How Long is Too Long?

I got a great question from Tricia in Delaware about freezing meals.

How long a dish be frozen for and still be edible? I've only taken one or two stabs at trying to freeze something and, to be honest, it was so long between putting the dish in my freezer and pulling it out again to cook that I wasn't sure it was still good and (gasp!) I ended up just tossing it. Is there a general rule I should follow as I freeze?

Want to know something interesting? The USDA says that freezing keeps food safe almost indefinitely, so recommended storage times are for quality only.

I have absolutely kept item in my freezer for a full year. One day a year I make homemade turkey meatballs and my Ukrainian Grandmother's pierogies in a 14 dozen amount. Yep...14 dozen. And it lasts us an entire year and they are great until the end.

What I generally do is when I am making a dinner I make enough for 3 meals and freeze two of them. Then each Monday is Make-Ahead-Monday. On Sunday I pull one out of the freezer to thaw it in the refrigerator. Then we have it for dinner on Monday and that makes clean-up easy and fast since my house is always a wreck after the weekend.

This keeps your frozen meals in constant rotation and insures the quality of the food remains in tact.