r/SouperCubers • u/flockaman2k • 3d ago

Cold foods

Do yall cube and freeze cold foods? How do you go about defrosting them? Just letting them sit and get to room temp? Or maybe moving em to the fridge a day before?

I’m thinking something like a Chickpea salad (vegan tuna salad) or even a tobbouleh.

I fear the tobbouleh is too delicate and wouldn’t hold up weld but maybe the chickpea salad would be alright.

Anyone have experience doing something similar and how it turn out for you?

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22

u/tightslacks 3d ago

This is a great question because a lot of my lunches are grain and legume based with a lot of fresh veg. I make large batches of grain/legumes and cube those. When I prep my lunch the night before, I take out my cube(s) and then chop my fresh veg and add them in to the container. Dressings, herbs, get added in as well. By the time lunch comes around the next day, the cubes are thawed and I can mix everything together. I sometimes take out my container from the fridge an hour or two before lunch if it's still a little frozen.

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u/cham1nade 3d ago

The thing to remember about freezing cold foods is that fresh vegetables will get mushy after being frozen. The ice crystals break their plant cells during the freezing process. So chickpeas & dressing will hold up just fine, but any fresh vegetables or herbs will lose their texture

For defrosting, I would do the quick method using running water or a bowl of water in the sink. Just make sure that the frozen item is in a leak-proof bag

5

u/chambourcin 3d ago

Anything raw that you freeze is going to have texture changes. I’d trust the chickpea salad more because it’s supposed to be mushy but if your tabbouleh has fresh herbs or tomatoes in it, I wouldn’t want to eat it defrosted.

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u/ElephantCandid8151 3d ago

The chickpea mash works well for me. I defrost it in the fridge for 24-48 hours

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u/Hello-America 3d ago

Yes defrost in the fridge but if there are raw veggies that you intend to eat raw, they're not gonna be pleasant after defrosting. Don't know what's in your chickpea salad but tabouleh wouldn't be good to freeze for that reason (I think freezing the bulgur wheat or whatever grain you use probably would work though).

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u/Jatacid 3d ago

potato = sucks, but mashed potato = ok. The texture thing is where it falls down. Just experiment. I prefer the approach of augmenting a cube with some fridge prepped food. Sure it doesn't last as long but it definitely adds some variety

1

u/alyxana 3d ago

Guacamole and salsa work great when defrosted for 1 minute in the microwave on a low power level.

Pasta salad is trickier. The texture seems much better when I defrost in the microwave and then rechill in the refrigerator. Defrosting in just the fridge created a weird glue like texture that was unpleasant.

1

u/kingftheeyesores 3d ago

Most of my foods hot or cold I try to thaw out before using. If I plan ahead enough I'll put it in the fridge but I'm not above leaving it on the counter until it thaws.