Before placing food in the freezer
compartment
^
Set the temperature to a lower setting
(e. g. 3 °C) about four hours before
filling the freezer compartment with
food.
This will help the freezer
compartment temperature to drop
and also helps give food that is
already in the freezer compartment
an extra cold reserve.
Placing food in the freezer
compartment
^
Place the food flat on the bottom of
the freezer compartment so that it
freezes through to the core as quickly
as possible.
^
Make sure that the packaging and
containers are dry to prevent them
sticking together when frozen.
When freezing, make sure that food
already frozen does not come into
contact with fresh food being frozen
as this could cause the frozen food
to begin to defrost.
^
Food will have frozen through to the
core after a period of 24 hours. The
temperature can then be reset to a
mid-range setting.
Defrosting
Frozen food can be defrosted in
different ways:
– in a microwave oven,
– in an oven using the "Fan" or
"Defrost" setting,
– at room temperature,
– in the refrigerator (the cold given off
by the frozen food helps to keep the
food cold),
– in a steam oven.
Poultry
It is particularly important to
observe food hygiene rules when
defrosting poultry. Do not use the liquid
from defrosted poultry. Pour it away
and wash the container it was in, the
sink and your hands. Danger of
salmonella poisoning.
Fruit
should be defrosted at room
temperature in its packing, or in a
covered bowl.
Most vegetables
can be cooked while
still frozen. Just put straight into boiling
water or hot fat. The cooking time is
slightly less than that of fresh
vegetables due to changes in the cell
structure.
Never re-freeze partially or fully
defrosted food. Consume defrosted
food as soon as possible as it will
lose its nutritional value and spoil if
left for too long. Defrosted food may
only be re-frozen after it has been
cooked.
Freezing and storing food
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