To Freeze or Not to Freeze?

[PammieTaj]

I'm making my way back to raw food. I slip up and wander off, and well, here I am again. Only to ask myself why I have never done what Alissa says to do - eat a lot more of the 'fancy' dishes - in a way replacing SAD foods with raw versions and then letting my raw eating style progress from there. I'm the only one in my family to eat this way. I don't mind taking the time and energy to prep good food for myself, but I can't see myself eating a lot of these richer foods at one time. I don't want to:

1. Waste food.

2. Get so tired of eating something over and over that I fall back on SAD foods.

Can I prepare raw foods like lasagne and enchiladas and freeze them? Then maybe thaw out in the fridge and/or dehydrator the next week or so? As an alternative, could I freeze some of the sauces/cheezes/etc and just make smaller versions of the dishes?

What do those of you who are prepping raw food just for you doing?

[Veganforlife]

YES! I freeze foods all the time and they do turn out GR8! I'm only one person, so a lot of these dishes are HUGE!

I usually just take them out and let them thaw at room temp or in the dehydrator...

I freeze banana with the peels on. To thaw, just put into a canning jar in room temperature water (covered) for a few minutes. Then slice open the top and squeeze the banana out. They stay much "whiter" too.

Avocados I free whole and they thaw nice as well.

[Aleesha Sattva]

I tried freezing an avocado and it was gross when it defrosted. But I do freeze other stuff all the time.

[PammieTaj]

I'm lucky in that we have one of those appliances that sucks the air out of the plastic thingie and seals it up for freezing. Sometimes for liquidy foods you have to pre-freeze, then bag and seal.

This is totally removing one of my barriers to doing raw and eating *well*.

Thank you both for your responses!

[Revvell]

I've always been against freezing as it tends to kill the food yet, this weekend I made Chili Rellenos, two very large pizza crusts, a pecan pie and going to make more stuff today. I realized while I was stuff the CR that freezing, although not as good as eating fresh, is a way better idea than taking some SAD/SAC frozen stuff out of the freezer and eating that.

Doing it this way, one can take about two days a MONTH, maybe 3 hours each day, to prepare a variety of foods. Be sure to label them.

This is a great idea actually for those who do well all day then have a problem at night. Before leaving for work, take something out to thaw, have some home prepared dressing and while the thawed item is heating in the "d", make a salad.

[Aleesha Sattva]

exactly! for me... raw foods isn't about perfection... it's about waaaaaay better than SAD. and for me, if that means i'm freezing something and consuming it later... then i'm good with that.

[Vegansara]

Me too Aleesha! I freeze my greens sometimes and my berries. I know it isn't ideal, but it's a whole lot better than wasting, or eating what I used to store in my freezer!

[islesgirl]

When I started having a garden again the summer before last, I grew greens - quite a lot of them. I had to freeze them. First I suck the air out of them with my "food saver" and then freeze them. I use them in my smoothies and they have helped me feel marvelous - so there has to be plenty of nutrition still in them.:D

[anniez]

I have started freezing food, too. I like the convenience of having some tasty food ready to go. I freeze Alissa's marinara a lot. I freeze greens, bananas, desserts and lots of entrees. I halve all of Alissa's recipes and they still make a lot!

Annie