Avoiding Freezer Burn
Everyone seems to have their own set of tricks when it comes to avoiding freezer burn. Nobody wants a freezer full of tasteless foods, but what’s the best way to keep those foods fresh?
Some people wrap their foods in numerous materials. Others swear by plastic freezer bags. If you haven’t found a method that works for you quite yet, you might be going about the process all wrong. Before you give up on the entire freezing process, take a few moments to try out some of the tricks listed below for avoiding freezer burn. Chances are, you just aren’t freezing that food right…the good news is that learning how to properly freeze food is quite an easy thing to do.
The only reason that food becomes burned is that an excess amount of air is trapped inside of the food that you are trying to keep fresh. The trick is to take out all of the air that you possibly can from those wrappings. There is an easy way to remove as much air as possible from any kind of food that you are attempting to freeze. Simply grab a plastic drinking straw, place it inside of the package, seal the package up until there is enough room for the straw, and then suck the extra air out of the bag. The result will be a bag that does not contain any extra air…which means that your food will stay yummy and fresh.
Another method for avoiding freezer burn is to wrap each piece of food inside of plastic wrap, and then follow the plastic wrap with another wrapper such as aluminum foil. This method works best for foods such as pieces of meat or slices of lasagna. Speaking of slices…rather than freezing entire dishes of leftovers (such as lasagna) as a whole unit, try freezing these meals in individual slices. Individual slices have a smaller chance of catching that dreaded freezer burn bug than large hunks of leftovers do. When you take the time to learn how different foods freeze, you can bet that you won’t be dealing with any burnt foods ever again.
Of course, you may discover that there is nothing wrong with your freezing method at all. Sometimes, freezers lose their power to seal properly. This might be the case if the seal around your freezer door is loose or cracked. Investigate your door, and then call a repair man if you notice that the seal no longer works as it should.
Avoiding freezer burn is as easy as following the steps listed above. There’s no reason why you should be forced to eat tasteless, burnt, food ever again if you make sure to suck the air out, wrap food properly, and understand how different foods prefer different freezing methods.