Best Foods To Freeze

Some foods freeze better than others. For instance, fried foods generally don’t do well in the freezer for a long time. In truth, the water content of the food you’re trying to store has a lot to do with how well it will last in the freezer.

Generally, as water content in food goes up, freezing quality goes down. An orange or watermelon, for instance, will have a mealy taste after being in the freezer for long. There are a few good choices though, if you’re looking for the best foods to freeze.

Meats

Nothing says summertime like a fresh-grilled hamburger, and its quite convenient to pull some hamburger patties out of the freezer the day before a home cookout. Meats like this freeze quite well, so you’ll be well-prepared when close friends come over for a healthy dose of laughs and entertainment.

Meats freeze well because they’re incredibly dense, so there are few places for air to hide in a piece of meat. High quality steaks will last for at least 4 months in the freezer. Pre-cooked meats can be frozen too, but the best way to store meat in the freezer is when its still raw.

Fruits & Vegetables

You may not think so, but frozen vegetables are usually fresher than even fresh vegetables. The reason for this is vegetables are often frozen at their peak, when they’re ripe. Most people don’t have flash freezers at home, which is what big corporations use to chill their fruits and veggies. The best thing to do is to blanch vegetables in boiling water for 1-2 minutes, allow them to cool, then freeze them in airtight packages.

Blanching also brings out the full color and nutrients of vegetables. Once frozen, the aging process stops until they’ve been thawed. It is also important to remember to freeze fruits and veggies separately, until slightly frozen, then bag them however you wish to avoid generating a massive block of pure goodness.

What’s left?

You may be interested in knowing whether other foods are adequate to freeze, but these three categories are the most successful. The quickest way to figure out if foods will freeze well is to consider their liquid content, and judge accordingly. Foods with lots of water in them won’t freeze as well as others.

If foods have high water content, imagine that water turning to ice, stretching the bonds that hold them together, then melting when thawed. Will your food thaw well after it has been frozen? Surely a piece of meat will, but not likely so for a head of lettuce? When in doubt, try freezing a small batch, then see how well the food thaws.

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