Five Rules For Freezing Food You Must Obey

Here’s How to Lock in that That Freshness and Nutrition When Freezing Food.

Preserving the freshness and quality of your food properly is crucial. This will ensure that your food retains its highest nutritive value.

If you choose to preserve your food via freezing, you may find yourself wondering if the food will be as nutritious for you after frozen as it is fresh.

When freezing food, there is a way to do it so all the nutrients in it can be there waiting for you when its time to thaw it, prepare it and chow down.

If you follow these 5 rules when freezing your food, your food will maintain its nutrition quality while at the same time you will be saving money on your electric bill.

5 Rules For Properly Freezing Foods

Rule #1: Make sure your freezer stays full

If frozen foods stay compact, it requires less energy to circulate the cold air to maintain the freezer’s cold temperature. So you can see how maintaining a constant cold temperature for your frozen locks in its freshness and makes use of energy efficiently.

Rule #2: Freeze your food in small or meal size portions

You need to prepare your food before freezing. There two ways of looking at this rule. You need to think how you will be using it in your recipes – whether whole, diced, shredded, fillet, scaled (fish), etc. – and how much of it will be required for a family meal. Prepare and/or divide your ingredients for cooking in these proportion sizes and the food will freeze faster.

Rule #3: Take the time to wrap your food before freezing it

When food directly touches ice, it’s cell structure changes and can become damaged. This will happen to your food if it is not wrapped first before putting it in the freezer. So you need to wrap the food in plastic wrap, freezer paper wrap, freezer bags or plastic bags. You can even use plastic storage containers to freeze food.

Also, when it comes to meat, you can even marinate it with your oils and spices, put it in a plastic bag or container, and then freeze it. This meat will soak in that flavor and stay tender and taste like heaven when it goes on the dinner table.

Rule #4: Only freeze fresh, quality food

To freeze “day old” food stuffs, expired food or blemished foods defeats your purpose of locking in the nutrition quality of your food. If you know the quality of the food has diminished, just eat it right away, give it to the needy or use it as compost for your home garden.

Also, if these low-quality foods have already started to ferment or grow harmful microorganisms or bacteria in them, these will be preserved in your food as well. The cold temperature will not destroy them.

Again another defeat of purpose and waste of your time.

Rule #5: Schedule a regular freezing defrosting time

Just like your refrigerator needs cleaning, so does your freeze. Clean them together. Freezers build up layers of ice on the walls that reduce the freezing capability and efficient of the freezer.

Also, these layers of ice can hold bacteria that can contaminate your food if it comes in contact with it.

Defrosting your freezer keeps your food secure and your electric bill down.

Follow these five rules if you use freezing to preserve your food and you will know that the meals you serve your family from your freezer is the highest of quality and nutrition .