I tried freezing some, but unfreezing frozen lentils turned out to be way too annoying
I make what sounds like a similar lentil/tomato sauce, and freeze it as individual portions in small foil trays (they measure about 15cm by 12cm and hold about 400g or so of food). Those trays can go directly from the freezer to the oven, and 30mins at 180°C will generally suffice to defrost whatever.
Can of course defrost in the fridge overnight then heat the sauce through in a pan, but that requires forethought so I mostly don’t. Have at times defrosted a frozen brick of lentils in a pan (adding a splash of water to help moderate/circulate the heat) but it is indeed quite annoying that way.
I have several other meals that similarly go from batch-cook to freezer to oven in the same foil trays, including a vegetarian lentil+mushroom shepherd’s pie and a roast vegetable tagine (and also meat-eater options). Can supply recipes if interested.
Embarrassingly enough I don’t think past me ever tried to defrost it in the oven. Tried to put it in the fridge the day before and then microwave, which was not very effective. Just too excited to use microwave even for things where I know they don’t work well because my parents didn’t use to have one that I did consider the oven for this. Currently I am sharing a tiny freezer shelf with 7 people, but I might try this in the future.
I make what sounds like a similar lentil/tomato sauce, and freeze it as individual portions in small foil trays (they measure about 15cm by 12cm and hold about 400g or so of food). Those trays can go directly from the freezer to the oven, and 30mins at 180°C will generally suffice to defrost whatever.
Can of course defrost in the fridge overnight then heat the sauce through in a pan, but that requires forethought so I mostly don’t. Have at times defrosted a frozen brick of lentils in a pan (adding a splash of water to help moderate/circulate the heat) but it is indeed quite annoying that way.
I have several other meals that similarly go from batch-cook to freezer to oven in the same foil trays, including a vegetarian lentil+mushroom shepherd’s pie and a roast vegetable tagine (and also meat-eater options). Can supply recipes if interested.
Embarrassingly enough I don’t think past me ever tried to defrost it in the oven. Tried to put it in the fridge the day before and then microwave, which was not very effective. Just too excited to use microwave even for things where I know they don’t work well because my parents didn’t use to have one that I did consider the oven for this. Currently I am sharing a tiny freezer shelf with 7 people, but I might try this in the future.