Yup, great tip. I've been doing this for a while. It's also great when your giving the frozen casserole top someone else. You don't have to worry about getting your pan back.

It's not the most environmentally friends, but disposable pans are cheap and sturdy enough to handle the freezer.

Genius!

You know, there's something I've never been clear on, am I to freeze the casserole or extra lasagna before it's baked or bake it then freeze it and just warm it up later?

Awesome idea...thanks!

I've been lining mine with parchment paper.

@Oven Mitzie--if you freeze it before it's cooked the quality is often better. I avoid freezing cream soup casseroles though--the few we like never do well when frozen before or after.

So does anyone have any awesome freezable casserole recipes for me to try?

Why don't you just cool the casserole to room temperature then transfer it to a tupperware container for the freezer? You could even do it with lasagne if you had a flattish, wide plastic container.

Fantastic! I am trying everyday to learn tips to become more efficient with my time and things and this helps out a lot!

Great idea!

brilliant!

Pure genius.

I live alone, mostly, so when I make large casseroles I tend to bake, then let cool...then cut into portions which I transfer to a sheet pan to freeze, then I bag the frozen portions. This is sometimes tricky with the ones that want to fall apart, so I wait until I've eaten two portions, then wiggle a spatula between portions in the baking tray...freeze until the portions are rigid enough to move safely, and sheet-tray away! Though the frozen portions sometimes stick, I find that leaving it on the counter for a few moments usually loosens the bottom enough to work.

The same goes for soups & stews, but I use my muffin tins for that! I always...ALWAYS freeze in portions!

Sometimes, I take this one step further: before I place the solidly-frozen food into the casserole dish for baking, I uncrimp the foil around the edges... and peel off the bottom layer of foil.

You have to peel slowly and carefully to be sure the foil comes off in one piece, but when it does, you can pop the frozen meal into an oiled dish and bake it as usual.

I hate trying to serve a casserole from a foil-lined dish, with the food stuck to the foil and sometimes scraps of foil getting mixed in with served pieces, so I prefer to peel off the foil before baking. It also leaves me with a fairly clean piece of foil to use right away (for wrapping leftovers of the same casserole, for wrapping up a loaf of garlic bread to go with the casserole, whatever).

I also save formed-foil takeout dishes (which our Thai place uses for Pad Thai and curries) and use them for home-frozen dinners. That's especially handy if I'm making food to give away or to bring to a friend's home: no worries about getting the pan back.

NON-stick foil!

recipes for freezer friendly: a classic lasagna (freeze before baking, thaw overnight in the fridge), minestrone soup (I don't add any pasta until I'm ready to thaw, cook and serve. While the soup heats, cook the pasta then add to the soup), macaroni and cheese, chicken divan, calzones (par-bake before freezing), cooked brown rice(use broth instead of water and season well) layered with sauteed zucchini+roasted red peppers+marinated atichoke hearts+lightly sauteed leeks+button mushrooms, sprinkle with parmesan.