Freezing Foods: A Bit Of Everything About Frosty Preservation
Freezing is the optimal choice when we need to preserve some goodies for an extended period of time. However, many housewives keep on stumbling upon the same problems when it comes to frosting certain products.
We know, it is impossible to keep in mind all the nuances of freezing all types of foods, that is why we prepared a brief yet informative reminder for those who face this issue regularly.
Freeze Like a Pro. How to Stop Discarding Foods From the Freezer
Freezing is not about tossing a batch of goodies into the camera and forgetting about them as Elisa Chan Nutrition Expert says. Different foodstuffs have completely distinctive terms of preservation in frost, and some products must not be solidified at all. Others, like gravy, can be frozen in different ways hanging upon the ingredients used. That is why everyone must be aware of at least the basic principles of reasonable freezing.
- Freezing veggies
- Carrots must be preserved either raw and finely chopped so that they could be added to the dish instantly, or cooked al dente and frozen. If we just place this veg raw to the frosting camera, it will come out spongy and not tasty.
- Broccoli must always be pre-cooked (not completely, leaving them al dente is fine) prior to frosting them.
- Potatoes might be somewhat problematic since they also decrease the quality just like carrots when frozen raw. So we suggest you do something with them prior to tossing to the frost: cut them as you please and pre-cook a bit (the root crop must still be hard!) or mash and preserve like this.
And pay attention that blanched potatoes must be frosted until hard and only then sorted into the frosting packets.
- Onions are probably not the most frequent “guests” in our freezers, but just in case: harden them chopped or sliced, and then sort into freezer packets. If you don’t want to waste time cooking them later, fry onions prior to freezing.
- Freezing hints for other foods
- Milk is a bit tricky when it comes to freezing it. All the liquids expand when being exposed to frost, and milk is not an exception. The one sold in carton boxes is fine to be tossed into the frosting camera in its native package in case it is still sealed.
Only double-check the amount of liquid: there must be enough empty space between the cap and the liquid content of the packet. If not, then solidified milk will either pop off the cap or cause the carton to split.
If we deal with the product sold in a glass tank, never freeze it like that! Transfer it either to the tank meant for liquids or to the bag with a watertight seal.
- What about eggs? We may surprise you but they freeze pretty well! However, before we put them to the frosting camera, eggs have to be beaten and divided into portions. One mid-size egg will easily fit the muffin tin.
- Yogurt is best to be preserved portioned in muffin tins. You can either defrost them prior to consuming or slide out of their “nests“ to make use of them from frozen at once.
Handy Freezing Hints For Daily Use
Successful freezing is not something that is impossible to achieve. No matter what kind of freezer you have, the major principles will still be the same:
- Freeze only cooled foods since when hot, they will start increasing the temperature inside of the freezer causing other goodies to melt.
- Keep your freezer full. Sounds weird? No, in fact, it doesn’t. A half-empty of empty freezer needs more energy to run the cold air, but if it’s almost stuffed, then less power is required. That is why we suggest you use a small trick: to fill the empty space, place half-filled bottles with water to the frosting camera.
- Cover goodies tightly to prevent freezer burns.
- Freeze in portions. Like that, you will not have to unfreeze the whole batch to only take a little bit of it to consume.
- Freezing doesn’t kill bacteria, so if you don’t remember for how long a certain goodie has been frosted and whether it is still ok, better discard it.
- Label. yes, it takes time, but believe us: labeled tanks are way simpler to define and you won’t have to always keep in mind the dates when each packet was frozen.
- Defrost the freezer regularly to prevent the icy build-ups that make it inefficient.
- If something happened and your frosting camera turned off, don’t open it. The frost inside will be enough to keep the goodies fine for twenty-four hours.
- Never freeze such foods as hard-boiled eggs (they turn rubbery), veggies that have a high water content (for instance, lettuce, cucumbers, bean sprouts, etc.) since they become limp and mushy.
- Soft herbs if they are meant for garnishes. For incorporating those into dishes freezing, on the contrary, is acceptable.
- Egg-based sauces because they will separate and often even curdle.
Goodies That Are Great to Freeze
Several kinds of foodstuffs exist that are literally created for being exposed to frost! These can be tossed to the frosting camera without even the slightest doubt: the result will always be awesome.
- butter and margarine
- grated hard cheese
- most kinds of bread (excluding the crusty sorts like French bread)
- milk
- raw pastry
- yogurt and cream
- raw eggs
These foodstuffs will remain edible from one to six months when preserved like this.
Read Next: https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/howto/guide/top-tips-freezing-food
Can I Cook Anything From Frozen?
Perhaps, this question bothers many of us since everyone knows that often warming the foods up right from the freezer can have the opposite effect to the desired: we can ruin them rather than heat up for consumption.
Nevertheless, certain dishes can safely be warmed up even without prior unfreezing. But still, remember to start with the low heat increasing it slowly to let the foodstuff defrost before cooking it.
What can be heated this way?
- All sorts of soups, stews, casseroles, and braises
- Bakes, gratins, and pies topped with potato
- Thin fish fillets, sausages, burgers, and seafood (but only if it was incorporated in the end of a hot dish!)
We hope these hints were useful and freezing foods will be always successful for you from now on!
