Forget the Nobel Peace Prize, I am currently in the running for "best reinvention of a frozen meal", which is almost as important as the Nobel. Almost.
I made a huge homemade lasagna last weekend. I have the kind of giant lasagna pan that would feed the 51st infantry. The issue with making that much lasagna when you aren't entertaining a crowd, is storing the leftovers. I don't want to use up all our nice glass containers when freezing, and even I am shying away from storing lasagna in a canning jar.
The idea came to me Monday night, and I smacked myself for not thinking of it before.
1) Wait until the cooked lasagna is completely cooled in the pan. Cut in to single serving squares.
2) Cover a baking sheet with parchment paper, and place the servings on the sheet, making sure they don't overlap or touch.
3) Freeze for at least 12 hours.
4) Remove the squares, and store in your container of choice. I went with freezer bags (I wash and reuse them). Two, one-gallon Ziplocs took up less room in my freezer than a bunch of containers full of lasagna.
The benefit of this method is that instead of having to defrost a whole thing of lasagna, you can simply take what you need, and leave the rest; no waste! Forget to pack a lunch? This would be great thrown in to a to-go container and put in your lunchbag. It will keep the rest of your lunch cold, and you need only microwave it until warmed to your liking.
This saved our bacon recently when we were packing up Troy's meals for a 48 hour shift he was starting the next day. We had a few decent meals packed, but needed one more. Threw a "brick" of lasagna in a glass container, added some carrots, and boom, the meal was ready.
Need this for a dinner? Heat multiple squares at a time.
I'll be awaiting my "Revolution in food storage" award. Kindly let me know when it is here.
