Freezing left over roast beef?

Question

when we have a roast for lunch i am often left with beef and gravy left over.

could i freeze the beef and the gravy together?

If so how would i reheat it ready for serving?

and does it have to be defrosted first or can you cook it from frozen?

Answer 1

Slice the beef and freeze the beef and gravy seperately. You then have the option of putting them back together for a roast or using the beef for sandwitches or saleds. The gravy is good in an ice cube tray. You can then use a cube in sauces etc as well as popping a cube back on the plate to micriowave for a roast or with mash etc.

Answer 2

Slice the left over beef first and then cover it in gravy before freezing. Your beef will be kept nice and moist. You can reheat from frozen either using a micro (dont over do it or else it will be tough)  in a covered dish or put in a lidded casserole dish in the oven - whilst your making yorkies & roast tatties. I personally prefer to defrost completely and reheat in a deep frying pan as this is much quicker and to be honest I would use left overs only for a quick mid week meal.

If you have some left over meat but maybe not enough for your family why not bulk it up into a healthy beef stirfry. Defrost the sliced beef & gravy and then remove the slices and cut again into strips. Stirfry the usual mix of oriental vegetables - whatever you fancy really, can be as basic as just peppers and brocolli, or beansprouts, baby corn, mange tout, peppers, shitake mushrooms, red cabbage, pak choi, carrots, water chestnuts,bamboo shoots etc - you get the picture. Stir fry only once the wok is very hot and add a little oil either just before adding the veg or firstly coat the veg with the oil. Add some ginger, garlic and five spice. Then add the beef strips to reheat. Then pour in some of the gravy to moisten. Add a little sugar to take the edge off the five spice and add soy sauce to taste. Quick & healthy. You can bulk up even more by stirring in some egg noodles that have been soaked in boiling water at the end.

Frozen gravy can go horrid if it was too thick in the first instance or if the thicken (eg cornflour) was not cooked out properly in the first instance. However easily sorted by a small blitz with the hand blender when reheating adding some more liquid (wine?) if required.

Answer 3

Interesting.  I have discovered that gravy frozen is horrid, but if you freeze the stuff before you add thickening (Bisto) that works well. No problem with freezing the beef if it was fresh and not frozen before cooking.  I'd defrost it before reheating - and drop it in a frying pan in the hot gravy and just warm through.

Edit : will try Shaz's way too! Thanks.

Answer 4

yes freeze together. i usually add a chopped onion first. then cook from frozen in oven. nice served with mash and cabbage.

Answer 5

You can freeze it together. You can cook it from frozen, but must be sliced first (slice it before freezing). But generally, it is better to defrost first, even though it is time consuming.