John Myers
Whether you freeze food yourself to make it last longer or want to store ready-made frozen products: With a little know-how, frozen vegetables, fruit, meat, fish, seafood and baked goods are a healthy treat and make stocking up much easier.
Better than its reputation: frozen food
Pizza, fries and ice cream are among the most popular products from the freezer – and represent an unhealthy fast-food diet. Apart from these classic ready meals, there are plenty of other frozen foods that can definitely make their contribution to a balanced diet. Especially people who don’t have the time to go shopping benefit from this type of storage. Fruit and vegetables are always available as frozen food and are in no way inferior to fresh produce in terms of nutrient content – natural, unprocessed products often contain even more vitamins. Immediately after harvesting, flash-frozen broccoli, for example, is neither transported far nor does it lie around on supermarket shelves for days. In this way, the loss of nutrients is reduced. This also applies to food from your own garden that goes straight into the freezer. If you freeze pumpkin, for example, seasonal goods can also be enjoyed all year round.
Proper storage of frozen foods
To keep frozen food healthy and tasty, there are a few things to keep in mind. It starts with storage: If possible, use the quick-freeze or quick-freeze function of your deep-freezer when you put in home-cooked, fresh produce or large quantities of finished products. In this way, the food is frozen quickly and gently. Our questions and answers on the subject of freezing food reveal what is actually suitable for storing food when it is below zero and how it should be prepared if necessary. Incidentally, frozen food also has an expiry date: It is best to check your stocks every few months and use up food that is about to expire in good time.
How long does frozen meat keep?
The shelf life of frozen meat depends primarily on the type of meat and the fat content. Beef and game generally have a longer shelf life of up to twelve months than poultry or pork, which lasts four to ten months. Last but not least, the storage conditions are also important: it is best to have a constant temperature of minus 18 degrees Celsius in the freezer compartment.
The meat should not be washed or marinated before freezing. To ensure that the storage time in the freezer compartment is not accidentally exceeded, it is helpful to label the packaged meat with the date it was frozen. It is also important that meat that has already been bought frozen should be put back in the freezer immediately when you get home. On the way there, the cold chain must not be interrupted.
Guide values for the shelf life of meat at minus 18 degrees Celsius:
- Beef (8 to 10 months)
- Roe deer (10 to 12 months)
- Lean venison (10 to 12 months)
- Veal (8 to 10 months)
- Chicken (8 to 10 months)
- Wild boar (6 to 10 months)
- Hare and rabbit (8 months)
- Lean pork (5 to 7 months)
- Wild duck and wild geese (6 to 8 months)
- Turkey (7 months)
- Lamb (6 to 10 months)
- duck (6 months)
- Fatty pork (2 to 3 months)
- Lean ground beef (2 to 3 months)
- Fatty minced meat (2 weeks)
The storage times given here can only serve as guide values. If the frozen meat has changed in consistency after thawing or has a different smell and taste, it should no longer be eaten.
Defrost frozen food: This is how it works gently
While desserts such as ice cream are enjoyed directly frozen, most other frozen foods must first be thawed. For finished products, it is best to follow the instructions on the packaging. A slow, gentle defrosting phase is recommended for meat, fish, and seafood. For example, if you want to cook our recipe for Asian shrimp, ideally let the seafood thaw overnight in a covered bowl in the refrigerator. Vegetables, on the other hand, can be heated directly – a short bath in boiling water will keep them nice and crisp. If there is any leftover from the thawed frozen food, you do not have to throw anything away. Because the question “Can you freeze food twice?” can be answered positively in many cases.
