Do you (or have you) ever done batch freezing of meals for convenience?  I recently had someone ask me about the best way to freeze servings of meals and I thought I'd share my tips here with you.  I don't freeze meals very often, since I rely more heavily on quick and easy recipes, but I will occasionally make a double batch of a stew or soup and freeze some portions for later.  One of my favorite recipes to freeze is our Greek Chicken Stew which freezes perfectly (freeze just the stew and then make fresh quinoa or rice when serving).   It does make an easy meal when all you have to do is thaw!   I also will freeze fruits (you can even use them later to make our Nearly Instant Homemade Ice Cream!).   And every year, I freeze lemon juice from our tree at the end of the winter/spring citrus season so that I have plenty of lemon juice during the summer months for recipes and lemonade.  This summer I planted a couple of the Trader Joe's basil plants in my garden which grew to provide some huge harvests of fresh basil that I made into pesto a few weeks ago and froze (follow the pesto recipe but don't add the cheese.  Freeze.  Add the cheese when you thaw and use).  I know a few people who freeze cooked brown rice themselve in individual bags, but as you probably know, Trader Joe's does this for you with their wonderful Frozen Organic Brown Rice if you don't want to do it yourself.

If you have any tips of your own, I'd love to hear them! 

 1.) Freeze recipes such as soups and stews, sauces, casseroles, and lasagnas.  Cut up fruits, such as ripe peaches, and freeze for an easy pie filling. 
2.) As a general rule, don't freeze things that are cream based since the fats may separate when thawed - same goes for a cheese sauce. Potatoes (for example cubed in a soup) also tend to freeze poorly and have degraded texture when thawed.  And although it may be obvious, crispy fried foods do not freeze well and become soggy after thawing. 
3.) To make the most of your efforts, double or triple your recipe.  Doubling or tripling a recipe doesn't take much more effort than making a single batch, and it's so much more economical money-wise and time-wise.  You can enjoy the meal, and then still have plenty to freeze.
4.) Cook the food, cool it and freeze right away for best results.  Don't stack packages in the freezer as you don't want to slow down the freezing time.  The faster it freezes, the better the final quality.  Spread out dishes in the freezer until they are frozen and then stack them.
5.) If there is only one or two of you, freeze individual portion sizes.  For a family, you can freeze a whole lasagna or larger batches of meals.
6.) Freeze in freezer-safe containers or bags and make sure they are air tight.  Liquids expands when frozen, so be sure to leave enough room.  Make sure you label the food with contents and date so that you can keep track of what it is and how fresh it is.  If you don't label it, chances are you'll forget what it is and youll be throwing it out in a couple months. 
7.) Eat foods within 3 months.  Frozen food can keep much longer than this, but after 3 months, the quality of texture begins to deteriorate.
8.) When ready to eat the meal, thaw it in the fridge overnight and the reheat it thoroughly before serving.  Don't re-freeze leftovers!
9.) If you have babies or toddlers, puree homecooked vegetables or soups and freeze in ice cube trays.  When frozen, pop the cubes into a freezer safe bag or container and label.  For each meal, you can choose a couple of cubes out of each batch, warm, and have a great homemade, organic, all natural meal. 
10) When lemons and limes are in season and at their peak (winter time), buy a bunch and juice them. Freeze the juice in an ice cube tray and you'll have lemon juice to use in dishes or to make lemonade throughout the summer.