Freezing your meals is usually a easy and efficient approach to make sure that you have all the time acquired all of the elements you want readily available when the time comes. But as most of us have skilled, there are various methods for freezing to go fallacious. Oftentimes, you may freeze your meals solely to seek out the feel or taste has taken a disappointing flip upon thawing. That is why we reached out to 2 kitchen consultants, to study which meals you must completely by no means preserve in your freezer. They are saying there are seven errors to keep away from for brisker flavors and extra satisfying meals.

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It is easy to overshoot when portioning out pasta, so leftovers are usually frequent. Nonetheless, Melissa Baker, a nutritionist and the founding father of foodqueries.com, an internet site devoted to answering any and all questions associated to meals storage and spoilage, advises towards freezing cooked pasta.

“The feel of pasta modifications when frozen, changing into mushy and dropping its chewy texture,” she says. That is very true in case your pasta was cooked for longer to start with—al dente pasta might have a greater likelihood at thawing with out incident.

Higher Houses and Gardens writes that should you do resolve to freeze your cooked pasta, it is best to retailer the sauce individually. That is as a result of the pasta and the sauce will thaw and reheat on totally different timetables, which may have an effect on texture and style.

The subsequent factor you must strike out of your freezer is any fruit or vegetable with a excessive water content material. This consists of cucumbers, lettuce, watermelon, and extra—all of that are more likely to lose their crunchy texture after thawing.

Baker says that lettuce is very more likely to fare poorly within the freezer. “The excessive water content material in these greens causes them to wilt and change into mushy when frozen,” she tells Finest Life.

Freezing lettuce intuitively appears like a nasty concept, however excessive water content material in some produce may additionally fly underneath your radar. As an example, freezing entire potatoes may cause them to change into mushy due since they’re made up of 80 p.c water, says Ethelyn Dietrich, an expert chef behind the web site cookerquery.com.

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Fried meals can wind up changing into soggy after spending time within the freezer. “Fried meals have a crispy texture as a result of oil content material,” says Baker. “Freezing causes the oil to solidify, making the meals lose its crispy texture.” You are additionally more likely to discover that the style after freezing is a far cry from the primary time round.

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Freezing meat is a good way to make it last more, particularly should you’ve packaged all the pieces appropriately in an hermetic (ideally vacuum-sealed) container. Nonetheless, consultants say that you must actually solely defrost meat as soon as, since refreezing can alter the flavour, and provides micro organism a chance to develop.

To thaw your meat, all the time transfer it from the freezer to the fridge to keep away from the temperature dropping to harmful lows on the counter. You will additionally need to examine it for indicators of spoilage after thawing, together with freezer burn or extreme ice crystals, notable modifications in texture or odor, and discoloration.

Freezing eggs of their shells is a bit like freezing a glass of water—because the liquid solidifies it expands, making it doubtless that its protecting outer layer will shatter. Specialists say that when an egg cracks open within the freezer, it won’t solely change into inedible from a logistical standpoint, it will probably additionally trigger bacterial contamination.

Nonetheless, you can safely crack your eggs into an hermetic container and freeze them till you are prepared to make use of them, based on the American Egg Board. You must both beat the yolks and whites collectively, or separate them for optimum texture.

Many types of dairy can technically be frozen—milk, laborious cheeses, and yogurt, for instance—however unwhipped cream is an exception. That is as a result of the freezing course of destabilizes the cream, finally altering its texture after thawing.

Baker notes that this identical rule applies relating to meals which might be made with cream, similar to sauces and soups. “The emulsion of cream and water in these sauces and soups can separate when frozen, leading to a lumpy texture and an unappetizing look,” she tells Finest Life.

Giant blocks of laborious cheese are likely to fare nicely within the freezer, particularly if you freeze them of their unopened, unique packaging. All these cheeses also needs to last as long as three months within the freezer should you reseal them after opening in an hermetic bag.

Nonetheless, freezing tender cheeses like brie and camembert may cause them to “change into crumbly and lose their texture” as their molecular construction modifications within the freezer, Dietrich says. As an alternative, it is best to purchase these meals in smaller parts, and to make use of them inside days of buy.