How long can frozen berries be stored?

How to store at home

Any fresh fish product without a refrigerator or freezer saves quality for a maximum of several hours, depending on the air temperature. Salted or smoked, it can be stored for a little longer without refrigeration.

Preparation

If you do not plan to cook fresh fish raw materials in the next hours, you need to save it without spoiling the texture:

• the carcass is cleaned and gutted;
• rinsed thoroughly under cold running water;
• blot with paper towels from all sides, including the inner surface;
• the prepared peeled gutted carcass is placed in a dry clean dish, hermetically sealed and stored in the refrigerator.

Fish that is not gutted spoils much faster than gutted fish. Small fish weighing up to 200 g and of any size may be left uncleaned for salting for long-term freezing. However, after defrosting, it must be immediately heat treated.

In the refrigerator without freezing

The refrigerator slows down the activity of microorganisms in fish, but the usual temperature of household refrigeration units - about 5 ° C - is not enough for long-term storage of fish products. Therefore, you can keep fresh raw materials in an ordinary refrigerator for no more than a day.

To double the shelf life, fill the container with ice cubes and sprinkle the piece with salt or moisten it with lemon juice. However, it is better not to risk your health by leaving it uncooked or frozen for so long.

In the freezer

Fresh fish can be kept in the freezer for up to six months. It is advisable to gut it and wrap it in a plastic bag, but it is not necessary to clean it - the scales will become a little protection for the fibers, and the dish will remain tender after cooking.

Without a refrigerator on the road

You can transport a fresh product almost at any time of the year, while maintaining its quality throughout the day, using the following techniques:

• fish carcasses are pre-prepared - gutted and cleaned, then frozen, and wrapped in foil and a thermal bag or in several layers of newspapers before the trip;
• the bag with them is covered with ice in plastic containers.

It is better not to use polyethylene for transportation without ice, since the fish in it, steaming, quickly deteriorates.

In a vacuum

Vacuum packaging at a low storage temperature is optimal for any type of fish.

In particular, fresh:

• at a storage temperature of 3 ° C, it retains high quality and safety for health for 4-5 days (in normal packaging - up to 2 days);
• frozen can be stored for a year and a half (without vacuum packaging - no more than 6 months).

What is needed for freezing

To prevent products from absorbing foreign odors, creasing and keeping their shape, I always use high-quality bags and freezer trays. I also use cling film, foil, plastic cups, foil baking dishes.

I need the scales in order to know the exact weight of the product and to indicate this information on the label. By the way, about them. I buy A4 white adhesive paper and then cut it into pieces of paper of the right size and write the product information. The sticker adheres well to the package, and the inscription does not erase or blur.

I freeze in 200 ml glass bottles.

The lowest compartment of the freezer is reserved for mushrooms and fish. I do not recommend storing these products near meat, vegetables, fruits, and even more so milk. Being even in two tight bags, mushrooms and fish can let in the smell, which means that the products that lie next to them can be saturated with them.

I also store jars of frozen tomato juice here. How to properly freeze juice and tomato paste can be found here.

I try to freeze seasonal vegetables and fruits on time, at the peak of their mass appearance in markets and shops. At this time, such products are the cheapest, and you can choose the best from a variety of fruits and berries.

I also freeze foods such as meat in large quantities. I order poultry, pork, rabbit, etc. from farmers, I buy 40 kilograms, I freeze and I can not think about the meat rack in the freezer for 2-3 months. When I see that there is enough meat for a week, I order ice cream again and again. It's easier for me to spend one day freezing different cuts and pieces of meat than buying a little bit every couple of weeks and freezing them.

I don't have a lot of fish in the freezer, I buy it once a month, no more than 1-2 kilograms. These are mainly fresh pike perch, mackerel and herring.

I try to make preparations (such as stuffed cabbage, dumplings, dumplings, pancakes with filling, cutlets and meatballs) in large batches, but not all in one day. I break it up into groups. For example, on Saturday I decided to make dumplings and dumplings. Already on Thursday-Friday I start preparing: I make minced meat, boil potatoes and liver for the filling, cabbage carcass. I hide it all in the refrigerator. On Saturday morning, I knead the dough in a bread maker and bring the filling to readiness. Well, then I turn on my favorite TV series and sculpt dumplings and dumplings. It turns out 200 pieces of both. Thus, I do not get tired in the kitchen and do not wash mountains of dishes until 12 at night.

The same is the case with spring rolls - the filling can be prepared in advance or the pancakes can be baked, and then only rolled and frozen.

Are there vitamins in frozen foods?

To the question of an ordinary person - whether vitamins remain in food after freezing at home, dietitians answer: "Yes, and in large quantities." By keeping the temperature low, all processes slow down, which allows you to preserve the beneficial components in fruits and berries.

However, do not forget about the observance of basic rules:

1. You need to take only fresh fruits. Berries and fruits of last year's harvest will not work, since they have already lost a large amount of vitamins before freezing.
2. No air is left in the containers in which the workpieces are stored. It leads to oxidation of food. It is necessary to do home processing by simulating a vacuum.
3. But do not forget that frozen berries and fruits increase in volume. From this, the lids are lifted, the packages are damaged. When the hostess begins to take out the container, its contents will fall out onto the floor.
4. It is necessary to ensure that the temperature regime in the freezer remains the same. With temperature jumps, the food will then defrost, then again plunge into the cold. This will lead to spoilage of berries and fruits, loss of useful qualities and former taste.

Any food has a certain expiration date. In fruits at -17 ° C vitamins and nutrients are preserved for 9-12 months.

Freezing

There is a way of long-term storage of currants, which will easily help to preserve all the most valuable that is in this berry. Freezing makes it possible to consume it fresh for almost a whole year and at the same time receive most of the vitamins and minerals that it contains.

1. Fully ripe fruits are used for freezing.
2. Before freezing, it is better to rinse the currants (optional) and dry them well.
3. Next, the berries are laid out in one layer on a flat surface, previously covered with paper, and sent to the freezer.
4. Within 3-5 hours, the berries freeze, and they can be laid out in paper or plastic bags, and then sent to the freezer for long-term storage.

Also for these purposes you can use:

• food plastic containers;
• containers with a vacuum pump;
• containers from food products that are at hand.

If you store the berries in the freezer, each decrease in temperature by 2 - 3 ° C will increase the shelf life by 1 month.Modern freezers are capable of freezing currants for a whole year. In this case, the temperature should be within - 18 ° C.

You need to defrost the fruits gradually. To do this, they are moved to the upper shelf of the refrigerator, and left there for 2-3 hours. After that, they can be transferred to the freshness zone for another couple of hours, and then taken out of the refrigerator. Only with this method of defrosting the berries will retain their shape.

It should also be borne in mind that long-term freezing contributes to the destruction of some of the vitamins that were contained in this berry.

Remember! The less frozen currants are stored, the more valuable it is for human health.

Correct defrosting

When defrosting, it is worth remembering that as a result of a change in the structure of the fibers, a certain amount of juice is released. The more this juice the fish loses during defrosting, the more this will affect the quality of the product.

It is worth remembering that frozen foods cannot stand hot water. Thawed in this way, they lose their taste and acquire a stale smell.

Sometimes it is convenient to defrost carcasses not completely. In this form, it is more convenient to cut and will retain its juiciness during cooking.

Experienced housewives advise several ways to properly defrost:

1. In fridge. Defrosting takes place at a temperature of +5 degrees. The method allows you to preserve the juiciness of frozen fish. The only negative is a long time. A large carcass can thaw for up to 6 hours.
2. In room. At room temperature, the fish thaws quickly enough. It should be remembered that it is necessary to cover the carcass with foil to avoid excessive juice release.
3. In water. The main rule is that the water should be cold and slightly salted. Thanks to the salt, the fish will replenish the loss of minerals lost during defrosting. Small carcasses thaw up to two hours, large ones - up to four.

Defrosting correctly will preserve flavor and juiciness. It should be remembered that defrosting is a responsible business. An incorrectly performed procedure will not allow you to enjoy excellent taste.

Read on:

5 ways to keep dried fish at home for a long time

Will red fish go bad if frozen?

Rules and terms of storage of smoked fish at home

How to keep salted fish for a long time at home?

Simple rules for freezing fresh fish

The maximum shelf life of frozen meat, depending on the type and conditions

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Shelf life of food in the freezer

When freezing food in the freezer, you need to be aware that different foods have their own shelf life. Below is a list of products and their maximum possible storage time in the freezer, set at -18 degrees:

1. Chicken and other poultry meat, cut into pieces - 9 months, whole - 1 year.
2. Red meat - 4-6 months.
3. Fatty fish - 2-3 months, the rest - 6 months.
4. Seafood - 3-4 months.
5. Various semi-finished products (cutlets, minced meat, dumplings and others) - 3-4 months, but you need to look at what is indicated on the package.
6. Previously prepared meals - 2-3 months.
7. Raw mushrooms - 9 months, boiled - 1 year.
8. Baking - 2-3 months.
9. Berry - 6 months.

Vegetables and fruits are stored for up to one year on average, but there are some exceptions:

1. Tomatoes - 2 months.
2. Zucchini - 10 months.
3. Peppers - 3-4 months.
4. Apples - 4 months.
5. Apricots - 6 months.
6. Peaches - 4 months.

How to freeze vegetables for the winter

We strive to ensure that our diet is not only tasty, but also healthy at any time of the year. Now it is not a problem to buy frozen berries and vegetables in the store, but it will be much more useful to make such preparations yourself.

First, you know the quality of the products used.Secondly, strictly monitor the storage conditions, which means that the maximum amount of nutrients is stored in your workpieces. And, finally, it will allow you to save money, because regularly using such products, you spend a lot of money on them.

Freezing vegetables:

1. The products should be washed beforehand.
2. Some vegetables, cauliflower, zucchini or asparagus beans should be blanched in water with salt before freezing, so you will eliminate their hardness in the future.
3. The greens must be well dried. You can cut it, or you can leave it in a bunch. It all depends on how comfortable it is for someone.
4. Frozen vegetables in summer are healthier than fresh, off-season store bought vegetables.

Tips on how to properly freeze mushrooms:

1. Clean and rinse.
2. The young from the old must be separated and further processed separately. Remember, use old mushrooms for soups, and young ones for main courses.
3. Soak wormy (a little!) Mushrooms for half an hour in salt water.
4. Cut them and cook in salted water for 5-7 minutes. Strain and squeeze. The less water remains in the mushrooms, the better the storage conditions will be.
5. Since the mushrooms will increase in size in the freezer, it is only ¾ worth filling containers with them.
6. As a rule, chanterelles and russules are not frozen.

Dry freeze

The total valid retention period depends on several parameters. First of all, it is the temperature in the chamber. The correspondence between the storage mode and the period is as follows:

• -18 - 1 year;
• -15 - 8 months;
• -12 - 6 months;
• -7 - 3 months.

On a note!

You need to take into account the actual temperature, and not the one that is set by the settings. Often old chambers and refrigerators allow heat to pass through, leading to premature spoilage of food.

The preservation of vitamins, even taste, largely depends on the initial processing method, the type of packaging. For longer, vitamins, appearance and even smell will preserve those berries that were frozen by the shock method. Immediately after washing, they are sent to special trays or on a shelf in the freezer, where the express freezing mode operates. Then they are laid out in closed plastic containers. In this case, the fruits remain intact, while they do not dry out even after a year. They can even be used to make cakes, but they can lose their shape when defrosting.

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The dry method of freezing does not provide significant advantages in terms of shelf life. Complete removal of moisture on the surface allows you to preserve the whole shell, but this does not affect the rate of dissolution of vitamins. It is still better to put such berries in containers or plastic bags. Otherwise, they can literally dry out.

B and C vitamins disappear most quickly from berries. Therefore, fruits with a pronounced acid should be consumed first. The following types quickly lose their beneficial properties:

• sea ​​buckthorn;
• raspberries;
• red and black currants;
• Strawberry.

Due to the rich set of trace elements, viburnum, wild garlic, blueberries, strawberries, gooseberries, blackberries, blueberries will be useful even next summer. Special storage rules apply to all fruits with large seeds, such as cherries or plums. They cannot be stored longer than 9 months, even after shock freezing. The bone often begins to release harmful substances, literally poisoning the reserves. When consumed regularly, especially in children, these berries can cause an eating disorder.

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After the expiration of the indicated periods, the berries do not become spoiled or "expired", they simply lose most of the vitamins.For example, after two years no more than 5 percent of microelements remain in them, so it is better to update stocks in a timely manner. However, you can still use the old crop. If you follow the rules of "neighborhood" in the freezer and put the fruits in sealed containers, the taste and smell will not change.

On a note!

Dry freezing in a vacuum package doubles the shelf life at a higher temperature. Equipment for such processing at home is easy to buy.

What can be replaced

If there are no special freezer bags or containers on hand, small food grade plastic cups can be used. Sour cream containers, ice cream cups or milk puddings will do. The container should have a lid that closes tightly.

You can make do-it-yourself trays for freezing food from milk cartons. Juice bags are also suitable. To prepare portioned containers for freezing food, you will need the following:

• Several types of carton bags for juice and milk;
• Sharp large scissors.

How to make containers with your own hands:

1. Use two types of bags: some are slightly larger, others are smaller. Smaller ones will act as the basis, and you can make suitable lids from large bags.
2. Cut off the lids of all bags, wash thoroughly with detergent, dry completely.
3. Cut off unnecessary elements with scissors to make containers that are suitable in size and shape.
4. Cut off the top of the larger bags to create lids for future containers.
5. Re-wash and dry all parts of the berry containers.

Homemade containers are best for storing berry puree. Delicate berries such as wild strawberries or strawberries are easier to store in a puree consistency. In the process, you can add the right amount of sugar if the berries are not sweet enough. When defrosting, strawberry or strawberry puree can be used as an addition to casseroles, for greasing pies and rolls, as a sweet sauce for fruit salads or cottage cheese.

So, we pour the finished mashed potatoes into prepared containers, leaving one and a half centimeters from the top. Close each container with a lid on top. On each container, you can write the name of the berries that were used to make the puree, as well as the date when it was frozen. All that remains is to place the homemade containers in the freezer. Cardboard containers are located in the freezer drawer rather compactly, which significantly saves space.

What vegetables can I freeze?

What vegetables can I keep frozen in the refrigerator? Some housewives will answer that any, but this is not entirely true, since some vegetables, after freezing / defrosting, change their taste not for the better. For example, potatoes become sweet, and cucumbers turn into disgusting jelly, and radishes and radishes are also not frozen.

Which vegetables can be frozen, in the sense of raw or boiled? Both those and others are well stored at subzero temperatures.

If you boil, for example, potatoes, carrots and beets, freeze them, then these vegetables can be used in the preparation of vinaigrette or Olivier. How long can boiled vegetables be stored so they don't go to waste? 1-2 days, but frozen they can be stored for several months. This method is convenient to use for blanks for the future.

A list of vegetables that are great for long-term freezing raw:

• fleshy tomato varieties. The "Cream" variety is best suited for this purpose. First you need to remove the skin from the tomatoes (make a cross-shaped incision on top, pour boiling water over the fruit, after which the skin will be removed perfectly), then cut into circles, put on a saucer and freeze. After that, put all the frozen rings in a slide one on top of the other in a bag or container and send for long-term storage in the freezer;
• salad pepper.The fruit is washed, peeled, cut lengthwise into 2 parts. One part is stacked in another (to save space), everything is packed into a closed container (or a plastic bag) and sent to storage;
• carrot. It is cleaned, washed, cut into circles or rubbed on a coarse grater, placed in a suitable container and frozen. The semi-finished product is used to prepare first courses;
• beet. Prepared and stored in the same way as carrots;
• White cabbage. Shredded, stored in the freezer. it can be used for cooking cabbage, borscht, hodgepodge, stew. Saves great time;
• cauliflower and broccoli. Before putting it into storage, it is disassembled into cats. Some housewives blanch these species before freezing;
• onion. Green and onions keep well frozen. But first you need to wash and cut it;
• zucchini and eggplant (blue). The courgettes are diced and used only for soups or stews. And frozen eggplants can be fried;
• green pea. Well-ripe (no longer sweet) peas are peeled and frozen in a bag or plastic containers. Can be used in soup, stews, omelets;
• corn. First, the ripe ears are boiled, then the grains are separated from them and stored in the freezer;
• pumpkin. Before freezing, the peeled pulp must be cut into cubes.

You can also store vegetables in the garage. Beets, carrots, potatoes, whole pumpkin are great for this. All other vegetables will go bad quickly.

Choosing packaging for storing food in the freezer

One of the important points in freezing fruits and vegetables for the winter is choosing the right packaging for storing food in the store. If you have free time and desire, you can freeze some of the most valuable products "by the piece"

To do this, finely chopped vegetables and fruits must be laid out on a dry board and placed in the freezer: it is very important to cool them to room temperature before long-term freezing. The next day, the food should be taken out and placed in separate containers.

If you need to freeze a relatively large amount of food, the question arises of choosing a suitable packaging. The most basic and versatile option is a plastic bag. This solution is suitable for those who have a relatively small freezer in size. Such bags can perfectly store mixtures of vegetables and hard fruits (apples, pears, etc.).

Another popular option is plastic containers with a lid. They are perfect for storing and freezing vegetables, fruits and berries, which are very susceptible to deformation. Often, many fruits and vegetables when stored in bags can wrinkle, losing their healthy and aesthetic appearance: plastic containers avoid this problem. It is better to give preference to containers with right angles: they are more convenient and fit well in any freezer.

Plastic bottles are another common type of packaging. Plastic bottles are great for storing vegetable and fruit purees or other liquid foods.

Freezing berries and fruits in the freezer

It is important to remember that after the defrosting process, any berry becomes softened and loses its attractive appearance, which greatly complicates the processing process. Therefore, it is necessary to get rid of all the stalks of berries such as gooseberries and strawberries before freezing.

In addition, you need to remove the seeds from cherries and cherries and separate the bunches from currants and grapes. If you need to freeze raspberries, then it is recommended to soak them in water to remove the stray worms that have emerged.

If the berry is dried well, it will not stick together, so it can be stored in large portions. It is recommended to store blackberries, strawberries, strawberries and raspberries in containers: this way it will better retain its shape and aesthetic appearance.For blueberries, cherries, currants, gooseberries and cranberries, thick bags are suitable. Berries can be pureed in the freezer. To do this, you need to grind the product in a blender and pack it into plastic containers.

To freeze bananas, peel them off and cut them into several pieces. Dry them with a simple paper towel before placing them in a hard container. If you freeze a fruit in the skin, you will have to peel it away from the fruit.

Pears and apples must be frozen in small pieces, previously sprayed with lemon juice, so that they do not darken.

Before freezing, peaches and apricots must be halved and pitted. But it is not recommended to freeze oranges, since after defrosting they acquire a bitter taste.

Thus, freezing fruits and vegetables in the freezer for the winter is not an easy task. In order to properly organize this process, it is necessary to take into account and keep in mind many aspects. First of all, you should remember about those products that are suitable for this type of storage, and which are not.

In addition, one must not forget about the importance of the choice of packaging and the shelf life of the product.