Freezing soup?

LittleMissWifey

I think this was discussed here a few weeks ago...

I am hopping to make big pots of soup to (hopefully) use as lunches for work. Can soup be frozen? If so what is the best method? 

I'm thinking of using little glass pyrex bowls with lids. Good idea? Bad idea? 

Does anyone else have any frozen lunch ideas for purposes of taking to work? 

Thanks!

Mrs.tlcS

Yep, you can freeze soup.  Anything freezer safe with a tight fitting lid would work.  If you're using glass, I'd recommend letting it sit room temp a bit before putting it in a microwave, or otherwise putting it in the refrigerator instead of the freezer when you got to work, but I'm always paranoid about breaking glass dishes.

Sibil

I just pour it into ziploc freezer bags. ?To freeze them, I lie them flat on a cookie sheet and put it in the freezer that way. ?After they've frozen solid, they store really easily, and you can take the cookie sheet out.

brideymcbriderson

Yes, freezing soup is a great way to have easy lunches and dinners lying around! I made a big pot of black bean soup last weekend and put it in 10 small cheap tupperwares that I got at the grocery store (the Glad and Ziploc brand ones). I put 7 in the freezer and three in the fridge. I had it every day for lunch this week, and I have 5 more. This particular soup thickens a little once it's sat overnight, so if I feel like thinning it out, I just add a small amount of water.

EastSideFluffy

I would use plastic, not glass.  Water expands when its frozen, so you could shatter the glass if you freeze it that way.

I always save those cheap plastic containers that take out or deli food comes in to freeze stuff in.  It usually works well.  Or cheap tupperware, like the disposable gladware stuff. 

Whatever you use, let the soup cool completely before you freeze it.

pghctwife

I freeze soup (and chili) all.the.time! Freezer safe ziplocks make it EASY!!

zelda25

I'm in the freezer bag camp, too.  That way, you can get all the air out of the bag and it will last a lot longer before freezerburn sets in.

LittleMissWifey

I'm liking the freezer bag idea.

Thanks everyone!

brideymcbriderson

EastSideFluffy:

Whatever you use, let the soup cool completely before you freeze it.

Is there a reason for this? With my last batch, I put soup in the freezer without letting it cool completely first, but it wasn't steaming hot. It didn't kill me when I reheated it. Am I risking death in the future?

Sibil

brideymcbriderson:

EastSideFluffy:

Whatever you use, let the soup cool completely before you freeze it.

Is there a reason for this? With my last batch, I put soup in the freezer without letting it cool completely first, but it wasn't steaming hot. It didn't kill me when I reheated it. Am I risking death in the future?

It's not the soup that you're concerned about. ?If you put hot stuff in a freezer, it will raise the temperature of everything else, and that's where problems might happen. ?In general, freezers today are powerful enough to handle hot things being placed in them. ?It's actually safer if you go from hot to cold b/c there's not as much time in the cooling stage for bacteria to multiply. ?You just have to weigh that against the risk of warming up your entire freezer to unsafe (or unfrozen which can still be safe but not good for food quality to be frozen and unfrozen regularly) temps.?

EastSideFluffy

Actually my concern was the risk of exploding/cracking tupperware.  If you put it in hot with the lid sealed on, it's much more likely to pop open or crack than if you put it in cool with the lid sealed on.

But Sibil makes good points...actually I had that problem in the fridge once, when I put a container of half & half on top of a hot tupperware container of leftovers.  Half & half was totally curdled and disgusting the next morning.

 

brideymcbriderson

OK, gotcha. I always let the soup cool somewhat so that I don't have the exploding tupperware issue, but I wouldn't say I let it cool completely. And my freezer is so freaking cold that I don't think putting my one batch of soup in the freezer is going to raise the temperature of everything enough to be dangerous, especially since I don't put it in piping hot. Good to know that death is not imminent.

Sibil

I wasn't even thinking of tupperware b/c I always use freezer bags and squeeze the air out of them. ?Good point about cracking lids.

jenniloveselvis

I use the ziploc . glad cheapo tupperware. I like the bag idea but when you use tupperware, you also don't need to find a bowl to eat out of.