Freezing - Tips and Quick Questions thread

spike7451

I regulary freeze take away's as I can never finish a full container full of mains.Still here,the only thing I'm careful of is not to freeze prawns so I make sure I scoff them before I freeze the rest.

abbecer

Hiya all. Just wanted to add something to this thread that I'm not sure has been mentioned (sorry haven't had time to trawl 50 odd pages!!). My Asian friend has being giving me tips for curries and storing ingredients etc. All soft peppers, onions, cauliflower etc she bags and freezes to save throwing it away. Uses it in curries straight from the freezer. Also she blends fresh ginger and garlic with olive oil and freezes in ice cube trays then bags once frozen. She then uses one as base for curries when needed. She said she does similar with coriander and chillies etc. She freezes whole chillies and unpeeled garlic cloves too. I've found it really helpful. Hope this helps someone else.

Rebecca

sm4ar

hi, after some advice please, got chest freezer in utility room been out there for 6 years, went shopping last night and filled her up among other things 2 chickens and bread rolls all of which went in freezer last night approx 8.30pm, just been out there to get something out and chicken is frozen in places but "squishy" in other places and bread rolls still soft. In 6 years of freezer being out there, can't say I've noticed before how "long" it takes for the food to freeze if that makes sense. So my question is, how long does it take for everything to freeze in a chest freezer (bearing in mind it is jam packed chocka full!) and will the chicken be OK and it is still not really frozen properly. Thanks in advance

Butterfly_Brain

Have you got it in the fast freeze section? you are only supposed to freeze a certain amount in 24 hours.
It usually takes 12 hours in my freezer before everything freezes in the fast freeze section and it is only 10 months old

sm4ar

fast freeze section? lol it was already full before but saw loads of things on offer so brought them and crammed them in lol I am thinking perhaps that I have filled her up a little too much and the cold air can't circulate? hope its that and not that the freezer isn't freezing properly if that makes sense. do you think everything in there will still be ok?

vennypenny

I think it definitley takes a bit of air circulation to freeze things solid. The thing I'd consider though is... has it all been kept as cold or colder than a fridge would be. If the answer to that is 'yes' and assuming that those items weren't borderline 'iffy' when you put them in, then it's all probably ok. It might help if you can rearrange things a bit so that the unfrozen things aren't all together - if you can spread then around/bury them amongst other solidly frozen things, then that may help. A bit of air does need to be able to circulate too, though - the 'warmth' of the unfrozen things needs to be taken somewhere, and a freezer works by cooling - that cold must then 'swap places' with any warmth. If air can't circulate, then the thermostat won't know that it's become warmer due to the additions, and the compressor won't work harder to freeze the extra things.

valk_scot

No fast freeze button on your freezer? Mine is 30 years old but still came with this useful feature.

I think as a rule of thumb you're not supposed to put more than 20% by volume of unfrozen food into a freezer at a time. Also cold air falls so if you're adding unfrozen food to a chest freezer it's best to put it near the bottom and space it out a bit. If you put it in a lump at the top it will take longer to freeze. Plus remember that putting a lot of unfrozen food in the freezer can bring the temperature up a bit (if no compensating fast freeze button) and this can actually start making the other frozen foodstuffs defrost. Not good...

I think you'll probably be okay though, as long as the chicken was still in code yesterday.

tuttifruiti20

It'll take a bit longer than normal if you've put a lot of unfrozen stuff in there, but should be fine.

sm4ar

thank you for replying, yes the chicken was fresh use by 8th September, I have gone to the freezer, taken a loaf of bread out to make more room and things that were in boxes I have taken out and put in food bags to try and make more room and get more air circulating, the things brought yesterday have also been moved to the bottom. Don't know if I have a fast freeze button on freezer sorry, I usually throw things in and forget about them! It is making a noise now so think the compressor is working overtime lol! Thanks again for replying

oldtractor

I've just bought a new freezer. The instruction book recommends putting things to be frozen against the side of the freezer rather than in the middle of other already frozen stuff. Hope this helps.