I'd like to make more make-ahead, freeze-ahead meals, and am looking for oven-safe and microwave-safe storage container options (brands, materials, prices, any info would be helpful).
I'd love to find non-plastic containers that ideally could go directly from freezer to oven, but I'm open to other suggestions too (especially since the paper options don't seem to be very easy to find).
More than anything I'm looking for reviews and recommendations. Brands and types you've liked and those you haven't.
A lot of the plastic ones I've tried, weren't nearly as microwave-safe as the label implied.
I'm a pyrex girl. Glass can do freezer, oven, and micro. Plus if you cook something that sticks you can do whatever you need to in order to clean it without having to worry about hurting it. Heck, I have taken a brillo to my pyrex.
But, I believe the Pyrex instructions say that while they can be used in the freezer, oven, microwave and dishwasher that you should not take the dishes from the freezer and put them directly into the oven, nor should you do the opposite. It could cause them to crack. So they'd have to thaw a bit first.
I googled some freezer to oven ideas and someone mentioned those cheap metal pans you can get from grocery stores that aren't meant to be used many times, but obviously they couldn't be used in a microwave.
Last edited by Lovely; 06-06-2011 at 11:36 PM.
Reason: Idea & Spelling. Derp.
Sadly, pyrex does have to be thawed some before going into the oven. I don't think (other than those waxed paper things that are pretty hard to find) there are options that can do all three things and also not have to be thawed or cooled a bit when switching between freezer and oven.
I love glass dishes and tend to do batch cooking on the weekend especially in the winter (summer is easier for bbqs and fresh salads. I have pyrex containers with plastic lids that I use in the freezer. i have never baked witht hem, but if I recall correctly, the insert said you could, so long as the dish doesn't go directly from freezer to oven (it could shatter).
Another alternative is mason jars; these freeze well too.
If you want something that goes directly from freezer to oven, how about those paper-lidded aluminum disposable pans? You can just remove the paper lids and pop it right in the oven?
Another option for freezer to oven - prep your food in a Pyrex or other pan lined with foil, freeze solid in the pan, then pull out the foil, fold it up, and put the foil-wrapped meal in a ziploc bag. Freeze it in the bag until you're ready, then when you want to cook, unfold the foil and put it back in the same pan, and then into the oven. You won't have the shatter risk of a frozen glass container since the container itself won't have been in the freezer, and as an added bonus, you get to freeze many as many meals as you have bags for without tying up all of your pans.
Another option for freezer to oven - prep your food in a Pyrex or other pan lined with foil, freeze solid in the pan, then pull out the foil, fold it up, and put the foil-wrapped meal in a ziploc bag. Freeze it in the bag until you're ready, then when you want to cook, unfold the foil and put it back in the same pan, and then into the oven. You won't have the shatter risk of a frozen glass container since the container itself won't have been in the freezer, and as an added bonus, you get to freeze many as many meals as you have bags for without tying up all of your pans.
oven and microwave-safe freezer containers
