Kitchen

[Tigriss]

This is a spiralizer question.  One of the best ways to speed up cooking is to pre-cook some things like rice, grains, ground beef, etc...then warm up and put into the final dish at the end or warm and serve.  I finally bought a spiralizer, this one from Amazon,  for $29.99.  I wanted the variety of noodles and the ease of use versus the hand held ones.

I have a busy week and have fibromyalgia on top of that, and with the weather being so wonky (15+ degree difference between night and day and day to day kills my fibro) so spending a great deal of time cooking and preping discourages me to cook and just eat a bowl of cereal for supper/lunch.

Do you or have you spiralized the noodles/veggies and froze them in servings to defrost and cook/use later?

[hoosieroriginal]

I would think so - I think you can freeze just about anything. 

[Mothertrucker]

I am afraid they might turn to mush, as freezing breaks down the cell walls in vegetables..Maybe if you blanched first?

[Tigriss]

Today people are freezing their garden veggies instead of canning them.

I wonder if anyone has done this and their success or not. Thanks for the replies! I will be learning!

[GCR18]

I've had frozen zucchini from the grocery store and it was mushy.

[millieshops]

I don't like leftover zuchinni no matter how I've prepped/cooked it.  It just turns to mush for me.  I'd expect frozen to be even worse.

[Tigriss]

GCR18, you are right according to inspiralized dot com.  Here is the blog post on her experiments.

Well, I ran a little experiment. I prepared (as in spiralized) a few raw vegetables in advance to make for the week. Some I froze and some I refrigerated. Here are my results:

Frozen

• Sweet Potato Noodles: Once defrosted (it takes 40 minutes), these noodles had wilted. In this form, after a quick pat down for excess water (there’s very little), they could be eaten raw and have a great noodle texture. Also, they heat up more quickly once they are defrosted – they only take about 2-3 minutes to cook.
• Zucchini Noodles: Becomes a mushy wet mess, does not work. Once defrosted, the noodles are wilted, mushy, and in a cup of water.
• Cucumber Noodles: Same as the zucchini noodles, they also lose some of their fresh flavor.
• Butternut Squash Noodles: Like the sweet potato noodles, the butternut squash wilts and becomes easier to cook once it has been defrosted (it takes 25 minutes). Spiralizing in advance and freezing this type of noodle works!

Refrigerated

• Sweet Potato Noodles: They become too brittle and hard and make it more difficult to cook in a skillet. According to this website, “It turns out that the vegetable contains an enzyme called demethylase. The enzyme normally lies dormant, but if the potato is subjected to temperatures below 55 degrees for a prolonged period, it kicks into gear.” That explains it.
• Zucchini Noodles: This works very well, the noodles stay fresh. This is the method I frequently use when cooking many recipes per week. The noodles last about 5 days (perfect for the work week). Moisture builds up slightly, but nothing a little paper-towel-pat-down can’t fix.
• Cucumber Noodles: Same as zucchini noodles, except they leak a bit more water. To prevent this, I patted down the noodles thoroughly prior to storing and that fixed the water issue. Shelf life is about 3-4 days, because of sogginess.
• Butternut Squash Noodles: These noodles ideally hold up for no more than 5 days.

[Tigriss]

I'm still digging in the inspiralized dot com website and boy does she have tons of stuff. I've just learned to make rice with the spiralizer! That is something that I can certainly use! She covers what veggies are best fresh spiralized, frozen, refrigerated, and those that pack well for lunch in one bowl and which ones need to be kept separate due to too much moisture in the veggie, ie...zucchini.

[RedTop]

My family has always canned and froze our garden vegetables.  Our routine was to use the frozen vegetables before using our canned supply.  We NEVER froze zucchini.   We canned them in relishes and stored them in the root cellar short term, but they are not suitable for freezing.   

[Tigriss]

Thanks RedTop! It appears that veggies high in water should not be frozen or they become MUSH.

I'm so in love with the inspiralized website, that I'm still surfing for recipes. I think I'll start with zucchini, butternut squash, and sweet potato. I watched her short, 30 second, video on making rice. That is as quick as making cauliflower rice and I have a little KitchenAid food processor that will make it a snap.

I'm so excited to start replacing my pasta with veggies. I'm working on my WW plan and am starting a new compounded thyroid medication. My new doc is treating me according to symptoms since treating by blood work results in nothing changing but the blood work. She specializes in things like that and knows about trying different thyroid meds until one is found that your body reacts to in a positive manner. She saw my crazy blood work and said no wonder why my weight kept going up and my symptoms were horrible. I will get those new meds in a few days from the compounding lab and jump into them with my WW and see some weight loss quickly, I PRAY!