Freezing is the craze nowadays, and rightfully so! No one has any time anymore because of our busy schedules: work, the kid’s activities, hobbies (haha, I wish!), cleaning, shopping, etc! There are so many meals you can freeze that will taste great when unfrozen if you do it correctly.
Here are some basic tips:
1) Ensure your food is room temperature before you place it in the freezer.
2) Use only containers, wraps, or bags meant for freezer use.
3) Unless the item should have liquid in it, ensure no liquid is present.
4) Wrap meat and baked goods in foil before placing them in a freezer bag. This won’t apply if the meat is in sauce.
5) Make sure as much air as possible is out of your container (this is easy with a Ziploc). Also, ensure air stays out throughout freezing, which means that your Ziploc is closed tightly and/or your container is sealed properly with no food or moisture breaking the seal. You definitely don’t want any freezer burn. Ick!
6) Don’t overcrowd the freezer. Air flow is an important part of the freezing process. Ensure your freezer is always at 0° or lower.
7) Flatten your food as much as possible. The quicker it freezes, the better it will taste when unfrozen. Each inch of food will take about an hour to freeze, and it is optimal to freeze an item within 4 hours. Don’t stack unfrozen food. This will slow the freezing process.
8) Label your food with “type, date you froze it, and instructions on how to defrost or cook”.
Safe Ways to Thaw:
In the refrigerator: This is the slowest but safest thawing technique. Small frozen items will thaw overnight, while larger items (anything in a pie tin, a roast, etc.) will take 1-2 days.
In cold water: Place the frozen food in a leak-proof bag and place in a large container of cold water.
In a microwave on the defrost setting: This method is quick, but ensure you are ready to cook the meal immediately after thawing, because some areas of the food might have begun cooking during the defrost cycle. They will grow bacteria if they aren’t cooked soon after.
Resources:
All Recipes- Freezing Foods: A Real Time-Saver
Cooking Light: How to Properly Freeze Foods
This is great! I really need to get started freezing meals and these are awesome tips so I don’t screw it up 🙂
Definitely fool-proof!! 🙂 I’ll be posting more freezable recipes soon. It’s made me reallllly lazy, though. I work hard for one day and then don’t cook for a month! Haha!