7
USING YOUR FRIDGE FREE ZER
Freezing fresh foods
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 foods
First, estimate the amount of food you will be freezing. Turn the
thermostat dial to the maximum setting which makes your freezer colder
(approx -28°C), it will therefore freeze quicker and keep in the goodness.
However you should use it sparingly to conserve energy. Remember to
reset the thermostat dial to the normal setting when you have finished
freezing fresh foods.
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A small casserole
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. before placing food in freezer
and 4 hrs. after placing food in freezer.
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and 24 hrs. after placing food in freezer.
What not to freeze
Bananas, pomegranates, pears, carbonated liquids as they can explode
or anything in a glass container, as these may crack.
NOTE: Do not store inflammable gases or liquids in the freezer.
To thaw
1 Cover food loosely.
2 Thaw at room temperature. Don’t forget that thawing in a warm area
encourages the growth of bacteria.
3 Always make sure there are no ice crystals in the food before cooking,
particularly with meat. These crystals indicate that the food is not
fully thawed. They result in lower temperatures when cooking.
Lower cooking temperatures may not destroy dangerous bacteria.
4 Cook food as soon as possible after thawing.
5 Drain off and throw away any liquid lost during thawing.
Oven thawing
Many microwaves and ovens have thaw settings. To avoid bacterial build
up, only use these if you intend to cook the food immediately afterwards.
Safety tips
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Never re-freeze anything that has thawed out unless you cook it
again, to kill off harmful bacteria.
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Never re-freeze thawed shellfish.
Useful tip
Re-seal packs properly after removing items. This prevents drying or
‘freezer burn’ and a build up of frost on any remaining food.
Label everything
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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.
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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.
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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.
This will save opening the door and searching around unnecessarily.
Recommended storage periods
(when frozen from fresh)
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Fruit juices
up
to
6
months
Lamb
up
to
10
months
Beef
up to 10 months
Pork
up
to
6
months
Veal
up to 6 months
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up to 3 months
Cured meats
up to 2 months
Sausages
up to 3 months
Packed bacon
up to 3 months
Smoked bacon/
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Unsmoked bacon/
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Chicken
up to 8 months
Duck
up
to
5
months
Goose
up
to
5
months
Turkey
up to 6 months
White fish
up to 5 months
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Smoked salmon
up to 3 months
Caviar
don't
freeze
Shellfish
up to 1 month
Butter
up to 6 months
Cheese
up
to
6
months
Suet
up to 6 months
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Milk
up to 1 month
