Freezing Cooked Grains

I love grains, but they take so long to cook that I don't make them often. I stopped in at Trader Joe's last week and got to taste their frozen grain side dish.  It was very good, but the package only contained two servings, cost $2.99 and came in a mylar-ish bag that I didn't want to have to throw away.  So, after some internet research, I discovered that you can freeze cooked grains and then either microwave or put them in a pan with a little water and heat and they're as good as freshly cooked.  Why should I pay that much money for so little (plus yucky packaging), when I could make lots myself  for little money and my own reusable packaging?  I stocked my freezer this weekend.  Here's what I did:

First, I cooked several different kinds of grain (separately, because of course they all had different cooking times),  I used barley, brown rice, red rice and red quinoa because that's what I had.

I lightly greased my cupcake pans with coconut oil and packed each cup with the grain mixture.  I pressed it in with the bottom of a measuring cup so the grains would stick together.

Then I put them into the freezer.  Once they were frozen, I flipped the pans over onto a cookie sheet and popped the grain "cakes" out.

Put those little guys into a freezer bag and now I have individual serving sizes that I can pull out and heat whenever I need them. I love finding frugal ways of getting what I want!

This post has been linked to Homemade Mondays