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How long can you keep food in the freezer for? |
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#1 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Headingley
Posts: 43
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How long can you keep food in the freezer for?
I know that technically that the answer to this is indefinitely as the bacterial growth is halted.
There seems to be a general guide e.g. Bacon & Sausages 1-2 months, uncooked roasts 4-12 months etc... These guidelines are for quality issues only. Now apparently food in the freezer is not inert as enzymes (whatever the hell they are) are still doing whatever they do even though the produce is frozen. What happens to meat, poultry and fish over the months? how does it effect the quality? and more to the point how does it effect the taste? Anyone know about this sort of thing? |
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#2 |
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Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Suffolk
Posts: 21,393
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I dont abide by the guidelines at all. I know if i get out a piece of meat that has been frozen for some time, it looks a little 'frosted'. It is often paler in colour.
But cook it - and it tastes as good as ever. |
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#3 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: around
Posts: 2,627
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Quote:
I dont abide by the guidelines at all. I know if i get out a piece of meat that has been frozen for some time, it looks a little 'frosted'. It is often paler in colour.
But cook it - and it tastes as good as ever. |
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#4 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Jun 2009
Posts: 1,042
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I keep food in freezers until the freezer breaks or I move house
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#5 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Dublin
Posts: 641
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A month !!?? really theres things in my mothers freezer that are probably older then me, and shes never given us food poisoning, not yet anyway
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#6 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: UK
Posts: 17,858
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the food generally remains edible (eg sled dogs have eaten frozen mammoths!) - but supposedly loses taste and texture over time
so if you cook it again, in a sauce say - you arent likely to notice too much difference |
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#7 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Norfolk, UK
Posts: 661
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I wouldn't have the foggiest when stuff when into the freezer to be able to 'date' it. I would say that if it smelled bad when your defrosted it, chuck it. Otherwise it will be fine.
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#8 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Cleethorpes
Posts: 399
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two things that can happen to food in the freezer which affect taste/quality are
Dehydration - especially if the food isn't wrapped properly. This can cause meat & fish, especially, to get tough & chewy - the worst case of this is called 'freezer burn' & can happen quite quickly. Fats going rancid - worse for foods with unsaturated fats, so oily fish like salmon & mackerel can be affected. This process occurs more slowly than dehydration, though. |
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#9 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Headingley
Posts: 43
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Quote:
two things that can happen to food in the freezer which affect taste/quality are
Dehydration - especially if the food isn't wrapped properly. This can cause meat & fish, especially, to get tough & chewy - the worst case of this is called 'freezer burn' & can happen quite quickly. Fats going rancid - worse for foods with unsaturated fats, so oily fish like salmon & mackerel can be affected. This process occurs more slowly than dehydration, though. So correct me if I'm wrong (I'm still guessing here)- the oil and fat content of frozen meats will deteriorate over time, in that enzymes??? are reacting with the fats and a by-product of this is some sort of 'taint' to the food? I guess what I'm interested in is - If you purchase or get given some really top notch meat, fish or poultry which due to the quantity involves freezing some of it - how long before the effects of being in the freezer negates anything that was special about the produce in the first place? |
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#10 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Cleethorpes
Posts: 399
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Quote:
Thanks...
So correct me if I'm wrong (I'm still guessing here)- the oil and fat content of frozen meats will deteriorate over time, in that enzymes??? are reacting with the fats and a by-product of this is some sort of 'taint' to the food? I guess what I'm interested in is - If you purchase or get given some really top notch meat, fish or poultry which due to the quantity involves freezing some of it - how long before the effects of being in the freezer negates anything that was special about the produce in the first place? a quite good article here http://extension.missouri.edu/public....aspx?P=GH1501 has some more information & guidelines for storage of various foods. In general, however, I personally wouldn't freeze 'special' food products at home, it is too difficult to freeze the product fast enough to minimise the damage to texture in home freezers. So the 'special' nature of the food can be removed just by freezing it too slowly, irrespective of storage time. Obviously if you are given more than can be consumed in a reasonable time you don't have much choice & in that case I would say that a maximum of 3 - 6 months storage is advisable. That is an estimate, though, rather than a 'rule'. |
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#11 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Headingley
Posts: 43
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Thanks again... Quote:
The most common mechanism for fat rancidity in frozen food is due to contact with oxygen & can be reduced by using impermeable packaging & excluding all air from the pack before freezing.
Quote:
a quite good article here
http://extension.missouri.edu/public....aspx?P=GH1501 has some more information & guidelines for storage of various foods. Quote:
In general, however, I personally wouldn't freeze 'special' food products at home, it is too difficult to freeze the product fast enough to minimise the damage to texture in home freezers. So the 'special' nature of the food can be removed just by freezing it too slowly, irrespective of storage time.
Quote:
Obviously if you are given more than can be consumed in a reasonable time you don't have much choice & in that case I would say that a maximum of 3 - 6 months storage is advisable. That is an estimate, though, rather than a 'rule'.
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#12 |
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Inactive Member
Join Date: Jul 2007
Posts: 16,886
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I find sausages don't last very long in the freezer, is that just me?
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#13 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Apr 2008
Posts: 2,579
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Quote:
I find sausages don't last very long in the freezer, is that just me?
I find things like mince and stewing steak don't last that long. I'm thinking now it's probably because I freeze them in their original packs. If I remove them from their packs, put them in good freezer bags and remove as much air as possible I might get better results. I seem to recall that good freezing practices were emphasised when freezers first became a usual household item but I think they are slipping out of common use now. |
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#14 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Cleethorpes
Posts: 399
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Quote:
Thanks again...
I'd not considered that freezing slowly is a problem. Reading the above article it appears that this problematic for fruit and veg but for meat - I guess it's meat quality that I'm most interested in. The physical effect is the rupture of the 'cells' in the product being frozen due to growth of large ice crystals - the faster the freezing process, the less likely this is to happen. In meat, slow freezing can result in significant 'drip loss' during defrosting, compared to fast freezing - the concurrent loss of texture this can cause during subsequent cooking may be significant. Personally, with meat, I would look to store 'quality' cuts in the fridge, rather than the freezer, & cut off any surface defects/discolouration before cooking - this might only be feasible for around a month, though
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#15 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Headingley
Posts: 43
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Quote:
Personally, with meat, I would look to store 'quality' cuts in the fridge, rather than the freezer, & cut off any surface defects/discolouration before cooking - this might only be feasible for around a month, though
![]() I think on reflection after all the useful information here, I probably wont bother. I think I'll stick to buying mostly fresh produce from my very good local butcher. Anything else interesting I'll buy small quantities and enjoy as an occasional treat. Thanks again everyone. |
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