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Listen, when thosechicken thighsare on sale you’re not going tonotbuy 12 of them.
Getty / Rita Maas
If youfreeze foodproperly, it can last a very long time.
Also, baked or boiled potatoes become soft, crumbly, and waterlogged when frozen.
And while raw egg whites are fair game, cooked ones will become soft, tough, and rubbery.
Plus, she says you should never freeze plain pastait’ll survive much better when precoated in a sauce.
The same goes for fruits and veggies with really wet interiors.
You should also store tomatoes in their juices to protect the flesh of the fruit.
(If they do oxidize and get brown, though, they’re still fine to eat.)
Not freezing food quickly enough
“Time is quality when it comes to freezing,” Wright explains.
If you defrost something and it’s super mushy, she says it probably froze too slowly.
Once everything is frozen, it’s possible for you to safely turn the dial back up to 0.
The sooner you freeze it, the less time there is for bacteria to grow.
That’s especially true for fruits or veggies with delicate outer skins.
After blanching, you’ll want to cool the veggies immediately to stop them from continuing to cook.
Simply plunge them into ice water or run them under cold running water for another minute or two.
Then, double-check to drain the veggies thoroughly before putting them in the freezer.
This will individually freeze each piece of fruit so that they don’t stick together and become one.
This trick works great for things like berries or grapes.
Once they’re sufficiently frozen, pour all the fruits into a freezer-safe bag or container to store.
If you want to get serious, Tierno suggests investing in avacuum-packing system.
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