing them. Being able to have a hot, relatively instant, home-made meal out there felt like such a game changer. My question: does anybody else do that and if so, what are your favorite meals/dishes to freeze and bring?

[lucky420]

Yes, I’ve done it. Pretty much anything from burritos, sketti, Trader Joe’s meals that I cooked and then vex sealed/froze

[Strata]

I've done this for regionals, and general camping. My camp at the burn does a shared meal plan so I don't bring a lot of pre-made stuff.

My favorite things to freeze are my favorite takeout meals, like garlic eggplant, butter chicken, and saag paneer. Chili is another good one. In the comfort food department, I've also frozen mac and cheese with sausage slices in it.

What I have found to be pesky is if something has a lot of liquid it can be challenging to vacuum seal. I got a pro tip on a burner discord a couple of weeks ago: use a small plastic container and pre-freeze your items, then vacuum seal the frozen brick that you take out of the container. Brilliant! No more worries about liquids, and no more less than perfectly juicy goodies.

PS- with regard to the Indian food yes I know about those Indian food shelf stable pouches. I just don't like their spicing nearly as well as my local Indian restaurants.

[FlyingMonkey]

I've frozen vacuum sealed meals in previous years. One of my favorite ones is making Mediterranean Chicken. The herbs and olives seemed to taste even better on the Playa. I also did a rosemary pork roast that turned out really good.

While in recent years I have just done re-hydrated camp food (Totally Lazy) it's really hard to beat a home cooked meal while watching the sunset from atop your bus.

Now I'm considering taking my smoker and drawing in hungry new friends at 3:00 AM. Smoked bacon wafting through the neighboring camps is sure to attract a few people. Would smoked bacon served with bacon smoked red ale be too redundant?

[The Rod]

so... you're gonna put bacon (that is already smoked) in a smoker and you're asking if its too redundant to serve it with a double smoked bacon flavored smoked ale?

[kimballa]

Vacuum-sealed is the way to go.

• Dirty rice and sausage

• Beef stew

• Chili

• One year we were lazy and needed a meal plan last-minute; we ordered a ton of Thai takeout curry, and froze it. Tip -- mix the rice in and seal it in the same bag with the rest of the good stuff.

[mimikirkland]

BBQ Chicken, Fajitas, Moroccan Burgers, Chicken pot-pie, sloppy Joes, and chili and some of the easy meals that immediately come to mind. I meal prep a lot but I usually just wait to cook them until I’m ready to eat. For example, I’ll mix all the ingredients I need for the burger, freeze, thaw and then cook. That way they taste fresher.

[Jordancc]

I do this for most of my hot meals. My favorite meal is pork scallopini over zoodles (zucchini noodles) with a white wine lemon butter caper sauce (easier to make than it sounds). Egg bites (mini frittatas you make in muffin tins) are great too. For anything wet, just seal one side of the bag to make a pouch, put the wet ingredients into it, then put open pouch in the freezer. Once it freezes, you just pit in the vacuum sealer, no problem.

[Drizzt321]

What's your methods for re-heating? Just put in a pot of water and heat on medium, well below boiling but still hot?

[unjonharley]

I use a steamer basket in the pot. Just like home.

[Drizzt321]

Maybe I'll try this for some meals this year.

Hm. Could actually sous vide stuff, stop it a bit early, and then cool water for a few minutes and then freezer. Then as part of re-heating they'll finish cooking. Easy to do both meats and veggies this way. Plus I actually will have one of those chest 12v fridge/freezer, if I set it to freezing and keep it well in the shade and off the ground I think I'll be good to go for this year

[Jordancc]

[quote=Drizzt321 post_id=1217732 time=1659545812 user_id=49815]
What's your methods for re-heating? Just put in a pot of water and heat on medium, well below boiling but still hot?
[/quote]

Yep. The steamer basket also works.

[peaceoflove]

I do a variety of burritos (breakfast/veggie/potato) - wrap in foil and freeze. Take a few out of the dry ice cooler to defrost in reg cooler and then use a steamer basket/boiling water to reheat. Amazing. I also like to do smaller portions (enough for two, or one with leftovers for later) or one large portion (for a group) of pesto pasta with veggies, pot roast with potatoes, takeout Thai or Indian rice and curry dishes. Boil bags in water until cooked. Also - shredded chicken or roasted veggies for quesadillas. And mashed potatoes, lots of mashed potatoes.