Freezing Food – Faqs

Why do we need to freeze food?

Freezing is a method to preserve food, and you can freeze the items you want to use later to prevent the bacterial growth on them. Freezing will limit the movement of the molecule and freeze the water particles inside. During freezing, the microorganisms enter a dormant stage and will not grow and divide so your food will be safe to eat later after a long period.

Which food items can I freeze?

You can freeze a wide range of food items, to prevent them from spoiling and eat them later. The list includes:

• Vegetables like carrots, broccoli, lettuce
• Fruits like avocado, apple sauce, banana or grapes
• Cheese and butter
• Cooked food items like pasta and rice
• Herbs
• Meat
• Poultry
• Chocolates
• Egg yolk

The list goes on than this one. Freezing will help you a lot with the food items saving and utilizing.

Can I freeze cooked food?

Yes you can freeze cooked food in both the cases

Either you cooked your food from the raw food items, or you took the raw food out of the freezer and properly thawed it.

Make sure that after cooking, you put your food in the freezer within 2 hours as the bacteria start growing rapidly on the food after 2 hours at room temperature.

For how long can we keep the food in the freezer?

The average time that is allowed to keep your food in the freezer is three months. This rule goes for all either meat or vegetables, cooked or raw.

You better eat them within the four months before you can see the freezer burn on them.

After taking the food out of the freezer in how much time should we eat it?

Once you have taken the food out, thaw it properly and then eat it within the next 24 hours. You need to cook or reheat the food item that you thawed to ensure the killing of the bacteria and avoid any health issues.

Which food items we should not freeze?

Certain food items will not go well with freezing due to their reasons. You better not to freeze them, or you’ll end up with wasted food or getting up sick. The list of the items that you should not freeze includes:

• Egg whites
• Cucumber
• Cream sauces
• Fried food items
• Frostings of cakes as they have egg white in them
• Gelatin
• Mayonnaise
• Sour cream
• Lemon or limes

It would help if you did not freeze these things, or you will end up in a disaster.

Which vegetables can we freeze raw?

Some of the vegetables you can freeze in the raw form, but most of them are needed to be blanched before freezing. Blanching will help to preserve the color and taste of the vegetables.

You can freeze onion and pepper in raw form, but other major ones need blanching.

For blanching, you need to put the vegetables in boiling water for 2 to 3 minutes. This will preserve the color and taste.

How can I freeze potato?

If you have got potatoes in the abundant form, you can freeze potatoes either in fries form or for hash browns, but you need to cook them first. You cannot freeze them directly in raw form.

1. Wash the potatoes.
2. Peel them
3. Slice them up.
4. Blanch the slices of potatoes for 3 minutes.
5. Take them out of boiling water and put them into ice water.
6. Please leave them in ice water for the same time as you put them for blanching.
7. Take them out and let them dry. You can put them on the paper towel.
8. Now put them in the freezer bag that is zip locked and airtight.
9. And that’s it. Put them in the freezer, and you can have freeze potatoes.

To watch these step by step freezing process of potatoes, click the link given.

 How to freeze carrots?

To freeze carrots, you have to go through some steps. Let’s see them one by one.

1. Let them rinse in cold water.
2. Chop the ends off.
3. Peel them.
4. Slice them up.
5. Boil the water up.
6. And put them in the boiling water. Disc cut size will take 2 minutes.
7. Now take them out and put them in cold water.
8. Take them out, dry the water. You can use a paper towel.
9. Put the carrots in the freezer zip lock bag.
10. Could you put them in the freezer to freeze?

These are the steps that you need to perform to freeze the carrots. Click the link to have a visual idea of everything.

What are the advantages of freezing food?

There are several advantages to freezing food.

1. It is a quick way to preserve food items. You need to make freezer-friendly packets and freeze them.
2. You can make the whole meal and preserve them for later use when you are running out of time.
3. It preserves vitamins better than canning, and the equipment is also cheaper than the canning.
4. Just by doing blanching, you can preserve vegetables with the same color and taste with the help of freezing.

What are the disadvantages of freezing?

As everything has its pros and cons. Freezing also comes with some disadvantages.

1. Nutritional value decreases. Vitamin A and C lose their values in frozen foods.
2. Leaving your food for too long or in an inappropriate way will leave the freezer burn on the food that will affect the quality and taste of the food.
3. If the electricity goes out, you’ll end up in lots of wastage of food that you planned to eat later. While canning does not affect electricity.
4. The ice crystals form during freezing will damage the cell membrane of the cell, and so is the protein structure.

These are some of the disadvantages that freezing has. You can still overcome them by handling your food with care.

What are freezer burns?

When you pack wrong or leave your food in the freezer for too long, your food might get freezer burns. They are grayish-brown color spots that are leathery in texture. They usually occur due to air contact with the food item.

Freezer burns don’t make the food bad, but they are not appealing to eat. Your food might become dry from that part.

If the freezer burn is mild, cut that part away. If the freezer burn is heavy, you have to cut that part away.

Can I freeze my food after two days?

If you freshly cooked your food, you can easily store it in your fridge for two days and then freeze it after two days. This only goes for the food items that either you cooked them or brought fresh.

Suppose you took something out of the freezer. Heat it; then, you cannot keep it out for two days before refreezing. After reheating, you have to eat that food up. Freezing it again will greatly affect the texture and flavor, and you cannot leave the reheated food in the fridge for two days before freezing.

Can I freeze cheese?

Yes, cheese works fine after freezing, especially the hard cheese like the cheddar one. It will melt even after freezing. You can also freeze Swiss cheese, brick cheese, mozzarella cheese. Cheese slices also freeze well.

While freezing, freeze them in an airtight container or vacuum seal them to get better results and prevent the freezer burns.

Can we freeze pasta with meat sauce?

The meat sauce is freezer friendly. You can freeze pasta with meat sauce or any sauce that is recommended to freeze. You can freeze it in the zip lock bags or containers that are freezer friendly.

When you want to eat it, you can take it out and reheat it on the stove or oven.

Can we freeze cooked rice?

Yes, you can freeze cooked rice but try to freeze them as soon as you can. After cooking, please put them in the container when they are cooled enough to put them in the freezer, then cover the lid and freeze them. You can leave the rice in the freezer for one month to eat them with better taste and texture.

You can thaw your rice in the fridge before reheating them, but don’t reheat them more than once.

Can I freeze my Chinese takeaway?

Yes, if you ordered more and have some still left that you want to eat someday later, you can surely freeze your Chinese takeaway. Pack it nicely and put it in the freezer to use them later.

When you want to eat it, thaw it properly and then reheat it. It is better to reheat it on the stove or the skillet. And enjoy your meal.

Takeaways can stay in the freezer for as long as two months to 3 months.

So yes, you can freeze your Chinese takeaway, including Chinese fried rice or chicken chow mein, but freeze them properly is the only requirement.

For how long can we freeze meat?

Once the meat is freeze and it is in raw form, it can go like that for an indefinite time. U.S.D.A says that you can use frozen raw meat even after a year, either it is in the form of steak or roasts. Freeze meat will not rot in the freezer.

And the recommended time to use ground beef that is frozen is four months.

This was all about the meat that was uncooked and frozen.

If the meat is cooked and then it was freeze, then you have three months to eat it.

For how long can I keep chicken in the freezer?

The recommendations of the life of the chicken in the freezer are somewhat the same as the meat. If your chicken is in raw form and that is packed correctly, you can store it for up to a year if it is full chicken. As for the parts, you can store them in the freezer for like nine months. If it is ground chicken and you freeze it, you can store it for 3 to 4 months.

Cooked chicken when freeze can be stored for 3 to 6 months.

To know if the chicken is good to eat or not look for the texture and color. When you thaw your chicken if the texture has become sticky and the color has faded or darkened, it means that your chicken is spoiled and not good to eat.

How can I defrost my food?

There are three methods to defrost food items.

1. Defrost them in the fridge – take your food out of the freezer and put it in the fridge overnight, and it will be thawed to use it the next day. Leaving meat in the fridge for overnight is the safest method to defrost
2. In cold water – put your meat in the cold water in your kitchen’s sink and allow it to defrost. Change the water continuously if required. Defrosting meat in cold water is the fastest method to defrost. Be careful that not to use warm water as the temperature above 40 degrees C will promote bacterial growth.
3. Defrost in the microwave – many microwaves come with the setting of defrosting. You can use it to defrost, but it can give a chance for the bacteria to grow.

Do not defrost your food at room temperature as it will give a great chance for bacterial growth, and your food will not be good to eat, and you can have food poisoning. So don’t leave your food on the kitchen shelf at room temperature to defrost.

Can I freeze my food in an aluminum foil?

Suppose you want to freeze your food item like chicken for a longer period. On the regular wrapping of the chicken, you can do the rewrapping with the aluminum foil or the freezer paper.

The foil you can use for wrapping or rewrapping should be heavy-duty aluminum foil, not the regular one we use at our houses.

Secondly, it does not matter which side you put in and which side out for wrapping your food up. Both sides will work the same.

What is the difference between the freezer paper and parchment paper?

Freezer paper is used to wrap things up when you freeze them or protect frozen food items during transport. It is designed to tolerate and work best at cold temperatures.

Whereas parchment paper is made for dealing with hot temperatures as in baking. So you cannot use freezer paper as a substitute for parchment paper as it will not tolerate high temperatures.

Can I put uncovered things in the fridge?

Never put anything uncovered in the fridge. Uncovered things have a great chance of getting spoiled as the bacteria will grow on them more as compared to the food item that you put in covered.

Should we leave headspace in the package while freezing it?

If you are freezing vegetables, the headspace is not required, but if you are using any other item, leave some headspace for the food to expand when it freezes.