Freezing Mac and cheese

16 years ago

This seems like a silly question, but can home made mac and cheese be frozen? I know you can buy frozen mac and cheese at the grocery store, but they put all kinds of alien stuff in their products to make it do unnatural things. We are traveling this weekend to dh's cousin's house, and I wanted to bring some food along, and thought mac and cheese would be good and could defrost in the ice chest on the way. (around a 5 to 6 hour drive) Think that might work?

Sally

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Comments (5)

lindac
16 years ago
I am sure it will freeze....but why not just pack a cooler and keep it in that for the drive?
Linda C
annie1992
16 years ago
I agree, it'll freeze fine and upon thawing and heating it shouldn't suffer much in texture.

I'm going to have to give this a shot, the grandkids just LOVE mac and cheese.

Annie
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User
16 years ago
I freeze the cheese sauce all the time but cook the pasta fresh and then bake. I'm sure it would OK frozen together but just be sure it is very creamy and the pasta is very al dente. The suace will absorb into the pasta some what just like it does with frozen lasagna....at leats that is my experience.
junelynn
16 years ago
Hi everyone. I've been lurking here and loving every minutes of it. I've been doing a lot of canning this year and recognize some names. I've been a member of the Garden Web since 2002. I was raised on home-made cooking and enjoy gardening, composting, cooking, baking and canning. Nothin' beats home made! The photos you guys display are just beautiful!

Sally, I know it will freeze then thaw with no problems. I just made a batch of M&C and I freeze it all the time. What I do is remove a portion and freeze it in plastic ziploc containers (smaller servings than a whole casserole dish), then I take that out and then vacuum seal it for longer freezer storage. You can seal the casserole in a large bag and get as much air out of it that you can (suck air out w. a straw). Depending on how long it will be in the freezer I don't think it would get much freezer burn. You may want to seal it well first with plastic wrap or aluminum foil the bag it.

I have no problem with the texture after it's been frozen. And of course, when it's home made, it taste a lot better than store bought. I do the same with much of my food, freeze it freshly made then seal it. I just finished some mini chicken pot pies and mini apple pies. I kept trying to find a really good chicken pot pie and just couldn't find anything I liked, so I started making my own pie crust (King Arthur recipe) and making my own pies.

Good luck with that and I'm sure it will be a hit!

June Lynn
sally2_gw
Original Author
16 years ago
Thanks, everybody. I was planning on making it and freezing it ahead of time so I wouldn't have to deal with it as we were trying to leave. However, I just spoke with DH's cousin, (which I should have done before posting this question and getting all hungry for mac and cheese) and she says she's got dinner covered. I'm just to bring brownies, which I will be more than happy to do.

I'm sure this information will come in handy, though, as we travel back and forth between OK and TX quite a bit, and I like having food ready to heat and eat when we get there. I kind of like the idea of a frozen meal helping to keep things cool in the ice chest, while at the same time defrosting for dinner once we arrive. So I'll try it sometime.

Thanks again.

Sally

Freezing Mac and cheese

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Freezing Mac and cheese

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