Are you a busy person and preparing fresh food everyday is a tough job for you? Well, we have the solution to your problems. You can freeze your food in the freezer for a good amount of time without fearing food spoilage. You can freeze both cooked and uncooked food in the freezer as per your needs. A lot of people freeze uncooked food in the freezer to take less prep time for the recipes they are trying. You can minimize this prep time also by trying easy recipes by Talk2Food. You need to know the best ways of freezing the food if you are aiming to freeze it for a longer period. 

Here is a complete guide on how to freeze food properly. 

The Best Ways To Freeze Food Properly

There are plenty of methods over the web to help you freeze the food. But not every method mentioned is the best. I have outlined some of the most useful and proper ways of freeing the food so that you are not facing any food wastage. Follow every food storage instruction carefully for the best outcomes.

Here are the ways you can freeze food in the best way possible. 

• Pay Attention To Packaging

The packaging of the food matters. Using packaging material that adds to the spoilage of the food is not a good idea. Any packaging material or container that allows moisture or helps in moisture build-up is a big no. You must use air tight containers and jars that disallow moisture. Moreover, you can also use ziplock bags as a food freezing packaging  and avoid the freezer burn which makes the food unusable. Check out Vevioz's amazing recipes—transform your cooking today!

• Pay Attention To Food Portion

If you are stuffing a lot of food in a single container or a bag, the likelihood of food spoilage is higher. It is always best to use fewer and smaller portions of the food to avoid food spoilage and better preservation. Even if there are no issues with the food spoilage, you may not be needing the whole frozen food at once, which makes it difficult to refreeze the food for a longer period. So, always go for freezing small portions. 

• Blanching Before Freezing

There are certain foods that do not do well when they are frozen in their natural form. In such situations blanching is pivotal. Blanching involves the boiling of the food for two to three minutes and then immediately cooling it down to stop the cooking process. When you blanch vegetables, you successfully stop them from flavor loss, and ensure their color is not faded irrespective of the day you freeze them. 

• Make Thin Layers For Staking

For better space management in the freezer, it is always good to stack food in thin layers. Besides space management, stacking of food in thin layers is recommended for better freezing. Thick stacking of food takes too long to freeze and keeping the food frozen for a longer period in power outages is also difficult. Thinly stacked food enhances food management in the fridge, as well as it is feasible to ensure food longevity and safety for a good amount of time. 

• Must Have A Good Freezer Temperature

Everything aside, the freezer's temperature setting is highly impactful in freezing food. The lower the freezer temperature, the better for food storage. However, the temperature variations are also set based on the amount of food you are freezing in the freezer. If there is a lot of food to be stored in the freezer, then the freezer's temperature needs to be lower than usual. 

• Keep rotating Food

The rotation of the food within the freezer is also one of the important steps of freezing the food. If the food in the freezer remains untouched and without rotation, the chances of food spoilage are higher.  Changing the placement and position of the food give you the opportunity to use the food items that are in the freezer for a longer period and leave the new ones for later use. Food rotation allows you to have fresh food by using the older ones first and vice versa. 

• Avoid Re-freezing 

With the previous approach of thinly stacking the food items, you can avoid the re-freezing issues. Once you have defrozed the food, do not put it back in the freezer. The food will lose its freshness and flavor. If you have taken out the frozen food, then use it all because re-freezing it won’t work for you.  

How Long Can Food Be In The Freezer?

Storing food for a year or more than 6 months is not good in terms of many factors, but there are certain foods that can be stored for a different period. The storage life of every food item is different from the other and you must know this before freezing the food. Here are some of the foods with varying storage life:

• Baked Food Items: Baked food items like cakes and pies can be stored for 3 to 4 months approximate. 

• Fish: Lean fish has a storage life of 6 months, while Fatty fish have a storage life of 2 months.

• Meat and Poultry: Chicken and Steaks can be stored for at least 8 to 12 months under good freezing temperatures.

• Fruits and Vegetables: People store fruits and vegetables for at least 8 months or more, but It is not very good. You should better have them when they are fresh, 

• Butter and Cheese: You can freeze butter for a good 9 months, and shredded cheese for at least 4 months. 

Is It Healthy To Eat Frozen Food?

You can explore the nutritional benefits of fresh food on our XYZ Blog section, but here I will provide you with a summary on whether to have frozen food or not. Generally speaking, the nutritional benefits of any food are only possible to acquire when they are eaten fresh. But you can also preserve these benefits by following our mentioned food storage methods. 

Conclusion

Give attention to every detail we have shared for storing and freezing the food for an easy day. Cooking becomes much easier and timeless with these food freezing hacks, so give each of these methods a try.