Meals to Go - Reheating

If you don't have time to cook from scratch each day (and let's be honest, most of us don't), for tasty meals to go, you can make your dinners taste just as good reheated as when you first cooked them. In fact, some recipes such as stews and chilli's taste even better reheated because the flavours have had a chance to mingle into the meat.

So when reheating your meals, there are a few important things to consider to make sure you get it right each time.

Temperature

Whether you're reheating meals in the oven or in a saucepan, it's important not to have the temperature too high. This is because you'll likely end up with something that's hot on the outside and cooler on the inside. Also, you're not re-cooking your leftovers, you're reheating them, so a too higher temperature could burn your meal.

If using an oven, go for about 170c - covering the leftovers with foil or a lid. If using a hob, use a middle sized ring on the lowest heat.

Timing

Always make sure your meals are fully thawed out. So if you have something to defrost, take it out of the freezer before you go to work and it should be fine by the time you get home. Reheating generally takes about 20-30 minutes and needs seeing to half way between. Don't get inpatient and increase the heat to speed things up as you'll likely burn your dinner and have something that's still cold on the inside.

Equipment

Having your own meals to go by reheating them means having the right equipment, and there are some must-have essentials you should buy.

Get a Pirex dish with a lid - these are perfect when reheating meals in the oven. Using the lid will reduce any burning and help cook your meal through evenly. Also have a good quality sauce pan (with lid) for when reheating on the hob and always have aluminium foil handy for when things need covering up.

Avoid drying out

If you’re cooking a meal with a sauce containing chicken or rice, make sure you add some water - enough to cover the bottom of the dish/pan. This will ensure the sauce remains 'a sauce' and the chicken/rice doesn’t turn dry. You may want to do these type of meals on the hob as they'll be easier to keep an eye on.

Reheating in the microwave

The same rules above apply when using a microwave (excluding the use of foil). Make sure you use a medium temperature and you avoid your meal drying out by covering it and adding water if necessary. For even faster meals to go you'll be able to reheat quicker using a microwave, however, the taste may be impaired slightly compared with using the oven or hob.

Image courtesy of Ben Walton