OK.. Here goes.. The Ingredients Store was where I got the Freezer Flo. According to National Starch, that formula works best for thickening a freezing product. I make a simple pie crust recipe (quite large) and roll out dough for the bottoms of the Au Grautin foil pans. They are steep sided, so you need a bit of care to position the crusts in them. Trim off all extra at the edges to the foil rim. The filling is made of cooked chicken or turkey, some fresh carrot slices and frozen veggies (like peas, limas, and corn which are OK to refreeze). I also add cut up partially cooked potatoes. The sauce is usually made from the skins, fat, wing tips and bones of the bird. Its seasoned with a bit of rosemary and sage. These herbs and solids are removed and then the starch is added to thicken the flavored and seasoned stock . The 'gravy' is poured into a big bowl with all the other ingredients and is mixed. I apply a small amount of margerine (my favorite is I can't Believe its Not Butter) to the bottoim inside crust (still raw). This helps to reduce soggy bottom crusts. The meat mixture is spooned into the pie shells. Its thick and chunky with just a light coating of the gravy/sauce. I roll out top crusts and place them on the filled pies, trim, and press around the edges with a fork to seal. The top center gets a small hole cut into the dough. They are packed in 8 inch wide Food Saver bags and a vacuum is pulled, and then sealed. The 8 inch wide bag material is quite snug, so use care in puttng in the pies. They are then frozen for as long as you like. If you want a quick bake, take it out of the freezer about 2 days before baking, which will be less than an hour usually at about 400 degrees. If its still frozen, I bake at 425 and cover the top to prevent burning. I do it in my little toaster oven and the top just browns too quickly without e foil on top. After an hour, you can check it for bubbling, as well as remove the foil off the top, so it will brown. If its not bubbling yet at the hour, let it stay in there a bit longer before you take off the foil. My toaster oven has an enamaled baking pan that the pie is on. In the regular oven, have it on a metal cookie sheet or larger flat pan. What you end up with is a frozen pot pie like you see in stores, only yours actaually have MEAT in them, instead of traces of rubber boots that were on the chickens.. A store bought pot pie usually takes an hour or more to bake, depending on if its frozen solid or thawed, or sold as fresh raw. Here is a link that might be useful: Freezer Flo

G'Day Marian. Here are a few thoughts on frozen apple pies. The only time I need a frozen pie is for camping or hunting when it is not feasible to bake a pie. I have tried baking a pie (cherry works better than apple for me) and freezing it and taking it in a cooler and then defrosting it at camp. The apple pie is marginal that way (cherry works better) but welcome with a hot cuppa after a morning of walking the hills. I have experimented and the following method works a bit better. I bake an apple pie and let it cool and then slice it. I then take my vacuum sealer bags and form 8 bags large enough for each slice. I place the slices on waxed paper and then on a cookie sheet and freeze solid. Then I vaccum seal the slices and back into the freezer (labelled and dated). This works fairly well. For camping, I pack the individual slices in my cooler and I don't have to worry about transporting a pie plate back and forth and the slices take less space. They stay fairly frozen until needed, but this does depend on time of the year. At home, if Leslie and I have a hankering for an apple pie and we don't want a whole pie to temp us, we take a couple slices out of the freezer. Dang, now I want an apple pie. I will have to check to see if the Johnathons are out yet--those are my favorite as I can't find pippens around here. Based on my experience, peach pies and cobblers don't do well frozen and thawed. I have not tried pumpkin pie. Cheers, Gary

Many years ago when is was especially young and foolish I was told you could take Pyrex from the fridge and put it on the stove top. I spent most of our meager food budget on a delicious beef roast for a party with friends. It was a banner night for a group of novice cooks. We all agreed that it was ok to reheat the beef on the stove top at low heat. Naturally the glass shattered and the delicious, expensive roast went into the garbage. Oh. So sad. A good lesson, however. Not the same as a pie in the oven, but I wouldn't try it. Again.

It would be helpful if you could post the recipe, or supply a link to it. Otherwise it's really difficult to suggest alterations. I remember my mother making "Dream Pies" using a quick-to-bake pastry crust or graham cracker crumb crust (she made her own, but you can purchase commercial graham cracker crusts). Dream Pies were made with Dream Whip (and it's still available in the baking supply isle) and Instant Pudding. You can still find recipes on-line. And don't forget Icebox Pies. Just using the word "icebox" says it all for how long ago that was :-). Here's a sample of an "icebox pie" from Cooks.com: PINEAPPLE ICEBOX PIE 1 small can crushed pineapple, drained 2 (8 oz.) pkg. cream cheese, softened in microwave 45 seconds 1 small container Cool Whip (not cheap kind) 1 tbsp. sugar 1 graham cracker pie crust Soften cream cheese in microwave for 45 seconds. Add drained pineapple and sugar. Mix well. Fold in Cool Whip. Cheaper brands are watery and pie will not set up. Place in graham cracker pie shell and chill one hour minimum. -Grainlady