14
Tips on Freezing Food
• As with storing fresh foods, suitable packaging, correct
temperature and food hygiene will enhance the quality
of the food you are freezing.
• Avoid putting hot foods into the freezer. First let them
cool until they reach room temperature.
• Make sure that all foods for freezing are of a high quality,
and suitable for freezing.
• Use packaging material that is odourless and airproof
(such as plastic bags) to store food in so different foods
can be mixed without affecting the quality. Make sure that
it is airtight. Leaking packaging will dehydrate the products
and lead to loss of beneficial vitamins.
• Keep the surface of the packaging dry – this keeps the
packs from freezing together.
• Mark packages with the kind of food contained and the
date of storage.
• Food needs to be frozen quickly, so it is best to freeze
small portions whenever possible and ensure that they
are as cold as possible before storage. The recommended
maximum weight for each portion is 2.5 kg.
• Keep food which is fresh away from food which is already
frozen, if you need to freeze fresh food every day, make
sure that it is in small portions to prevent this.
• Do not exceed the maximum load for freezing – which is
given as 10 kg / 24-hours (see data badge for details).
• Write the expiry date and food names on the outside of the
packaging so you can be assured of the food type and
when it is safe to eat.
• Take food from the freezer to defrost when needed.
Defrosted food cannot be refrozen unless it is cooked.
• Do not put too much fresh food into the freezer at once.
This could go beyond the freezer’s cooling capacity (see
‘Technical Data’).
• When storing commercially frozen foods, please
follow these guidelines:
• Always follow manufacturers’ guidelines for
the length of time you should store food for.
Do not exceed these guidelines!
• Try to keep the length of time between
purchase and storage as short as possible
to preserve food quality.
• Buy frozen foods, which have been stored at
a temperature of –18 °C or below.
• Avoid buying food which has ice or frost on
the packaging – This indicates that the
products might have been partially defrosted
and refrozen at some point – temperature
rises affect the quality of food.
•
Should there be a power cut, or the fridge /
freezer fail for any length of time, for more
than 3 hours, you may need to remove food
from the freezer and if possible store in
another working freezer or a cold, hygienic
place (i.e. garage or out house area) until
the power is restored, or the appliance is
repaired. To prevent undue temperature rise
you should store the food in a cool box or
wrap the food in layers of insulating material,
such as newspaper, to help to maintain the
temperature.
It is important that any food that defrosts
should be either consumed, or cooked and
refrozen (where suitable) soon afterwards in
order to prevent health risks.
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