Food for the freezer

The freezer is a food lover's hero because there's not much that can't be frozen until it’s needed. Fresh food can be frozen at any point up to the use by date and remain safe. There is no time limit to how long food can be safely frozen for - as long as it is kept at -18°C and remains properly frozen, it will not become unsafe.

There are a few easy things we can do to get more from our freezer.

• Visit the freezer often to keep tabs on what's inside.
• To extend the life of food beyond its date, freeze it before the date and defrost and use it within 24 hours.
• In addition to the store cupboard, keeping a few essentials in the freezer means that you can create nutritious dishes from what at first may appear to be a limited food range.
• It's safe to freeze most raw or cooked foods.
• You can keep food safely in the freezer for years, as long as it has stayed frozen the whole time. However, the taste and texture of food changes if it’s frozen for too long, so you might well find that it’s not very nice to eat. Try to eat things within three months of freezing them, or sooner.
• If you defrost raw meat and then cook it thoroughly, you can freeze it again. Just take care to defrost thoroughly and re-heat until piping hot.
• Freezing fresh foods and home-cooked meals is a great way to save food for later – freeze in portions or “meals”.
• Almost any food (including hard cheese, milk, mashed potato, bread, homemade meals and cakes) can be frozen – visit www.lovefoodhatewaste.com for more information.
• Labelling and dating foods before you put them in the freezer will help avoid ‘UFOs’ (unidentified frozen objects).

Why not freeze?

• Home-made or ready meals, soup, pizza – portion and freeze in an airtight container.
• Cheese – grate hard cheese and then freeze in an airtight container or freezer bag.
• Milk – shake well after defrosting.
• Potatoes – parboil them for 6 minutes, drain them and when they're cool, freeze them, or just freeze cooked mashed potato in an airtight container.
• Sliced bread - to make it easier to separate bread slices after freezing, bang your fresh loaf on a work surface before you put it in the freezer.
• Leftover roast meat – freeze in an airtight container
• Fresh meat / fish / sausages – freeze in its packaging or in an airtight container.
• Unsliced cake – slice or portion first, put greaseproof paper between each slice, this allows you to remove a few slices at a time rather than thaw the whole cake.
• Yoghurt – pour into a lolly mould and eat as frozen