Sides part 2 - side dish casseroles

In my last post, I discussed cooking and freezing 2 of the most popular sides that we eat at our house - pasta and rice. What about side dishes that are more of the casserole type, like sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole etc.
Just like most entrees, you can make these and freeze them before or after cooking. When I take the time to make a side dish like sweet potato casserole, I easily double it and then take half and freeze before cooking. When I defrost, I place the casserole in a casserole dish and cook as I normally would.
The alterations you would need to make to sides to successfully freeze would include not adding anything that should be crunchy, such as a brown sugar topping or the freeze dried onions, before freezing. These will not freeze and defrost well. Add these items after you defrost and begin the cooking.
One very important thing to consider when freezing sides - if you are doing a potato dish, make sure you cook it at least half way before freezing. Fresh potatoes do not freeze well - in fact they turn black if they aren't cooked before freezing. It would be a really bad scene to make something such as scalloped potatoes and freeze before cooking, then defrost and try to prepare, just to be met with black potatoes.

Fancy sides take a lot of time to prepare, so why not prepare multiple batches when making a single batch. It won't take you any more time and often will save you money by buying bigger containers of the ingredients.