make ahead lasgna?

[Pooh2]

Has anyone made a lasgna to freeze? Were the noodles soggy?

Trying to find a way to make the holidays easier so I can spend more time with my company, less time in the kitchen. I will be hosting out of town guests for 4 days, so lots of cooking.

 

[Marionnette]

Has anyone made a lasgna to freeze? Were the noodles soggy?

Trying to find a way to make the holidays easier so I can spend more time with my company, less time in the kitchen. I will be hosting out of town guests for 4 days, so lots of cooking.

I do it all of the time. I just under cook the noodle a bit or I use the no-boil ones.

But you could also make baked ziti or baked rigatoni. They're both so much quicker to put together than lasagna and they freeze well. You don't have to partially bake them like you do for lasagna.

 

[Disney Princess]

We made several lasagnas before our son was born. Easy to defrost and put in the oven when I didn't have time to truly cook. Never had soggy noodles. Just be sure to leave enough time to defrost.

 

[worm761]

I have been prepping for Thanksgiving week. I spend most of the week before cooking and prepping for Thanksgiving and end up not wanting to cook dinner. I premade meatballs and froze them. I premade pasta sauce and froze that in dinner sized portions. When I made ravioli I made extra and froze that too. I have chili in the freezer for a meal. And I am making a beef stew this week and will make enough to freeze.

 

[JessM]

I do this all the time! It works out great. Lasaga is time consuming to put together so whenever I make it I make 2 and freeze the other before cooking. I use no-boil noodles, works great!

 

[My3Princez]

Not exactly freezing lasagna like you asked for, but this week I tried making "lasagna" using frozen ravioli. Took less than 5 minutes to assemble, and my family didn't even know it was ravioli-lasagna. DH didn't believe me. Just layered the sauce, still-frozen ravioli and mozzarella and straight in the oven. Delicious and couldn't be quicker.

 

[crisi]

All the time. Like Jess, if I'm going to bother, usually one goes into the freezer. I use no boil noodles as well. You can also make single serve using no boil noodles and disposable small bread pans and freeze those (it feeds two in my house).

The pain with lasagna is the sticky boiled noodles - no boil noodles makes it much easier.

 

[Sadie22]

You don't even need to buy special no-boil noodles. Just put the regular dry noodles between the layers and make sure the top layer is well-covered with sauce. The noodles will cook as the dish bakes. I've been making multiple pans of lasagna at a time for the freezer for years. I rarely make up fewer than six meal-size pans at a time. I purchase foil pains and pop the whole thing in a Ziploc bag to freeze.

 

[Mickey527]

When I make lasagna I always make one to eat now and one to freeze. It always tastes the best on the 2nd day.
My sons always complained that the one I froze got overdone and too crispy and dry when I reheated it in the oven, but they still ate it...
This past time I made the lasagna as usual and cut it in quarters. (I use a big lasagna pan the size of the lasagna noodles.)
I put quarter pieces into my foodsaver and took out all the air until the juices were starting to run to the seal and then sealed it.
when we wanted lasagna I took it out of the freezer and let it thaw then just popped the lasagna bag into boiling water for 1/2 hour.
The lasagna was nice and fresh and not dry at all. If you like the crispy cheese on top you could top it with more cheese and broil it for a few minutes too but we like it right out of the bag.

 

[Pooh2]

Thanks for all the great tips!

 

[Deb & Bill]

Not exactly freezing lasagna like you asked for, but this week I tried making "lasagna" using frozen ravioli. Took less than 5 minutes to assemble, and my family didn't even know it was ravioli-lasagna. DH didn't believe me. Just layered the sauce, still-frozen ravioli and mozzarella and straight in the oven. Delicious and couldn't be quicker.

You must have found the same recipe as me in the Sunday paper. It was really good. I made the recipe as is and divided it into two pans (one for that night, one for later in the freezer). Just had the freezer one last week and it was great. It's so easy to make, too. I did add ricotta and cottage cheese in the layers.

 

[Gamegrl1]

I actually make the lasagna, bake it and freeze the leftovers and it always tastes fine. I don't boil the noodles ahead, either. But for a big group I'm sure freezing it unbaked and thawing it, as a PP suggested, would be fine too. My freezer is full of casseroles, pulled pork, beef stroganoff, chili, etc. to grab and zap when I'm busy.

Love your idea about doing things ahead for the holidays - wish my mom would think the same! She had a meltdown at 10:30pm last Christmas Eve and so I've been on her to start early and I'll help her out with what I can so we do have a peaceful, fun time!

 

[SandyinMonterey]

I make and freeze lasagna all the time. I always use the no boil pasta now. Much easier. There are special/different direction for making lasagna and freezing it or putting it in the fridge right on the box. For freezing, make it as you usually would but do not bake, just freeze. So simple.

 

[michelleh1]

You don't even need to buy special no-boil noodles. Just put the regular dry noodles between the layers and make sure the top layer is well-covered with sauce. The noodles will cook as the dish bakes. I've been making multiple pans of lasagna at a time for the freezer for years. I rarely make up fewer than six meal-size pans at a time. I purchase foil pains and pop the whole thing in a Ziploc bag to freeze.

I make my lasagna without cooking the regular noodles all of the time. I just make sure to use plenty of sauce (I add in a can of tomato sauce), cover it and bake it for 1 hour. Here's the recipe I use from the back of a jar of Prego, it can be made with any sauce.

 

[dismom115]

Not exactly freezing lasagna like you asked for, but this week I tried making "lasagna" using frozen ravioli. Took less than 5 minutes to assemble, and my family didn't even know it was ravioli-lasagna. DH didn't believe me. Just layered the sauce, still-frozen ravioli and mozzarella and straight in the oven. Delicious and couldn't be quicker.

I second the frozen ravioli! My kids call it lazy lasagna . It makes a quick week night dinner.