how to freeze with ease

Whether you have a chest or upright freezer, the principles of successful freezing are the same...

Cool foods before you freeze.

Freezing food when hot will only increase the temperature of the freezer and could cause other foods to start defrosting. Only refreeze food if [QW XG EQQMGF KV KP DGVYGGP When food is thawed, bacteria can mulitply quickly, particularly at room temperature. If you pop it in the freezer, the bacteria survive and are more likely to reach harmful levels on second thawing. However if you cook the food in between, eg thawing beef mince, turning it into Bolognese and then re-freezing, it’s not a problem as the bacteria will have been killed in the cooking process.

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properly or put them in sealed containers, otherwise it can get freezer-burn.

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You don’t want to have to defrost a stew big enough to feed eight when you’re only feeding a family of three. 6 +H KP FQWDV VJTQY KV QWV Contrary to what many people think, freezing doesn't kill bacteria. If you are unsure of how long something has been frozen or are a bit wary of something once defrosted, don’t take any chances.

&QP V HTGG\G QNF HQQF because you don’t want to waste it; the point of freezing is to keep food at its prime.

7PNGUU [QW NCDGN you might not remember what it is, let alone when it was frozen. Buy a blue marker for raw foods and a red marker for cooked foods. You can use big-lettered abbreviations, for example a big red P might i> V i` « À À > L Õi i> à À>Ü wà ° And always add the date it was frozen.

&GHTQUVKPI KU C OWUV An icy freezer is an ivwV i Ì i] Ã > i ÃÕÀi Þ Õ `ivÀ ÃÌ your freezer if ice builds up. Don’t worry about the food; most things will remain frozen in the fridge for a couple of hours while the freezer defrosts.

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RQYGT EWV or you think the freezer has been turned off, don't open the door. Foods should remain frozen for about 24 hours, leaving you time to get to the bottom of the problem.