I'm a big trader joes frozen/ready food fan, but I'm confused on how to use it for meal prep. Should I be 'making' (heating?) everything, putting it together, and then putting it in the fridge, or combining all the frozen parts, leaving my meal prep in the freezer, and heating from frozen at work? What if its a combination of frozen and fresh foods (ex: rice bowls with their prepped rice and fresh vegetables/beans, pasta with their frozen meatballs, etc.)?
Something else to consider- some of their frozen foods take 5+ minutes in a microwave (with pausing and stirring) and I always feel awkward taking up the work microwave for that long. If the answer to the previous question is to keep it frozen, would it be 'bad' or unsafe to heat up and refrigerate from frozen if it is a meal that takes longer to heat from frozen. I'm a beginner at this so any advice is appreciated. TYIA!
by FrequentlyPurple_333
5 Comments
I did the rice and Mandarin chicken. Cooked both as instructed. Mix rice and chicken together before freezing. I also added some broccoli. Heated up in the microwave just fine. Cheaper than the bowls and you get more chicken.
If it’s already food that is ready to consume, how is it meal prep? I’m not understanding what you’re trying to do.
I would generally just heat from frozen and combine. In a pinch though, I’ve let them defrost in the fridge and had it mixed with everything else. Doing that though means you may have some excess water in your food.
Thaw your frozen meals in the fridge, then microwave or reheat like normal. Edit for clarity: I mean make your meals/meal prep and keep in the freezer. Take out the meal you want and thaw in fridge and reheat like normal at work or elsewhere.
I heat up the TJs chicken fried rice, dish it into meal prep glass, then heat and add TJs orange chicken or kung pao chicken on top of it. Add some steamed veggies.
It reheats all week no problem. Sometimes that’s all the time you have and it works.