18 Must-Follow Freezer and Meal Prep Rules

If you don’t like the taste of it today, then don’t bother People could go on and on about what you can freeze and what you… Simi - August 6, 2018

If you don’t like the taste of it today, then don’t bother

People could go on and on about what you can freeze and what you can’t freeze. They can tell you how to freeze things and how to thaw them. They will also carry on about how freezing will help you reduce the amount of food that will go to waste. These are all very valid points. The freezer can be a great help to even the most experienced of chefs. It is also very admirable to try and reduce the amount of food that goes to waste in a household. There are people out there who would love to eat the food that is being thrown away by many families.

But, you really shouldn’t be freezing food that you don’t want to eat. Maybe it didn’t taste great or possibly you are just not feeling it. Now, this could change in a weeks’ time but it probably won’t. If this is the case, then you are better off handing it over to someone else. There is no use in freezing things that you are just not going to eat. Give it away on your way to work and let it go.

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Refreezing previously raw food

No, you should certainly not refreeze food that has already been defrosted. But, there is a small loophole here. It is not a loophole, once it has been stated you will see that it is pretty obvious. Firstly, the reason why you cannot refreeze food that has been thawed is that this allows bacteria to come back to life and grow. Then if you go ahead and freeze it, then the cycle is just being compounded meaning that when you eventually do eat it, there will be a whole lot of bacteria thriving in it.

But, what happens if the food was raw and then you cooked it. This mostly applies to meat, chicken, and fish. These foods are generally bought fresh and then tossed in the freezer raw. Which is completely okay. Then they are taken out and thawed. Another thing which is fine. What is not fine is refreezing this raw food. What you can do, however, is to cook the food and then refreeze it. The cooking process will kill any bacteria, therefore, making it safe to be tossed in the freezer again. It is unclear as to who would freeze a cooked steak, but it is possible if you are that way inclined.

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Keep the freezer full

The reason why all the food in the freezer is all frozen to the same degree, regardless of where it has been placed is that of how a freezer was made to run. The internal mechanism ensures that cool air circulates around the entire freezing which results in all the food being frozen. With this in mind, it makes sense that the more space there is in the freezer, the more air needs to be circulated. Considering that freezers run on electricity, more air means more electricity means a larger electricity bill and finally less money left for you to enjoy yourself.

One way to keep the power bill down is to make sure that the freezer is full. This might sound counterproductive. Wouldn’t more food mean that you need more energy to freeze it? Actually no, more food means less space. Less space means that less air is required. The conclusion of all of this being that it is best to keep the freezer full if you want to save on electricity. This doesn’t need to happen all the time, but it should be a general rule.

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What happens when there is no power?

On our very last point, let us consider for a second that you have followed all the rules. You have labeled everything correctly. You have all the right containers, and you have not frozen dairy products. You have even gone and made sure that you froze things correctly and observed the rules when it comes to thawing. You are a veritable freezer genius, and then the power goes out. You are not entirely sure when it happened but you know it is out. Lights may be the first of your worries, but at some point, you think about the fridge.

All your effort, all your time and all your money are about to melt into a puddle on the kitchen floor. Yes, this is entirely possible. But, do not panic just yet. Whatever you do, do not open the freezer to check. This will do nothing but let the cold air escape. It is called an icebox for a reason. It is designed to keep cool air in. Even if the power has gone out, you do technically have a couple of hours before you are in any trouble. Wait it out until the power comes back on to check what is going on in there.

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