Jen L mentioned that food stored in the freezer counts as food storage too, so along that line, I thought I'd share some tips on safely storing food in the freezer. I'm only just learning this, after buying some really yummy looking steaks, putting them in the freezer and taking them out a month or so later to find that freezer burn had got to them. So sad!! So, I've started reading up on tips for storing food in the freezer and I thought I'd pass on what I'm learning.
* If you are making an actual meal with the intentions of freezing it for later use (ie- a casserole or lasagna) skip the seasonings... add the pepper, onion or garlic when you warm the meal up, because these seasonings get stronger as they sit in the freezer. There are other seasonings that weaken when freezed, so don't risk it! Just season when you reheat.
* Don't overcook food that you intend to freeze. It is better that it is undercooked a little and takes a little bit longer to reheat, than to overcook it and lose some of the quality of the food.
* Keep your freezer at as close to 0 degrees as possible. Much higher or lower temperatures will increase the rate at which food quality decreases.
* The way you package food to put in the freezer will make or break how yummy it tastes later. Appropriate packaging materials are: heavy-duty aluminum foil, polyethylene bags, freezer film wraps, glass, plastic and metal containers. Inappropriate packaging materials: the shrink wrap that a lot of meat already comes in!! If you buy meat from the grocery store, it is best to overwrap it with an appropriate packaging material, otherwise, it only takes about 2 weeks for the shrink wrap to breakdown to the point that freezer burn can get to the meat. I just purchased a large roll of freezer paper for under $6. Its 150 feet of paper, and it is plastic coated. There are also many inexpensive containers that can be purchased with the specific purpose of freezing food.
* Keep your freezer full! This helps maintain a good temperature and keep all the food from going bad.
Hopefully you girls will find some of these tips as helpful as I did. By freezing foods, some of your family's favourite meals can now be counted as food storage! There are a few foods that don't freeze well. A partial list can be found here. Happy cooking! (and freezing!)
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3 comments:
those are great tips! A few of my favorites that i do:
-leftover spaghetti sauce poured over ravioli or al dente noodles, frozen in a glass dish and covered tight and baked later on with cheese sprinkled on it
-buy the big packages of ground beef and break it up into smaller portions (often i find there's not much difference between 3/4 of a lb. and a full pound so I can get four sections out of a 3lb. roll and freeze in freezer bags to defrost individually
-i love frozen broccoli and peas and corn-I think they are so easy to use and keep good!
-i also freeze fruit for smoothies and pies, beans and meat after tacos to take out for a lunch later on, stuff like that.
I'm all about the freezer!
I love to keep frozen fruit on hand for smoothies also! Such a yummy breakfast. I find that if I buy fruit on sale and freeze it myself it ends up being significantly cheaper than buying bags of frozen fruit.
I am learning so much this week!
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