How Long Can I Keep Food in the Freezer?
The maximum amount of time that you should keep certain goods in your freezer is shown below. If you keep your food in the freezer for a longer period of time, it will still be safe to consume, but its quality and nutritional content will suffer.
BREADS INCLUDED IN BAKED GOODS
Bread . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 days
Dough for cookies and pies…………………………………. sixty days
Quick breads and muffins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 weeks
Waffles and pancakes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 month
GRAINS AND BEANS
Soaked (but not cooked) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . one year
Cooked . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . sixty days
boiled rice with other grains . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . one year
WHILE ALL DAIRY PRODUCTS, INCLUDING MILK AND CHEESE, MAY BE SAFELY FREEZED, THESE ARE THE ONLY PRODUCTS THAT SURVIVE FREEZING WITHOUT A RADICAL CHANGE IN THEIR TEXTURE AND/OR FLAVOR.
Butter 9 months
Ice cream……………………………………………….
Sorbet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 weeks
FRUIT Fruit was often instructed to be tossed in sugar or sugar syrup before being frozen in the old recipes. This step is unnecessary for the fruit’s proper preservation, and skipping it will result in a product that tastes healthier and more natural.
Apples: 4 months
Apricots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . sixty days
Bananas: 8 months
Berries………………………. 6 months
Cherries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . sixty days
Cranberries are………………………………………………. 1 year
Peaches: 4 months
Fruit liqueur . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 year
LEFTOVERS Lasagna and casseroles ………………………………… 4 months
chowders, stews, chili, and soups 6 months
PESTOS AND OLIVES Olive oil ……………………………………………… 8 months
Pesto (without cheese) …………………………………. 8 months
Pesto (with cheese) …………………………………………. 3 months
MEAT
Pancetta and bacon …………………………………………. 3 months
Chops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . sixty days
minced meat 4 months
animal organs 4 months
Roasts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 year
Sausage 3 months……………………………………………….
Steaks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 months
MUSHROOMS
Button mushrooms from the grocery store and certain wild mushrooms, like maitake, freeze nicely when they’re raw. Oyster mushrooms, which have a greater moisture content, are best sautéed before being frozen.
Cooked mushrooms…………………………………………… 1 year
unused mushrooms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 months
NUTS
Shelled . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 years
POULTRY All kinds of poultry, such as chicken, turkeys, and ducks, may be stored in freezers for the specified amounts of time.
Whole bird……………………………………………….
raw materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90 days
Giblets 4 months
Cooked Chicken Meat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . one year
SEAFOOD
Fish that is fatty, such as bluefish, salmon, and mackerel… 3 months
Lean and white fish (haddock, cod, flounder, sole) for six months.
a cooked crab 2 months
Crab, cooked………………………………………………
Raw crab 3 months
Raw crayfish . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . one year
cooked lobster . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 weeks
raw lobster . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 days
cooked shellfish . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 days
Raw shellfish is……………………………………………… one year
Raw squid, calamari, and octopus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . one year
PANTRY STOCKS
Vegetable, animal, and meat stocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . sixty days
fish supply . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . one year
VEGETABLES
Before being frozen, certain vegetables, including leafy greens, must be blanched. There are instructions and blanching times listed elsewhere in this chapter.
Asparagus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Beet roots aged a year . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 year
Sweet, bell, and chile peppers………………………………
Broccoli 1 year
Carrots………………………. 1 year
Cauliflower 1 year
Celery 1 year
Corn 8 months
Green and wax beans…………………………………………
Leafy greens………………………………………………
Okra…………………………………………… 8 months
Peas: 8 months
Tomatoes: 4 months
Cooked winter squash, including pumpkin…………………..
Summer squash, including zucchini, is available for 8 months.
Why, how, and when to bother blanching some foods before freezing.
Ever put some raw basil sprigs in a zip-top bag and place them in your freezer? You recall taking it out weeks or months later to find it had defrosted into a slimy, charred mass. The basil would have retained its vibrant taste and emerald green color if you had blanched it before freezing. This is why.
The enzymes responsible for decomposing organic waste are not destroyed by the freezing temperatures in your freezer, despite the fact that they are too low for dangerous germs to live.
In other words, the raw basil did, in fact, continue to slowly decay even \sthough it was frozen. These enzymes are destroyed by blanching, which is only a quick treatment in boiling water or steam.
Bring water to a boil in a big saucepan or beneath a steamer basket to blanch goods for freezing. For precisely the allotted length of time, add clean vegetables or herbs (the water in the pot or steamer must be at a full boil before you start timing). Immediately after the allotted time has passed, drain the food in a colander and either place it in a basin of ice water or run it under extremely cold water.
The meal can no longer be cooked by residual heat after this last stage. Before transferring the blanched vegetables or herbs to freezer containers and freezing them, squeeze out or drain off as much water as you can.
Sweet and chile peppers, onions, maize, and tomatoes may all be frozen well without being blanched, in my experience. Even after being blanched, most root vegetables, notably potatoes, do not freeze well. This is true even of carrots, despite the fact that they are often included in commercial frozen vegetable combinations. Here are some foods that freeze and blanch well:
TIMES FOR BLANCHING VEGETABLES AND HERBS BEFORE FREEZING
Hearts of Artichoke . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 seconds
Asparagus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 to 4 minutes
Green or wax beans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Broccoli (cut into 1-inch chunks or florets) 3 minutes……… Broccoli in two minutes (in 1-inch pieces or florets) . . . . . . . . . . two minutes
Brussels sprouts………………………………….. Cauliflower,
3–5 minutes (in 1-inch pieces or florets) . . . . . . . 3 minutes Kohlrabi (cut into 1-inch cubes)………………………………
slender leaves (including chard, collards, kale, spinach, etc.) between one and two minutes
green, fresh herbs ……………………….. 20–30 seconds
Okra, 2-3 minutes
Peas (in the pod)……………………………………
Peas (shelled, loose) (shelled, loose) …………………………. 1.5 minutes
Squash (summer, chayote, and zucchini)……………………
How to Freeze Berries and Chopped or Sliced Ingredients Most Effectively
You get a solid block of frozen food if you throw a lot of berries, chopped fruits, or veggies into a container and freeze them. However, you probably only need a small portion of that food for your dish. Do a double freeze instead.
On cookie or baking sheets, spread out the berries or chopped vegetables in a single layer and freeze them for a minimum of an hour. After that, put the frozen food pieces back in their freezer-safe containers. The vegetables or berries will remain loose so you can just take out what you need.
Keep in mind how the veggies will be used as you are cutting them for this double-freeze procedure. Do you often utilize sweet peppers in dice rather than slices? Then you should freeze them in that manner.
The Best Technique for Freezing Meat, Chicken, and Seafood
The purpose of freezing meats, including poultry and shellfish, is to keep the food’s surface from coming into contact with both air and moisture. The meat may be securely wrapped in plastic wrap and then again in aluminum foil to achieve this.
If you have a vacuum sealer, you can vacuum seal the plastic-wrapped food (see Useful Resources). If you squeeze out as much air as you can, you can get away with using plastic freezer bags, which are thicker than standard plastic food storage bags.
However, many people nowadays are attempting to use less plastic, and wrapping meat in foil directly might cause the dish to taste metallic and odd.
CAN I FREEZE MY EGGS?
Eggs do not often need to be frozen since they may be kept in the refrigerator for a month. Although you won’t be able to make a proper omelet with frozen eggs, you may freeze beaten eggs if you have a surplus and use them later in sauces or baked goods.
You have the option of separating the yolks and whites and freezing them separately or keeping them together. In either case, beat the eggs until foamy, and then add 1 tablespoon of sugar or 1/2 teaspoon of salt for every cup.
With this additive, the graininess that afflicts frozen eggs is reduced. Transfer the egg mixture to freezer bags or containers when it has frozen in ice cube trays. 14 cups is equivalent to 2 egg yolks or 1 egg white; 2 cubes are equal to 1 egg.
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