Freezing Your Food

Being able to freeze food and being pleased with the quality after defrosting are two different things. Some foods – like mayonnaise, cream sauce, and lettuce – simply don’t freeze well. Raw meat and poultry maintain their quality longer than their cooked counterparts because moisture is lost during cooking.

That being said, freshness and quality at the time of freezing affect the condition of frozen foods. If frozen at peak quality, foods emerge tasting better than foods frozen near the end of their useful life. So freeze items you won’t use quickly sooner rather than later. Frozen foods are always safe when kept frozen at zero degrees F.

If a refrigerator freezing compartment can’t maintain zero degrees or if the door is opened frequently, use it for short-term food storage. Eat those foods as soon as possible for best quality.

Proper packaging helps maintain quality and prevent “freezer burn.” It is safe to freeze meat or poultry directly in its supermarket wrapping but unless you are using the food in a month or two, over wrap these packages as you would any food for long-term storage using air-tight heavy duty foil, (freezer) plastic wrap or freezer paper, or place the package inside a (freezer) plastic bag. If you notice that a package has accidentally been torn or has opened while in the freezer, the food is still safe to use. You will need to over wrap or rewrap it. Also note that freezer burn does not make food unsafe, merely dry in spots. Just cut the freezer burned portions away either before or after cooking the food. Heavily freezer-burned foods may have to be discarded for quality reasons.

While it’s not safe to freeze canned food or eggs in the shells, you can freeze just about anything out of the can. Try putting that canned meat into a vacuum sealed bag and freeze it. For eggs, try breaking them open and scrambling them in a bowl. Then pour the eggs into an ice cube tray. Each cube is about one egg. When you’re ready to use them, thaw them in the refrigerator and use them right away.

When you buy a huge package of meat, go home and cook the entire thing! Then put the cooked meat in freezer containers. You will feel better knowing that cooking dinner is simply a process of defrosting rather than cooking (and possibly also defrosting if you forgot to pull the meat out of the freezer for dinner). This way, you will always have something ready to go for dinner. Just spend about an hour or two a week precooking your food and you’ll notice what a huge time saver (and budget saver) this is for your family when dinner time approaches.

Courtney is a modern homemaker with a hint of vintage instruction. She lives a pretty modern lifestyle while applying things from her grandmothers and other books and tips from many years ago (before all of this modern technology). Sometimes simplicity is better!

~ Thanks for Sharing your awesome tips with us Courtney!

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