Filter
Top Products
Food Storage Guide
Continued
Freezing fruits
Select ripe, blemish-free fruits. Sample the fruit to
ensure good flavor before freezing. Wash 2 to 3
quarts (liters) at a time and drain. Fruit that stands
in water may lose food value and become soggy.
Sort, peel, trim, pit and slice as needed.
Pack in rigid wide-mouthed containers or other
recommended material. Leave head space to
allow liquids to expand during freezing.
Freezing vegetables
Freeze only fresh high-quality vegetables picked
when barely mature. For best results, freeze no
more than 2 to 3 hours after picking. Wash in
cold water, sort and cut into appropriate sizes.
Blanch or scald. Pack in recommended container
and freeze.
Do not freeze lettuce, celery, carrot sticks,
potatoes or fresh tomatoes. All will become limp or
mushy. Tomatoes will collapse when thawed.
Freezing meats
The meat you thaw can only be as good as the
meat you freeze. Make sure store wrappings are
moisture and vapor proof. If not, re-wrap meat with
one of the wraps recommended under “Packag-
ing:’ Wrap in meal-size packages. Flat cuts or pat-
ties should be wrapped individually or in layers
separated by a double thickness of freezer wrap.
Freezing cooked food
Prepare cooked food as you would for the table;
shorten cooking time 10 to 15 minutes to allow for
additional cooking during reheating. Omit season-
ings and part of the liquid. Plan to add them at
reheating time. Potatoes should also be added to
soup and stew at heating time. Add crumb and
cheese toppings at heating time.
Cool as rapidly as possible and freeze at once.
Liquid or semi-liquid dishes may be frozen in rec-
ommended containers with head-space. Cas-
seroles and other more solid foods may be frozen
in the baking container. If you don’t want to leave
your casserole dish in the freezer, line it with foil.
Bake, cool, freeze, lift out the foil package, bag it
and return to freezer.
Freezing baked goods
Wrap baked breads in recommended material.
Thaw in wrapping. Unbaked yeast breads can be
frozen after the first rising. Punch down, wrap
and freeze.
Bake cookies as usual. Cool and freeze on
trays, then pack in recommended freezer bags or
cartons. Unbaked cookies may be dropped,
molded or rolled and frozen on cookie trays. Store
in bag or carton; bake without thawing. Refrigera-
tor-type cookies can be wrapped and frozen
in roll form. Thaw only enough to slice when ready
to bake.
Fruit pies are best frozen unbaked. Bake without
thawing. Bake pecan and similar pies before freez-
ing...rich fillings do not freeze solid. Cut steam
vents in top crusts when ready to bake.
IMPORTANT: Do not expect your freezer to
quick-freeze any large quantity of food. Put no
more unfrozen food into the freezer than will freeze
within 24 hours. (No more than 2 to 3 pounds of
food per cubic foot of freezer space.) Leave
enough space for air to circulate around packages.
Be careful to leave enough room at the front so the
door can close tightly.
Food storage chart
Storage times will vary according to the quality
of the food, the type of packaging or wrap used
(moisture and vapor proof), and the storage
temperature which should be 0°F (- 17.8”C).
FOOD STORAGE TIME
Fruits
Fruit juice concentrate ............ 12 months
Commercially frozen fruit ......... 12 months
Citrus fruit and juices .......... 4 to 6 months
Others ...................... 8 to 12 months
Vegetables
Commercially frozen .............. 8 months
Home frozen ................ 8 to 12 months
Meat
Bacon ..................... 4 weeks or less
Corned beef ................ 4 weeks or less
(Salting meat shortens freezer life)
Frankfurters ....................... 1 month
Ground beef, lamb, veal ........ 2 to 3 months
Roasts:
Beef. ..................... 6 to 12 months
Lambandveal .............. 6to9months
Pork ....................... 4 to 8 months
Sausage, fresh ................ 1 to 2 months
Steaks and chops:
Beef.. .................... 8tol2months
Lamb, veal, pork ............ 3 to 4 months
Fish
Cod, flounder, haddock, sole ........ 6 months
Blue fish, salmon .............. 2 to 3 months
Mackerel, perch ............... 2 to 3 months
Breaded fish (purchased) .......... 3 months
Clams, oysters, cooked
fish, crab, scallops ........... 3 to 4 months
Alaskan king crab ................ 10 months
Shrimp, uncooked ............... 12 months
18