Storing food in the freezer

Modern housewives as much as their grandmothers like to store food in the freezer. Amongst other ways of prolonging food’s shelf life (food drying, food preservation) freezing retains food’s original taste and structure the most. Freezing allows us to always have basic ingredients for meal preparation at hand. While freezing was necessary for survival back in the day, nowadays it enables us to eat higher quality food and time-efficient meal preparation.

Vacuum packing food before freezing

Experts recommend vacuum packing foods in quality food vacuum bags before freezing, because they will protect food from oxidation and disable bacteria growth. For comparison let’s remember that regular bags for freezing are only 20 µm thick, while Status’s food vacuum bags are 130 µm thick and have a 30 µm impermeable layer of polyamide.

You also save space in the freezer by vacuum-packing your food items, because vacuum-packed food requires less space. Besides that, vacuum-sealed food bag is closed airtight which means that the aromas, moisture, and tastes stay in the food and don’t mix with other food aromas.

Storing food in the freezer – the correct way of preparing foods for freezing

Do the vegetables need to be blanched? Why does meat get rancid? What’s the correct way of thawing food? Do cured sausages need to be frozen?  Those are some of the frequent questions attentive housewives get. We will answer all of them in the following post.

Freezing vegetables

Most vegetables need to blanch before vacuum packing. Blanching stops unwanted changes such as enzyme activation and the loss of taste, color, and changes in tissue structure.  Un-blanched vegetable loses their vitamins faster than blanched vegetables during freezing.

Blanch vegetables in boiling water and quickly cool them down and dry them before vacuum packing.

 

What’s the correct way of freezing freshly cut meat to avoid a rancid taste?

The main benefit of freezing meat is disabling microorganisms and stopping biochemical processes. Freezing prolongs the shelf life of fresh meat and protects its original quality.

We recommend you dry the meat before vacuum packing it with a paper towel. This will prevent moisture to damage the vacuum sealer while vacuuming. You can even freeze the meat overnight beforehand and then vacuum pack it. Freezing will help retain the juice and shape of meat and protect the vacuum packing machine. If freezing beforehand is not possible, place a paper towel between the meat and the open end of the vacuum bag. The paper towel will absorb the suffice juices. Or you can pack the meat portions in regular freezing bags and store those in a bigger vacuum bag.

Rancid taste develops as a consequence of freezer burn. The main reason for freezer burn is the air-permeable packaging (regular one-layer PE food bags) which enables the effects of oxygen. Moisture evaporates from the food and the surface gets dry. Oxygen penetrates through pores and oxidation starts. Fatty parts get rancid even after short-term storage. It’s easy to see the effects of the freezer burn (grey and/or brown marks) on the meat because meat contains a lot of water.

The most important factor in preventing freezer burn is the use of quality packaging. Only high-quality food bags can protest foods from losing their quality. Read more about Status’s high-quality food vacuum bags in How to choose the right food vacuum bags?

What’s the correct way of thawing and why can’t you re-freeze the thawed food?

Thawing should be slow (the best place is the refrigerator) and definitely not in the hot water or in the microwave. The most problematic is the thawing of poultry. Thawed food can’t be frozen again because the surface gets damaged and the possibility of perishability grows. The taste, color, and aroma degrade and microorganisms spread much faster. Re-freezing doesn’t eliminate these consequences. Experts recommend you use thawed foods as soon as possible.

Freezing dried meat products

Cured sausages, prosciutto, and other dried meat products needn’t be frozen, because they are preserved using salt and smoke. You need to stop the effects of oxygen if you want to prevent them from drying out and maturing further. The best choice is vacuum packing and stori Najboljše je shranjevanje v vakuumu v hladnejšem, temnem prostoru.