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Shopping for Frozen Foods
• Your unit is 4-star.
When you are buying frozen food, check the storage guidelines on the packaging. You will
be able to store each item of frozen food for the period shown against the 4-star rating. This
is usually the period stated as “Best before” on the front of the packaging. The maximum
freezing capacity of this freezer is 4.0kg in 24 hours. Do not place fresh food into the freezer
compartment with combined weight that exceeds 4.0kg.
• Check the temperature of the frozen food cabinet in the shop where you buy your frozen
foods. It should show a temperature lower than -18°C.
• Take a quick look at the frozen food package and make sure it is in perfect condition.
• Always buy frozen products last on your shopping trip or visit to the supermarket. Try to
keep frozen food together whilst shopping and on the journey home as this will help to keep
the food frozen.
• Don’t buy frozen food unless you can freeze it straight away. Specially insulated bags can
be bought from most supermarkets and hardware shops. These bags can keep frozen food
frozen longer.
Preparations for Freezing
• Use quality food and handle it as little as possible. Freeze food in small quantities as it freezes
faster, takes less time to defrost and enables you to control the quantity you need better.
• Leave cooked food to cool completely. Chill food before freezing if possible.
• Consider how you will want to cook the food before freezing it.
• Don’t freeze food in metal containers if you may want to microwave it straight from the
freezer.
• Use special freezer bags, freezer film, polythene bags, plastic containers, and aluminium foil
(heavy duty grade only). If in doubt, double wrap your food. Don’t use aluminium foil for
acidic foods, e.g. citrus fruits. Don’t use thin cling film, glass, or used food containers without
cleaning.
• Exclude as much air from the container as possible. You could buy a special vacuum pump
which sucks excessive air out of the packaging.
• Leave a small amount of air space when freezing liquids to allow expansion.
• You can use the space in the freezer most efficiently if you freeze liquids
(or solids with liquids, e.g. stew) in square blocks. This is known as
“Preforming”. Pour the liquid into a polythene bag which is inside a square
sided container. Freeze it, and then remove it from the container and seal
the bag.
• Label your frozen foods as they will look the same when in frozen state.
Use special freezer tapes, labels and pens with different colours. This
allows you to easily organise and to effectively use the freezer. Write the
contents and date; otherwise the frozen food might exceed the storage
time and this could cause food poisoning. Please refer to your food
packaging for the recommended storage time.
• You may also add the weight and cooking notes, e.g. “defrost first”, “cook from frozen” and
keep a separate log of what is in each drawer. This will save opening the door and searching
around unnecessarily.searching around unnecessarily.
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