Frozen Food.....

Button21

Hi guys,

Just been into the depths of my freezer!!:eek::eek::eek: I've gone where no man has gone before!!:rotfl:

Just a quick question, how long is food ok to keep frozen food for?? I've got absolutely heaps of frozen chicken, salmon, mince, steak etc!! OMG, it's an absolute disgrace!! I've thrown away all the prawns as know they can be a bit dodgy, and have read on the back of the other packaging 'use within one month'........most has been in my freezer alot longer than that!!

Does anyone have a golden rule for freezer food stuff??

Cheers!

Button

calleyw

According to Food standards agency

"You can keep food safely in the freezer for years, in theory, 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."

The whole one month is about texture and to cover themselves. I recently have eaten blackberries from my freezer that where from 2008 :eek:

If you look on your freezer it should have markings saying how long you can keep certain meats frozen for.

Do a quick google and for freezer food storage times and it should come back with the info you require.

Yours

Calley

jenniewb

I've always been told (by my mum) fish, 3 months from use by date, meat 5 months from use by, veg I don't know though, I'd have eaten it too soon!

thelurch

We went through our shed freezer before christmas and found meat fish which had been in there at least 3 years :eek: and then cooked it up and it and we were fine.

We usually ignore the 3 month guidelines, but the meat can get a bit freezer burnt and dried up.

Obviously we have had no problems with doing this but its up to you if you do the same

Enterprise_1701C

How about the defrost and smell test - if in doubt defrost it before cooking and if it smells OK then it normally is, as said before texture might suffer but if a freezer is kept at -20 then it's almost in suspended animation anyway.

EssexGirl

Not exactly practical advice, but scientists did once cook some woolly mammoth that had been in a glacier for millions of years and they didn't die from eating it

I have a smallish freezer so stuff doesn't hang around in it for too long.

grannybiker

Common sense approach here. Should be applied with all food, whatever the date and state.
Look, smell, touch.
If you still think it's fine, taste a little.
Freezer burnt meat, (For some reason chicken & burgers seem to be worst affected) tastes nasty, so trim any affected bits off with scissors before cooking.
The best piece of beef I've ever cooked was 2 year old chunk I found right at the bottom of my chest freezer. I'd bough it just before Christmas in the Somerfield half price offer, then it was half price again with a yellow Whoopsie sticker. It still cost nearly £10 tho', so was gutted that I'd "Saved it for a special occasion" for so long.
There was a small corner that was freezer burnt, so I trimed it off with scissors, then cooked the joint very slowly. It was tender, moist and full of flavour so DON'T ever chuck anything without trying!

clairehi

I have a side of smoked salmon in my freezer bought in Dec 08..will it still be ok to eat?

Haffiana

The things to watch out for in a freezer are fatty items. Freezing doesn't stop oxidation, so fat will slowly oxidize/turn rancid. This isn't going to be a problem even over a couple of years or so with most animal fats as the oxidation rate in animal fat is very slow anyway, but it can be a big problem in fish, especially oily fish.

Salmon is an oily fish - so give it a very good sniff once it is defrosted. Rancidity is extremely unpleasant to eat (although not harmful), but also extremely easy to smell!