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Shopping for frozen foods
• Your freezer is 4-star.
• When you are buying frozen food, check the storage guidelines on the packaging. You will be able to
store each item of frozen food for the period shown against the 4-star rating. This is usually the period
stated as “Best before” on the front of the packaging. The maximum freezing capacity of this reezer is
4kg in 24 hours.
• Check the temperature of the frozen food cabinet in the shop where you buy your frozen foods. It
should show a temperature lower than -18ºC.
• Take a quick look at the frozen food package and make sure it is in perfect condition.
• Always buy frozen products last on your shopping trip or visit to the supermarket. Try to keep frozen
food together whilst shopping and on the journey home as this will help to keep the food cold.
• Don’t buy frozen food unless you can freeze it straight away. Specially insulated bags can be bought
from most supermarkets and hardware shops. These bags can keep frozen food frozen longer.
Preparations for Freezing
• Use quality food and handle it as little as possible. Freeze food in small quantities as it freezes faster,
takes less time to thaw and enables you to control the quantity you need better.
• Leave cooked food to cool completely. Chill food in a fridge before freezing if possible.
• Consider how you will want to cook the food before freezing it.
• Don’t freeze food in metal containers if you may want to microwave it straight from the freezer.
• Use special freezer bags, freezer film, polythene bags, plastic containers, and aluminium foil (heavy
duty grade only). If in doubt, double wrap your food. Don’t use aluminium foil for acidic foods, e.g.
citrus fruits. Don’t use thin cling film, glass, nor used food containers without cleaning.
• Exclude as much air from the container as possible. You could buy a special vacuum pump which sucks
excessive air out of the packaging.
• Leave a small amount of air space when freezing liquids to allow expansion.
• You can use the space in the freezer most efficiently if you freeze liquids (or
solids with liquids, e.g. stew) in square blocks. This is known as “Preforming”.
Pour the liquid into a polythene bag which is inside a square sided container.
Freeze it, and then remove it from the container and seal the bag.
• Label your frozen foods as they will look the same when in frozen state. Use
special freezer tapes, labels and pens with different colours. This allows you to
easily organise and to effectively use the freezer. Write the contents and date;
otherwise the frozen food might exceed the storage time and this could cause
food poisoning. Please refer to your food packaging for the recommended
storage time.
• You may also add the weight and cooking notes, e.g. “thaw first”, “cook from frozen” and keep
a separate log of what is in each drawer. This will save opening the door and searching around
unnecessarily.
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