How Long Can We Keep Food In The Freezer?

McFilly

It seems to me that most food nowadays that is bought fresh but says on it that it can be frozen, seems to say "use within 1 month" of freezing.

A friend said to me she ignored this and keeps things much longer. I was concerned about raw meat i.e. sausages, gammon, chicken?

I guess the supermarkets are just playing safe with the "1 month" message but I am still a bit nervous about keeping stuff longer than that.

Linda32

Hi, I've no idea why supermarkets put that on the packaging, apart from selling more and covering themselves.

Please don't be concerned, as long as your freezer is working fine, which I'm sure it is, food will be stored at -18 nothing what so ever can happen at -18

As long as it was okay when it went in it will be when it comes out.

Food needs to be wrapped of course, now this can be food bags or plastic boxes.

Always label everything as you really won't remember whats what

Have a look in your freezer manual or on the door, there should be pictures of items to give you a guide.

For me I'd happily keep raw or cooked meat for months and months. Although I don't keep that sort of stock to last that long.

Lots of others will be along with more help soon.

elsien

I don't think it's to do with food safety so much, as the quality of the food degrading slightly. As Linda32 said, if your freezer is below -18, keeping food there for months is not going to make it unsafe to eat. However you may start to notice changes in taste and texture and it may lose some nutrients the longer it's frozen for. About 6 months is my personal limit - meat seems to start going a bit of an odd colour after that and although I know it's fine, I still find it offputting.

Farway

Some of my stuff is years old, meat, fish etc

I ignore the advice on the packets, it will not kill you, may just not have quite the same texture or identical taste as when fresh, but I have never noticed it TBH

rosieben

I'm a cynic and I believe the supermarkets hope that you will heed their one month warning, throw the food out and go and buy more

I keep meat, bread, all sorts for months and months; it needs to be wrapped well, otherwise 'freezer burn' may affect the taste

LJM

rosieben wrote: »

I'm a cynic and I believe the supermarkets hope that you will heed their one month warning, throw the food out and go and buy more

I keep meat, bread, all sorts for months and months; it needs to be wrapped well, otherwise 'freezer burn' may affect the taste

that is probably exactly why they do it, scare tactics

MRSTITTLEMOUSE

There was an offiicial on the radio from food safety a few weeks back (Jeremy Vine Radio 2) discussing this.
He said that as long as the freezer was working efficiently and had not had any power cuts then food would be safe to eat.
He also said the only problem would be freezer burn and that would cause food to dry out and the texture would change.
He said that was why you should always wrap food properly.
They had callers ringing in saying they had meat in their freezers for years and he ensured them it would be fine to eat so long as it had been stored correctly.
I think you've just got to use common sense realy.

Agapanthus

A real freezer is much colder than one of those little ones on top of a fridge. They're really what the one month is aimed at.
I've never really noticed a problem except with gammon/ham/bacon. The fat can develop an unopleasant flavour after 6 months or so.

For anything else, well, I suspect that there's stuff in my freezer that's been there ten years and none the worse for it if it was well packed (excluding all air).

nesssie1702

Even with power cuts (provided its not for too long!) the stuff in the freezer should be okay so long as you don't keep opening the doors to check to see how it's doing!

Out power was off for over 18 hours due to the gales last week and all the stuff in my freezer was fine

McFilly

Thanks everyone:)

goalseeker

McFilly wrote: »

It seems to me that most food nowadays that is bought fresh but says on it that it can be frozen, seems to say "use within 1 month" of freezing.

A friend said to me she ignored this and keeps things much longer. I was concerned about raw meat i.e. sausages, gammon, chicken?

I guess the supermarkets are just playing safe with the "1 month" message but I am still a bit nervous about keeping stuff longer than that.

Obviously you are talking about a domestic situation when it is personal choice as to how long you store foods it is at your risk. Commercially the recommendation is 1 month for bread products and 2 months for prepared meat products unless they are purchased commercially frozen when the use by date will be displayed on the packaging. It is amazing how quickly quality falls when food is frozen rememeber your freezer will not kill bacteria only slow its growth when thawing the little beggars multply quickly. Personally I would never freeze bread - why bother it is cheap enough in fact I cannot understand anyone who says they have frozen foods for months it is not as if we are on rationing or that inflation is rampant, buy what you will use in the next couple of weeks that way you will enjoy your food far more. Anyone who buys bargain items in supermarkets should look at the use by date very carefully, especially products that have been kept in an ambient temperature during their store life, bacteria has already started to develop and as I say you do not kill bacteria in a freezer, buyer beware.