I thought freezer burn only happened to foods that had been in the freezer too long, but I seem to be getting it on a lot of things. Anyone know why, and is there anything I can do? ********************************************************** 12-12-02, 12:43 PM Lydia Freezer burn is caused by the air getting at the food, not necessarily how long the food has been in the freezer. Also be sure that your freezer is set at or below 0 degrees F. Although 32F is technically "freezing" - it isn't cold enough to freeze the foods for preserving.
Make sure that any and all food you put in the freezer is completely cooled prior to covering and freezing it (will cause crystals due to moisture if not). If you're freezing things in containers, fill up any empty space with crumbled up wax paper (good for casserole's and the like). I even take some foods out of their packaging from the grocery store and repackage them in freezer bags - things like frozen ravioli, french fries and the like -- the boxes and/or bags they come in have way too much empty space (and therefore, air) in them and cause freezer burn before you even get a chance to open them.
Make sure all air is out of any plastic freezer bags you use. I use the ziploc double freezer bags as they're more useful in freezing meats and stuff. If you are going to wrap anything in tin foil, make sure you wrap it in plastic first and then the foil - this will ensure a tighter wrap and less air.
Don't overstock the freezer - air does need to circulate among the frozen items - and also - if you use a frost-free freezer - therein may lie your problem - - it goes through cycles and changes the air and temp on a constant basis - for long term storage of frozen food - this is not good.
12-12-02, 01:35 PM Walks On Water Lydia is absolutey right. Five stars.
That frost you see inside you package is just not frost, but the moisture from the product. To avoid this loss of moisture, you need to make sure there is no air space for the moisture to evaporate in to.
As the surface of the product dries out, it pulls moisture from deeper and deeper in the product. That is just about how freeze drying works.
Here is a little test. Put an ice cube on a plate in any frost free freezer. In about two weeks it will almost disappear. Your freezer is pulling the moisture right from the cube.
Package meat looks nice, sealed pretty good, but has an airspace that the moisture will leave the meat and condense on the plactic wrap. Always re-package products that will be in the freezer longer then a week.
12-12-02, 03:09 PM kittypal Thanks, I think my problem may be too little in the freezer. Ever since my mom died I have no need to keep much food except for a few things. I will fill up some of the empty space and buy some freezer bags. Can't have my Ore'Ida's or Eggos getting all icy!
WoW, neat-o about the ice cube!
12-12-02, 06:07 PM Sherasi My brother-in-law is a Food Sciences Chef. He states for meats if you wrap portions or whole roasts in Saran Wrap and then into the Zip-lock Freezer bags your food with stay good for a longer period of time. In fact, sagus and I often take a center-cut pork loin and steak it out into individual portions and then wrap them each up in saran wrap and put them all into an air tight Ziplock bag. We then remove the desired portion for cooking and reseal the Ziplock bag. We have very little problem with Freezer-burn when we do this.
12-13-02, 02:54 PM Shawn as the others stated. I purchased a Food Saver- and it was well worth the money! I re-seal everything. I can now purchase the bulk packages (which are cheaper) and re package them in serving sizes (for our family) and then vacumme seal them. they last so much longer. Also it helps keep cheese longer in the fridge and when my 4 year old doesn't finish a apple- vacumme seal it pop in the fridge and it doesn't turn brown.
I vacumme seal my brown sugar and it doesn't dry out. I can freeze left overs then seal them in a bag and walla- a quick dinner on a busy night.
Look into one- they really do pay off in the long run! They run about $130 in our Wal-Mart and the only expense later is the bags, buy the rolls of plastic bags and cut only what you need. They are reusable if no raw meats were in them. You can use it for many things!
woops- wal-mart just lowered it check it out on their site www.walmart.com it is now below $100
12-13-02, 05:11 PM kittypal Thanks, I am going to look into it. Not having a family to cook for is hard, every meat/chicken package tends to have at least enough for four and having the same left-overs for 4 days straight gets boring. Good idea, thanks again.
12-13-02, 07:01 PM MkStfnz That's really interesting. I never would have thought it was caused by air.
12-13-02, 10:10 PM cattywampus I'm sure you can get a vacuum-pack machine for a lot less than $100. Ebay has a FoodSaver on bid closing in 1hr, 45 min. for $69. And there are more, cheaper ones. My sister used to sell FoodSaver machines but got out because the competition was so tight. They're good machines though.
Don't fall for those airbags they advertise on TV, either, the ones you suck air out of with your vacuum? It's true - nature does abhorr a vacuum - mine filled right back up. It is hard to make something truly airtight.
Catty (who isn't that fond of her vacuum, either) big grin big grin big grin
12-25-02, 09:40 PM tsaeb Sometimes you can give new life to something removed from the freezer by briefly running warm, not boiling hot, water on say, a piece of meat or a bag of veggies.
12-26-02, 04:30 PM bedstor Nobodys mentioned it,Could the freezer door seal be perished or warped? If I leave the door ajar on our freezer the thermostat thinks the temp is rising so it goes "crazy"(On to "full power" freezing)thus causing the thing you have described(On ours it looks as though there has been a blizzard in the ice box!),Same must be true if the door seal is faulty? roll eyes
12-27-02, 02:17 PM kittypal The frige is only a year old so the seal should be fine, I hope! I do know I open it too often, thinking that the contents will some how have changed????
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