No, the hamburger is fresh, with fresh onions, and garlic added. I use a 30 minute cooking time Basmati rice and only cook it for 10 minutes, then cool it. I absolutely HATE Minute Rice (ugh!) Each pepper is stuffed with the mixture raw and then are wrapped in a small sheet of silicone coated paper (like the kind you see at some places were side orders and sandwiches are served), then in the FS bags. The paper wrap helps keep their tops on, as well as preventing sticking togther when frozen, and is easy to sperate when I want to bake them. Because some of my peppers are pimento types, they have a pointed bottom. I can't bake these standing vertically unless I prop them up against others. For a quicker baking, I will take from the freezer and microwave for about 3 minutes, and then bake for the rest of the time in the oven. I also added a bit of grated cheese to the meat rice filling. My frezer is a 20 cu.ft., and is a replacement for the now 'funky acting' 30+ year old one my dad used. After I almost lost everything due to the sudden failure of the old freezer (yes there was an alarm in it too!), I decided not to take any more chances and ran out at 7:30 am to buy another as soon as I could, so the rest of the food didn't thaw. I will be cutting up all therest of my peppers and freezing these too. Some of the stuffed peppers are in riper red peppers, as I had many ripening stages for my peppers ranging from green to yellow to red. I don't need to dry any for future sausage making as I have about 15 pounds of dried peppers too.

we freeze the peppers stuffed and unstuffed. they turn out great. you can vacuum seal or just use ziploc bags. We even clean out and halve bell peppers when they are really cheap and freeze them like that (empty). Then fill them with stuffing whenever we want or when ingredients aree on sale. You don't even have to bake, you can just microwave them and they come out just as good. kendra

I have frozen them after Baked ,like Deanna said. I tried this recipe baked and frozen but the tomatoes were a little soggy. - - - - - - - - - - - - Here is a recipe for a Pepper dish I made up a while back. I used a very large Green Bell Pepper, cut in half. - - - - - - - - - Lou's Open Face Stuffed Pepper Prelibato ( Pepper Exquisite ) Use your favorite stuffing. I used stuffing with par cooked Sausage. You can also use seafood. Use your wildest imagination. Maybe you better not ????? Lay the two halves of Pepper on an oiled baking tin or whatever you prefer. Lay Provolone Cheese on the bottom of the Pepper and pile on the Stuffing. Lay more Provolone on top of the stuffing. Put sliced Tomatoes on that and sprinkle with Garlic Powder, Onion Powder,Black Pepper and a little of Old Bay Seasoning (optional) Finale : Lay some Bacon strips across the top. Bake in a 350 Degree Oven for about 15 minutes or until the peppers are as tender as you like them. ENJOY !!! Stuffing 1 Celery stalk, (10in. Piece ) and ½ of a Med. l onion (chopped small) and Cooked in Micro Wave until tender (about 2 ½ min.) In a large Bowl mix: 1 cup of small bread cubes 1cups of Italian Bread crumbs 1 /2 cup of Rice Crispies (optional ) 1 tablesp. Parsley Flakes 2 tablesp. Of Locatelli , Parmesan or Romano grated cheese 1 teasp. Of Onion Powder ½ teasp. Of Garlic Powder ½ teaspoon of Old Bay Seasoning Salt to taste ( ½ teaspoon to start ) 1 piece of Italian Sausage 10 in. long, skinned and cut into small pieces. Sautee till medium rare. Add the cooked Onion and Celery. Put 1 egg into a cup of chicken stock (or Chicken Soup Base ) beat well and mix this into the other ingredients. Add a little water, if the mixture is too dry. Add more sausage, or whatever you like, etc.. If you have any Stuffing left over, freeze it for later LOU

Sliced into wedges, eat hummus with them. Or egg salad, instead of bread. Cut them into chunks and then broiled, with onion and tomatoes and mushrooms, as a side for dinner. We get them at Aldi's all the time and our local grocery usually has the red ones for $1 or so, so we eat a lot of them. I don't really like the green ones, so this works out well for us. Last pack from Aldi's had 2 reds and a yellow in it!