Food storage
Freezing Food: What You Can Freeze, What You Can't, and How
Most people underuse their freezer for fear of doing it wrong. The list of what you can't freeze is short. The list of what you can, and how, is more useful.
One common idea does a lot of harm to freezing: if you're not sure, don't freeze it. The result is moldy fruit, stale bread in the trash and fresh herbs gone black, when all of it could have lasted six months in the freezer. The opposite rule is more useful: if you're not sure, look up how to freeze it properly.
What you really can't freeze
Raw vegetables with a high water content: lettuce, cucumber, raw tomatoes, radishes. They give up all their water on thawing and turn soft and tasteless. Mayonnaise, whipped cream and sauces made with whole egg: the emulsion breaks. Fresh cheeses (ricotta, mascarpone): the texture turns grainy. Eggs in the shell: they burst.
That's about it for absolute no-gos. Everything else can be frozen, with a few precautions.
Meat and fish
Freeze in serving-size portions, not in blocks you'll have to thaw completely. Use zip bags and press out as much air as you can. Label with the date and contents: after three months, all the white bags look alike. Storage times: red meat 6 to 8 months, poultry 6 months, lean fish 6 months, oily fish (salmon, mackerel) 3 months.
Bread and pastries
Sliced bread freezes right in its packaging. From freezer to toaster takes 3 to 4 minutes, no thawing first. A whole loaf or a baguette: freeze it whole, then put it in a 320°F (160°C) oven for 15 minutes straight from the freezer. The crust turns crisp again. Croissants and pains au chocolat are treated the same way: 340°F (170°C) oven, 8 minutes. Nobody can tell the difference from a morning-fresh pastry.
Hard cheeses
Comté, Gruyère, Parmesan, cheddar: yes. The texture gets slightly more crumbly, but for cooking, gratins, sauces, quiches, it's perfect. Grate them before freezing so you can take the amount you need straight from the bag.
Cooked or blanched vegetables
Vegetables with a high water content (zucchini, eggplant, spinach) should be blanched 2 to 3 minutes in salted boiling water, cooled in ice water, and squeezed well dry before freezing. Blanching deactivates the enzymes that degrade color and texture. Cooked dried legumes (chickpeas, lentils, beans) freeze without blanching in portions of about 7 oz (200 g), the exact equivalent of a can, for less money.
Herbs and ginger
For garlic: in oil cubes. For ginger: freeze the whole root, unpeeled. You grate the frozen ginger straight with a Microplane, and it grates better frozen than fresh. Storage: 6 months minimum.
Cooked dishes
Soups, broths, stews, dals, curries, bolognese: yes, in portions. Cooked rice: yes, in 5 oz (150 g) portions flattened in zip bags. Cooked pasta: the texture changes too much, so freeze only the sauce and cook fresh pasta. Mashed potatoes: yes, if you add a little milk when reheating. Cooked quiches and tarts: yes, in individual slices.
A full freezer is more energy-efficient than a half-empty one. If you're short on food, fill the gaps with frozen water bottles.
Thawing without mistakes
The safest thawing happens in the refrigerator, which means planning several hours ahead for a large piece. Soups, sauces and stews can go straight into a saucepan over low heat. Raw food that has been thawed shouldn't be refrozen as is: cook it first.
Frequently asked questions
Can you freeze bread? Yes, sliced or whole, and put it back in the oven without thawing. Can cooked pasta be frozen? The texture changes too much: freeze the sauce instead. How long does red meat keep? Six to eight months, according to this guide. How do you avoid unidentified bags? Label them with the date and contents.
