Everytime you make an enormous batch of one thing, you in all probability need to stick these further servings proper within the freezer. And whereas that’s nice for some meals, different meals don’t fare fairly as effectively (like eggs, yogurt and a few others). Typically the style or texture takes a success; in different instances, it’s a full-fledged meals security difficulty—so that you positively need to understand how a selected meals or dish will react earlier than you shut the door.
That is essential since you don’t need to take freezing off the desk completely. “As a result of it’s permitting us to retailer meals at subzero temperatures, it actually slows or utterly stops the expansion of micro organism in meals and due to this fact decreases the danger of foodborne sickness,” Vincci Tsui, RD, an authorized intuitive consuming counselor primarily based in Canada, tells SELF. Underneath the appropriate circumstances, freezing can considerably lengthen the lifespan of your meal or particular ingredient, which may help stop meals waste and prevent some severe money. “In a fridge, you are speaking three to 4 days” earlier than an merchandise spoils, Darin Detwiler, PhD, a meals security knowledgeable and affiliate instructing professor at Northeastern College’s School of Skilled Research, tells SELF. Whereas “in most freezers, you are speaking three to 4 months for sure meals.” Merely thaw your dish, reheat it within the microwave, and it’ll primarily be nearly as good as new.
That mentioned, there are exceptions to that rule—and also you’ll need to know what they’re so your frozen leftovers don’t find yourself in your kitchen trash. To seek out out which of them ought to keep away from the massive chill, we requested a number of consultants to share the meals that high their do-not-freeze checklist. Learn on to be taught extra about eggs, yogurt, and 6 other forms of meals it is best to by no means freeze.
1. Uncooked eggs…
Soda cans aren’t the one sort of merchandise susceptible to exploding within the freezer, in accordance with Dr. Detwiler. Since shell eggs are liquid on the within, he explains, they increase once they freeze, cracking and probably creating “fairly a multitude.”
Disagreeable as it’s to seek out your freezer suffering from shards of damaged shell and splotches of yolk, that isn’t essentially the worst that might occur. Like uncooked meat and poultry, eggs can harbor salmonella micro organism, so an eggy explosion might put these bugs in touch with different gadgets within the freezer. In brief, a frozen egg isn’t solely a cleanup hazard—it’s additionally “a contamination threat,” Dr. Detwiler says. Even when it doesn’t explode, it nonetheless gained’t be all that usable: Frozen egg yolks have a thick, syrupy texture that stops them from mixing effectively with the whites or different elements, the USDA reviews.
Nevertheless, egg costs are sky-high proper now (all due to chicken flu), so we don’t blame you for eager to freeze those you’ve got available to protect them for the long run. Simply don’t freeze eggs complete. As an alternative, crack them and beat the yolk and whites collectively first. Plus, understand that you possibly can freeze liquid pasteurized eggs or egg substitutes for as much as one 12 months—so long as they’re unopened.
2. …and cooked eggs.
Equally, cooked eggs (like scrambled or omelets) aren’t tremendous freezer-friendly, however for various causes, Tsui says. On this case, she says, freezing doesn’t pose well being considerations, but it surely is “actually going to have an effect on the feel and the style”—and never for the higher. As an example, cooked egg whites turn out to be “gentle, robust, rubbery, and spongy,” in accordance with the Nationwide Middle for Residence Meals Preservation on the College of Georgia. Merchandise made from cooked egg could also be affected as effectively, like egg salad, mayonnaise (which separates), meringues (which toughen and shrink), and a few icings (which can flip frothy or sticky and weep).
3. Dairy
Freezing could cause a variety of dairy merchandise to separate, together with gentle cheeses like brie, ricotta, and cream cheese, in accordance with Dr. Detwiler. (Cottage cheese, too, in accordance with the College of Nebraska-Lincoln.) However, arduous and semi-hard cheeses—assume cheddar, Provolone, or Muenster—may be frozen, although not with out some deterioration in high quality, per the Nationwide Middle for Residence Meals Preservation.
