In Digest 156, Wendy Drachenberg asked for advice on freezing foodstuffs for
the fall. I have been freezing foods for years and would advise her to use
different containers for differents types of freezers (especially if you're
going to freeze for more than 2 or 3 weeks.
If you're freezing things in a frost-free freezer, I would recommend using
plastic freezer containers which you can buy in almost any size up to a pint.
They are made of thick plastic which helps keep freezer burn at bay in that
type of freezer. I wouldn't recommend keeping them in a frost-free freezer
for longer than a month or so.
If, on the other hand, you're freezer is the old-fashioned type that you have
to defrost yourself periodically, you can use ziploc bags with good results.
However, I would strongly recommend thawing the soups or stews in a pot, as
these bags do have a tendency to get minute holes in them. I would also
recommend putting cooled soup in the bag, eliminate as much air from the bag
as possible, and freeze it by itself on the shelf. When fully frozen, you
can then stack them one on top of the other and they won't stick together.
Again, I wouldn't recommend keeping ziplocked items longer than a month, but
if you use the plastic containers, they keep items for as long as 6 months
with no adverse effects.
I hope this helps.
Anne DeNitto
Elpaw@xxxxxxx
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