How To Freeze

Anyone who cooks and eats meat knows that there are certain dangers lurking it. When you peek through the microscope, there is a good chance that you will see millions of microbes in the meat that multiplies at a very fast level. These microbes can wreak havoc to our digestive system, where some of it can even cause death. Some of the most feared microbes are botulism, E. coli, salmonella, and listeria.

There may be parasites, bacteria, and molds as well as yeasts which can cause meats to decay and people who consume them to get sick. This is why it is important that you know how to properly store meat in order to prevent it from decaying.

One of the most popular ways to preserve the freshness of meat and prevent them from decaying is through freezing. By freezing meat, you will be able to store meat at a longer amount of time and consume them later.

Meat in room temperature cannot even last 24 hours until it gets rotten or spoiled. However, frozen meat can last longer than a week. This is the benefit of freezing food, especially meat.

It is important that you know how to freeze food in order for you to still enjoy it when you prepare it for later consumption. By knowing how to freeze food properly, you will be able to save food from spoilage and at the same time avoid affecting the quality of the food when you prepare it.

For vegetables, you should choose the ones that are at their peak of flavor and texture. This means that you should avoid freezing vegetables that are over-matured and ones that already have damage on them.

To start preparing vegetables for freezing, you should first wash them under cold running water. You can purchase fresh produce and rinse them to remove dirt, bacteria and even pesticide residue which might be in your vegetables. Then pat them dry.

After washing, you have to slice the vegetables to the desired size. After that, you can now start blanching the vegetables in a large covered stockpot of boiling water. You have to keep in mind that different vegetable means that you have to blanch them in different times. For example, cabbage needs 3 minutes while beans and green peas needs 2 minutes.

After blanching the vegetables, the next step is to cool them to stop the cooking process. You can do this by placing or plunging them in ice water. Then put them in the freezer bag and put them in the freezer. As you can see, it is quite simple to freeze vegetables.

When freezing meat, it is a good idea to repack them from store packaging. You have to remember that although freezing meat will not necessarily kill bacteria, it will slow down their growth by forcing them in to dormancy. Although some parasites can be killed in sub-zero temperatures, keep in mind that home freezing cannot really guarantee this.

Some people experience freezer burns when they freeze meat. This can really affect the quality of meat. This is why it is important that you put the meat you plan on freezing gin freezer bags. If you are planning to store meat for a long time, then you should keep the meat in a separate freezer unit. This is because home refrigerators are constantly opened, which affects the temperature inside the fridge. By putting meat on another freezer unit, you will be able to achieve optimum temperature and preserve meat at a much longer period of time.

Different meats or cuts of meat have different shelf life when storing in the freezer. For bacons and sausages, it can last for two months. Ham, hot dogs or cold cuts can last two to three months. Raw roasts, steaks, or chops can last four to twelve months in the freezer.

If you are going to freeze cooked meats, you will find that it can last two to three months. Poultry can still be edible after a month or two in the freezer.

Raw or wild game can last eight to twelve months.

As you can see, it is relatively easy to freeze food. By following the correct method of freezing food, you can be sure that you will be able to preserve food for later consumption and do so without affecting the overall quality of the food.
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