Elan ER450, Руководство пользователя, Страница: 14 / 24

Freezing fresh food
REFRIGERATOR LARDER
FREEZER FRIDGE FREEZER
14
THE GOLDEN RULES
Use quality food and handle it as little as
possible. Freeze food in small quantities, it
freezes faster, takes less time to thaw and
enables you to eat it in the quantity you need.
FREEZING FRESH FOOD
First, estimate the amount of food you will be
freezing. Fast Freezing makes your freezer
colder (approx -28°C), it will therefore freeze
quicker and keep in the goodness. Use Fast
Freezing for a period before placing the fresh
foods in your freezer. However you should use
it sparingly to conserve energy.
TO FREEZE FAST FREEZE
2lb/900gm 2 hrs. before
Over 6lb/2.7kg 6 hrs. before
PREPARATIONS FOR FREEZING
• Leave cooked food to cool completely.
• Chill food in the fridge before freezing
if possible.
• Consider how you want to cook the food
before freezing it.
• Don’t freeze food in metal containers if
you want to microwave it straight from
the Freezer.
• Use special freezer bags available from
supermarkets, freezer film, polythene
bags, plastic containers, aluminium foil
(heavy grade only, if in doubt, double
wrap). Don’t use aluminium foil for acidic
foods (such as citrus fruits) Don’t use thin
cling film or glass. Only use old food
containers if very clean!
• Exclude as much air from the container as
possible. You could buy a special vacuum
pump which sucks excessive air out.
• Leave a small amount of ‘air space’ when
freezing liquids, to allow for expansion.
• You can use the space in the freezer most
efficiently if you freeze liquids (or solids
with liquids, such as stew) in square
blocks. This is known as ‘pre-forming’.
Pour the liquid into a polythene bag
which is inside a square sided container.
Freeze it like this, then remove it from the
container and seal the bag.
• Remember to switch off Fast Freeze when
freezing is complete. Leaving it on will
consume unnecessary amounts of energy.
LABEL EVERYTHING
• Many foods look the same when frozen,
so careful labelling will help avoid
forgetting what an item is. Storage times
being exceeded could cause food poisoning.
• You can buy special freezer tape for use in
low temperatures. This tape is available in
white, so you can use it to write the items
contents on. You can buy special freezer
labels and pens. Labels come in different
colours which can help you use your
Freezer effectively. For instance you could
colour code meat red and vegetables
green. Using a different colour label for
each quarter of the year will help you
rotate your frozen food more efficiently.
• Write the contents and date. If you are
really organised add the weight and notes
on cooking such as ‘thaw first’, or ‘cook
from frozen’ and keep a separate ‘log-
book’ of what is in each drawer.