Freezing Soups
Scott
02/15/06 		Hi, I plan on making a variety of soups to feed approximately 20 people each. I think I'm okay on how to prepare them, but I need some help with the freezing process. The soups would most likely be an Irish Beef Stew, a Pumpkin Bisque (contains milk) and a Creamy Roasted Garlic. I saw on another thread that cream based soups don't react to freezing well?

Ideally, I need to freeze these soups in small quantity containers (maybe 1 qt.) to be delivered. I've been doing some research on the best ways to go about this, but any further help would be appreciated. And assuming I may need to drive a distance, I would assume dry ice to be the best way to keep the soups frozen in the drive, but if anyone knows of a better idea...

Thanks

ellen
02/15/06 		There are two important points to freezing soups safely:
Pour into pans no more than 2 inches deep for rapid chilling; the soup must reach under 40 degrees in less than 2 hours.
The refrigerator for the initial chilling should stay below 40 degrees even with the hot soup just added, so the amount of soup that can be safely chilled at once may be less than you hoped. For example, the average home refrigerator cannot safely and rapidly chill 5 gallons of hot soup or chili at one time.

I use flour or mashed potato flakes to thicken creamy soups that I freeze. Never cornstarch in something that will be reheated.

After chilling, I freeze soups in zip top freezer baggies. Takes less space, easier to thaw.

Solidly frozen soups will hold in a regular ice chest for an hour or several. How far are you driving?

Keep in mind that in most states it is illegal to sell foods prepared in an unlicensed home kitchen. If you are contemplating a business, you may be able to rent time in a licensed kitchen (church, school or restaurant kitchen during off hours, for example).