Eli5: why are some foods not advised to be reheated, or heated more than once? Why do some have to be cooked from frozen and other defrosted
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When food gets warmed, the bacteria in it can multiply much much faster than when it’s refrigerated or especially when it’s frozen. That means that if it’s warmed up again and again, food that’s prone to spoilage anyway gets way more chances to spoil. This used to be more of an issue as production facilities were not as sterile in the past and these days you can pretty safely thaw and refreeze even raw meat many times – although it’s best to only thaw it enough to portion it and refreeze pre-portioned amounts.
As far as some foods being intended to be thawed then cooked while other foods are intended to be cooked from frozen that’s just a matter of the physical properties of the particular dish. For example a frozen lasagna wants to get browned on top while the underlying layers remain somewhat separate. Baking it from frozen cooks the outside while basically just defrosting and warming the inside (it’s precooked). If it were completely thawed you would overcook the inside and end up with a more homogenized mushy texture. That’s the general reason food is meant to be cooked from frozen – to crisp the outside while only thawing/heating the inside.
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