Things You Can Freeze & More Great Tips!
As we all are experiencing unforeseen circumstances, we want to be able to help you in other ways as most of us are at home right now. Here are some great tips on what you can and can’t freeze.
There are simple guidelines you can follow to help you reduce your food waste, make your money go further and keep food fresher longer.
Foods you can freeze:
Cooked pasta
Cooked rice
Nuts (many people don’t realise nuts can go rancid due to the high levels of fat they contain)
Flour – you can use it directly from the freezer
Butter
Grated cheese
Bananas, peeled
Bread, in slices, as loaves or breadcrumbs
Herbs
Stock
Wine
Eggs, cracked into small containers
Meat, both raw and cooked
Foods you shouldn’t freeze:
Milk – it becomes lumpy once thawed (but this can be OK for cooking)
Deep-fried food – after defrosting, the crispy coating will turn to mush
Sour cream – again, it can be alright for cooking but will separate after freezing
Dishes with crumb toppings – you’ll lose the crispness and it’ll go soggy.
Freezing tips:
- Let all food reach room temperature before freezing.
- Make the most of your ice cube tray – blend herbs with water or olive oil and freezing in a tray, wine can also be frozen as ice cubes which you can use to keep your drink cool without diluting it or pop it into your cooking, and stock can also be frozen in a tray.
- Make sure everything is frozen in a sealable container or bag.
- Meat in particular needs to be properly wrapped.
- Be aware that anything that has a high water content, like lettuce, won’t be exactly the same after being frozen and then defrosted.
- Try to freeze everything when at its freshest.
- Defrost meat thoroughly before cooking, but other items such as bread for toasting can be cooked straight from the freezer.
- Never refreeze raw meat that has been frozen and then thawed – you can, however, freeze cooked meat that was frozen when raw.
- Make sure the freezer isn’t packed so full that air can’t circulate.
How long can you keep food in the freezer?
As a general rule, nothing should be kept in the freezer for longer than nine months to a year, but there is variation amongst different food items.
Here’s the maximum of time you can keep certain foods frozen before thawing:
Poultry, whole: a year
Steak: a year
Blanched vegetables: a year
Fruit in syrup: a year
White fish: eight months
Open packs of frozen fruit: eight months
Unsalted butter: eight months
Fruit juice: six months
Lamb/pork/beef/chicken/turkey/duck/goose/venison/rabbit: six months
Bread: six months
Cakes: six months
Stocks: six months
Oily fish: four months
Pastries: four months
Salted butter: four months
Ice cream: four months
Sliced bacon: three months
Soups and sauces: three months
Bread dough: three months
A few additional tips:
Homemade Pancakes, Waffles, French Toast
Make extra pancakes, waffles, or french toast during your weekend breakfasts and freeze them for quick and easy breakfasts during the week to come. Place your pancakes (or waffles, or french toasts) on a cookie sheet, then transfer them to a freezer bag. Reheat them in your microwave, toaster, or toaster oven.
Fruit
When freezing fruit, it’s a good idea to freeze them on a lined cookie sheet first, and then transfer them to a freezer bag. Freezing them on a cookie sheet first makes it so the fruit won’t stick together, which makes it easier to pull out a small amount at a time as needed.
One of my very favorite chilly treats is a handful of frozen grapes! Give it a try sometime and let me know what you think! :-)
You can freeze bananas whole and use them later to make banana bread. If you have bananas that are starting to get too brown, just toss them into the freezer with the skin on. Then when you’re ready to use them, pull them out, microwave for a few seconds, then squeeze the insides into your mixing bowl.
Keep a “Smoothie Bag” in the freezer. Toss in extra apple wedges, peaches, pears, bananas, chunks of melon, or any kind of fruit. When the bag gets full, dump it in the blender and make a smoothie!
Baked Goods
When your favorite bread is on sale, stock up and freeze it. Or when you’re in a baking mood, make extras of your favorite baked goods and freeze them for later. (Here’s a tip for defrosting baked goods or breads – place them in your microwave overnight, but don’t turn it on. The enclosed space helps to keep them from drying out.)
Make apple pies in the fall to enjoy throughout the year! Bake them, then freeze them in freezer bags wrapped in freezer paper. Then when you have a hankering for pie, just take one out of the freezer, remove the wrappings, and place in your oven for 2 hours at 200 degrees. (You can also freeze SLICES after baking a whole pie, or just freeze the filling. Follow the link below for more details.)
Sources:
https://www.onegoodthingbyjillee.com/20-things-you-can-freeze/
https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/freezing-food-freezer-defrosting-how-long-which-foods-cooking-a8530971.html