My life is changed forever

[thyme4change]

Seriously!  I've been the queen of meal planning and every morning I take something out, and that night we have to eat it.  And if I forget - well then...we are screwed.  And when my mother comes over and sees meat sitting out, she freaks out.  But now I can do this and voila - dinner!  How did I not know about this sooner?!?!?!

[les63]

This is why I love the internet. Thanks for this.

[Deleted]

Doesn't heated plastic leach out toxins into the food? I read somewhere that it did. If placed in cold water, meat thaws quickly.

[thyme4change]

You have to use a food safe bag - which is a ziploc.  The bag never gets over 130-ish degrees.  The FDA has approved the method.  If you are worried about it, you should never eat at a nice restaurant, as they sou-vious most meats.

Cold water still takes an hour or more, in my experience.  If I get home at 5:30 and start the process we won't eat until 8 pm.

[mollyanna58]

Jun 18, 2014 20:27:30 GMT -5 les63 said:

This is why I love the internet. Thanks for this.

[Deleted]

Jun 18, 2014 20:38:36 GMT -5 thyme4change said:

You have to use a food safe bag - which is a ziploc.  The bag never gets over 130-ish degrees.  The FDA has approved the method.  If you are worried about it, you should never eat at a nice restaurant, as they sou-vious most meats.

Cold water still takes an hour or more, in my experience.  If I get home at 5:30 and start the process we won't eat until 8 pm.

I just looked it up. You're right. www.goodhousekeeping.com/product-reviews/consumer-protection/plastic-safety-heat-food-6

[Deleted]

They also invented that thing, a while back, that microwaves your food. Does a fair job on defrost. 

[thyme4change]

When I microwave to defrost, the outside of the meat ends up getting cooked and the middle is still frozen.  So, I turned down the heat and flipped the meat every 90 seconds.  It just didn't work that well for me.

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

Out microwave does a pretty good job of defrosting.

I normally pull something out in the morning to thaw.  If we decide to go out, it gets thrown in the fridge and eaten the next day.

[Gardening Grandma]

Jun 19, 2014 8:17:43 GMT -5 thyme4change said:

When I microwave to defrost, the outside of the meat ends up getting cooked and the middle is still frozen.  So, I turned down the heat and flipped the meat every 90 seconds.  It just didn't work that well for me.

My microwave has a neat auto defrost setting.  I tell it the kind (poultry, beef or fish) and the weight.  It beeps halfway theough so I can turn it over.  Thaws the meat without cooking the edges.  Average time is 5 mins for a lb of meat.

[justme]

Sous-vide is a little different because it's in until everything is the same temperature at the water which is usually in the 165* or higher range depending upon what's in it. 

I personally prefer the mean in a container in the sink with a small stream of water trickling in. It thaws the meat pretty quickly, and if the water is more room temp than cold it's a bit faster. And it works for any size of meat/frozen item. I want to say it's around 20/30 minutes for most things I defrost. 

[thyme4change]

Jun 19, 2014 10:11:46 GMT -5 justme said:

Sous-vide is a little different because it's in until everything is the same temperature at the water which is usually in the 165* or higher range depending upon what's in it. 

I know - but the concept of chemical leakage from plastic would be even greater in a Sous-vide piece of meat - so I was warning Lone that if she wants to stay away from meat that has touched plastic that is more than 120 degrees, she probably needs to evaluate her restaurants very carefully.  

[NoNamePerson]

When I forget to take something out to thaw, I head to the nearest restaurant or pop popcorn    But then I only have myself most of the time to deal with in matters of the kitchen.

[msventoux]

Jun 19, 2014 20:14:55 GMT -5 NoNamePerson said:

When I forget to take something out to thaw, I head to the nearest restaurant or pop popcorn    But then I only have myself most of the time to deal with in matters of the kitchen.

What's this pre-planning nonsense that everyone's talking about?  The nice thing about living alone is dinner can be anything...a can of soup, cheese and crackers, cereal (with milk or dry), popcorn, pancakes, or any mixture of all of the above.  A few nights ago dinner was part of a can of sardines, cheese and crackers, an apple and a pear.

OK, maybe planning would be a good idea after all!

[tloonya]

THANKS! Cool...

[truthbound]

Jun 18, 2014 20:33:56 GMT -5 @lonewolf said:

Doesn't heated plastic leach out toxins into the food? I read somewhere that it did. If placed in cold water, meat thaws quickly.

Yes. Regardless of what anyone says cooking stuff in plastic is not healthy for you. I mean seriously. It's common sense.

[bookkeeper]

Jun 25, 2014 3:07:43 GMT -5 truthbound said:

Jun 18, 2014 20:33:56 GMT -5 @lonewolf said:

Doesn't heated plastic leach out toxins into the food? I read somewhere that it did. If placed in cold water, meat thaws quickly.

Yes. Regardless of what anyone says cooking stuff in plastic is not healthy for you. I mean seriously. It's common sense.

I agree. We gave away our microwave oven 2 years ago and never missed it.  Since then I use glass baking dishes and stainless steel pots and pans. I have a convection oven and it heats food almost as fast as a microwave oven.

I don't think those Healthy Choice meals that you microwave in the plastic tray are really a healthy choice.

[Deleted]

Jun 25, 2014 7:46:00 GMT -5 bookkeeper said:

Jun 25, 2014 3:07:43 GMT -5 truthbound said:

Yes. Regardless of what anyone says cooking stuff in plastic is not healthy for you. I mean seriously. It's common sense.

I agree. We gave away our microwave oven 2 years ago and never missed it.  Since then I use glass baking dishes and stainless steel pots and pans. I have a convection oven and it heats food almost as fast as a microwave oven.

I don't think those Healthy Choice meals that you microwave in the plastic tray are really a healthy choice.

I've always worried about those "Boil in the bag" veggies.
I have a whole shelf in the closet full of every size and shape of glass baking dish.
I cook and freeze soups and stews and use them for storage.
I try never to use the microwave and now considering, after what you just wrote about how quick they cook, getting a convection oven.