The Frozen Section

As a god fearing fat person, eating is my birth right which I refuse to give up.

I am constantly hungry, I get hungry when I have nothing to do, I get hungry when I am depressed, I get hungry when I watch cookery shows, I get hungry when I read food blogs.

As a normal woman I also desire to lose weight, which becomes a bit tricky if you are in constant state of hunger and just love food.

The basic rule of weight loss is that you will have to eat. If you fail to eat and deprive yourself, your hunger and body and weight all will get back to you with vengeance.

When I started losing weight, being prepared with food was very important to me and it still is. There are times when I am in no mood to cook, I am out shopping and have no strength to come back and make a meal. There can be endless reasons. In such times freezing is a god sent blessing.

Before I started freezing my food my mind had few concerns like

Mind: Frozen food is not good for health.
Me: Says who. Its far better than oil filled meals in a restaurant. Far better than the frozen food we get from outside. And please do not forget its low cal.

Mind: Food will taste awful when you re heat it.
Me: No it won't. Infact it gets marinated well and taste much better.

Mind: But what are you gonna freeze for Christ sake.

For this question I surpassed my own expectations. In my house anything which is not living can be frozen. Once I discovered the fun of freezing I started freezing most of my food.

Freezing Boon or a Bane: Definitely a boon. When you are dead tired and do not want to cook and also want to lose weight, then all you have to do is take out home cooked food from the freezer and reheat and eat. Life can't get simpler than this.

Finding time to freeze: You can either cook on weekends and freeze the food OR you can cook a little extra everyday and freeze the food. Understand your need to freeze food.

For example for me I need frozen food mostly on weekends so 3-4 frozen dishes are good enough for 2 weekends and then I refill the freezer. When I was working, I had no time to cook. So, I would devote 2-3 hour on weekend, make everything for 5 days, keep in small containers and freeze. All I had to do is take my lunch box to office and keep in the office fridge.

Will the frozen food get spoiled : As long as its in the freezer it won't.

If you are reheating and consuming the food then its fine. But if you are taking the frozen food with you to office then its best to keep it in the office fridge.

Can I refreeze the left over : No you can't. Once you have defrosted a dish , do not
refreeze it.

Why should I opt for freezing:Everyone has different reason. Mine was to avoid outside food and have something special on weekends. SO, I always freeze a tasty low cal dish, which helps me to look forward to home cooked special meal when I am standing in the food court area of the mall.

A typical debate between me and my husband, contemplating about eating outside or eating at home, while standing and admiring the food court area goes as follow

Husband: I am hungry.
Me: So am I.

Husband: What will you have??
Me: I don't know. I want to eat but I feel guilty about eating outside.

Husband: Yes you should feel guilty, you are no longer losing weight. If you keep doing like this you will be fat again.
Me: Shut up and mind your own business.

Husband: I am hungry.
Me: There is daal makhni and rice in the freezer.

Husband: Lets eat at home. I love daal makhni.
Me: Fine, you will make raita. I will just
reheat the food.

**---------Things I Freeze--------**

1. Roti/Paratha/Breads: You need to cook them, let them cool , pile one on top of the other, keep them zip lock bags and freeze. And before you ask let me tell that they do not stick together.








2. Home made Pizza: Oh this makes for a lovely weekend breakfast when you are not in the mood to cook. As the pizza is made from wheat and oats and lots of veggies it does not upset your weight loss.






3. Gravy dishes: I have froze daal makhni, rajma, palak paneer, daal fry. In short almost everything.





4. Rice: Pulav, biryani, fried rice and even plain rice freeze beautifully.




The whole idea of weight loss is to have good food and enjoy life. So what if the food is low cal and homemade, you can still enjoy it. When you are tired and hungry and all you need is hot tasty food which does not upset your weight loss, just look for that food in your freezer.

Happy Freezing!!!