What kinds of foods do you freeze
Judy Good
7 years ago
Featured Answer
Sort by:Oldest
Comments (30)
Judy Good
7 years agoRelated Discussions
What do you mean they'll die if they freeze???
Comments (29)dygg.....I cant explain in botanical terms what happens to a bulb, planted at the correct time, and its developing roots so that it goes into the freezing weather of a northern winter and experiences no problem. In layman's terms.....the bulb develops roots from the cool weather that is in the ground. Once with roots, something magic happens to the inner tissue of the bulb. Remember, the hardy bulb has everyting in it that is the plant...everything. Stem, roots, leaves, flowers....are all in the bulb when you plnat it. When the roots form, the exterior of the bulb tissue puts up a kind of armour....nothing can harm it...not even down to 40 below zero. But, without roots, the armour does not develop...and the bulb is left to try to sustain itself.....which it cant....because it doesn't have the protection. This is why tulips....et al...are put intot he ground when they are. Delaying the proper time, the bulb is left open to possible harm. As long as the bulb can be put into ground that enables it to produce roots, then it will survive. Want to try something: Put a bulb into the freezer of your refrigerator....then remove it in the spring. But hold it over the garbage can. Put a bulb into some soil and put that into your refrigerator...not the freezer...and water it as needed, keep it away from your crisper...and in 14 weeks take it out and give it sunlight. Watch it bloom....See MoreWhat foods do you dehydrate?
Comments (17)plllog- It sounds like you are describing freeze-dried food, which unfortunately, CAN'T be duplicated in a dehydrator. Freeze-drying is a commercial technique that forms a vacuum while the food is freezing. Stored properly, freeze-dried food has a much longer shelf-life than home-dehydrated, and freeze-dried foods are much higher in nutrients than those made at home, and freeze-dried foods rehydrate in a fraction of the time as home-dried foods. I store and use both home-dehydrated and freeze-dried. jennieboyer, Home\-dehydrated foods need to be used fairly quickly because they don't have any preservatives, and the nutrients degrade quickly \- even if they still "look" fine, and may even taste fine, after years on your shelves. Recommended storage times for home\-dried foods range from 4\-months to one year because the quality is affected by oxygen, temperature, and light. Most dried fruits can be stored for one year at 60\-degrees F, or six months at 80\-degrees F. (room temperature is considered 70\-degrees F.). The cooler the storage temperature, the longer the shelf\-life, and this is true for all stored foods. For each 10\-degrees above room temperature (70\-degrees F) the faster food degrades (nutrients are lost, color and texture may change). Because home\-dehydrated vegetables don't have as much natural (or added) sugar as fruit does, vegetables have about half the shelf\-life of fruits. I consider home\-dehydrated foods pantry foods which need to be rotated and used quickly. Unless you are 100% sure a home\-dehydrated food has 10% moisture or less, don't vacuum\-seal it because if any bacteria is present, it could potentially grow into a toxin \- even in the oxygen\-free container. In order to know the amount of moisture, you have to weigh the food before and after dehydrating. For more specific information on the subject, I suggest getting the book "How To Dry Foods" by Deanna DeLong. You can often find this book at the library and used book stores. As a general rule fruits dried at home normally have about 80% of their moisture removed and vegetables \- 90%. Only a small percentage of foods dehydrated are done until they are crispy dry. I do crispy apples for snacks (which store longer), and leathery apples for cooking/baking, which get used quickly. In my case, unless the dehydrated food is being used, they are stored in a dark, cool, food storage room in the basement. I always try to store enough apple slices for a year, but that's the only item I plan on doing that. Even foods that seem bone dry can still have some moisture in it. Each time you open a container of dehydrated foods, it will reabsorb moisture from the air, so make sure you don't leave the lid off a container any longer than needed, and use more small containers (pint and quart jars). The same problem of reabsorption occurs after the dehydrated food is done drying. Once the food is dry, allow it to come to room temperature, then place it in a container/s and be sure to condition it (an important step many people skip and find they have moldy food) before placing it in storage. If you pack warm food into a jar, moisture will continue to be expelled from the warm food and can be trapped in the jar, causing the food to mold. I would avoid using a timed dehydrator because it is possible for the food to sit for a long period of time after the timer has gone off, and it will most certainly have reabsorbed a lot of moisture, especially in a place where there is high humidity. I typically don't store home\-dried foods in large batches \- especially potatoes which are notorious for molding. Crispy apples destined for snacking I place in a snack\-size zip\-lock bag, then place the bags of apple slices in a quart jar. This way each time the jar is opened there is less chance any of the apple slices will reabsorb moisture from the air. There is an alternative method called dehydrofreezing where only about 70% of the moisture is removed, however, these foods MUST be stored in the freezer to prevent microbial growth. There are some advantages to dehydrofreezing \- the food has better flavor and color than traditional drying, and they reconstitute in about half the time it takes for traditionally dried foods. They also take up less space in the freezer than fresh\-frozen food. If you don't have plastic fruit leather sheets you can use plastic wrap to cover the trays, or you could try a produce bag with some cutting required to make it cover the round trays (both will require some over\-lapping). Caution \-\-\- do NOT place the food on the printed side of the bags because the ink is NOT food\-grade. I will also bet once you use a plastic bag or plastic wrap for this process, you will find the stiff plastic fruit leather sheets much easier to use and well worth the money. \-Grainlady...See MoreNo more Wasted Food !! - - - What do you Freeze ?
Comments (6)I use coconut oil (kept at room temperature) instead of vegetable oil or shortening. Coconut oil is very stable at cool room temperatures and has an extremely long shelf-life, which is important to those of us who do home food storage. Coconut oil will easily store for up to 5-years, while vegetable oil lasts 6-months at room temperature (less time if stored where it gets a lot of light, or at temperatures above 70F), or 1-year if you refrigerate it. Refrigeration is suggested rather than freezing. Check the label of the container or call the help-line on the label for more information. Cooking oil is actually already rancid from the process it takes to make it and storage due to exposure to heat, light and oxygen during processing and home storage and use. Rancid oil doesn't have to smell rancid to be rancid. The exposure to oxygen did that long before it started to smell rancid. By the time it smells rancid, it's been that way for a long time. Cooking oil is oxidized to the point of being a body-damaging free radical. I haven't used vegetable oil or shortening in over 25 years. If you have a FoodSaver vacuum sealer, you can vacuum-seal oil after you open it to keep the oxygen out of the container. Heat, light and oxygen are the enemy of all foods. Eliminate those and they will last longer. (See the link below.) I store foods vacuum-sealed in FoodSaver bags in the freezer in order to prevent freezer burn, wasted food, and increase the storage time. Vacuum-sealing also helps maintain the quality of the stored foods. Once again, oxygen is the enemy of stored food, and that includes in the freezer. Freezing will slow down foods from going rancid, it just won't PREVENT it if there is oxygen present. Vacuum-sealing will prevent moisture in foods from migrating from the food to the air and creating ice crystals, unlike zip-lock bags in which you trap air in. A true vacuum can't be done using a drinking straw and drawing air out of the bag, but that's is an improvement over a bag full of air. If you have ice crystals accumulating in your foods (especially present in bags of bread or burger/hot dog buns), you don't have it properly stored. To improve the storage of foods in the freezer, it requires as tight a wrapping as possible to prevent as much air as possible being in contact with the food. -Grainlady...See MoreAt this time, what foods do you/don't you 'trust'?
Comments (48)Thanks for those articles from me, too. The CDC still says to use bleach to disinfect, which is different than sanitize. They say that to disinfect hard, non-porous surfaces you need 1/3 cup of regular chlorine bleach per gallons of water, although Clorox recommends using 1/2 cup bleach per 1/2 gallon. For small batches, use 4 teaspoons of regular chlorine bleach and 1 quart of water. Dip a cloth into the mixture, wipe the surface, ALLOWING THE SOLUTION TO CONTACT THE SURFACE FOR 5 MINUTES AND AIR DRY. For food contact surfaces, like countertops and high chair trays, rinse with warm water and air dry after disinfecting. Use it sparingly on stainless steel sinks and surfaces. I use bleach regularly, I have all those white bar mops that I wash and bleach, I use them for everything. I also bleach the white socks and cotton gloves I use/wear on the farm, as well as wash cloths and some white towels. A person should NEVER have white towels on a farm, BTW. Anyway, I use enough that it's never outdated, and I leave it in the original opaque container. The biggest mistake people make, though, is to wipe their counters with the solution but not leave it the required 5 minutes before wiping the residue to dry their surfaces. If you don't do it correctly, it doesn't work correctly. Annie...See Morelucillle
7 years agogyr_falcon
7 years agocaseynfld
7 years agolast modified: 7 years agoElizabeth
7 years agoanoriginal
7 years agoFun2BHere
7 years agolast modified: 7 years agonickel_kg
7 years agoOklaMoni
7 years agosusanjf_gw
7 years agolast modified: 7 years agoshirl36
7 years agoAnnegriet
7 years agomamapinky0
7 years agoRoseberry Ranch
7 years agowildchild2x2
7 years agoUser
7 years agoElmer J Fudd
7 years agolast modified: 7 years agoAnglophilia
7 years agocolleenoz
7 years agoratherbesewing
7 years agoaok27502
7 years agoartemis_ma
7 years agolast modified: 7 years agophyllis__mn
7 years agoRoseberry Ranch
7 years agoraee_gw zone 5b-6a Ohio
7 years agonicole___
7 years agolast modified: 7 years agoratherbesewing
7 years agoAnne
7 years agoSummer
7 years agolast modified: 7 years ago
Related Stories
GREEN BUILDINGThe Big Freeze: Inventors Break New Ground to Keep Things Cool
Old-fashioned fridges can be energy guzzlers, but there are more eco-friendly ways of keeping food fresh, as these global innovations show
Full StoryLANDSCAPE DESIGNWhat Kind of Gardener Are You? Find Your Archetype
Pick from our descriptions to create a garden that matches your personality and tells your story
Full StoryFARM YOUR YARDHouzz Call: Show Us Your One-of-a-Kind Chicken Coops
Do you have a fun or stylish backyard shelter for your feathered friends? Post your pictures and stories in the Comments!
Full StoryLIFEThe Polite House: How Can I Kindly Get Party Guests to Use Coasters?
Here’s how to handle the age-old entertaining conundrum to protect your furniture — and friendships
Full StoryLAUNDRY ROOMSFreeze-Dried Clothes? Houzzers Share Their Winter Laundry Tales
Air-drying the wash in chilly temps can be a challenge, but Houzz readers find a way
Full StoryFARM YOUR YARDHello, Honey: Beekeeping Anywhere for Fun, Food and Good Deeds
We need pollinators, and they increasingly need us too. Here, why and how to be a bee friend
Full StoryGARDENING AND LANDSCAPINGOne-of-a-Kind Ways With Planters
Bright colors, unusual shapes, unexpected uses ... these unique ideas for container plantings with personality may just grow on you
Full StoryKITCHEN DESIGNKitchen Recipes: Secret Ingredients of 5 One-of-a-Kind Cooking Spaces
Learn what went into these cooks’ kitchens — and what comes out of them
Full StoryKITCHEN DESIGN8 Stylish Sink Types for Kitchens of All Kinds
Choose the wrong sink and your kitchen renovation efforts may go down the drain — these sinks will let you clean up in the style department
Full StoryKITCHEN APPLIANCESLove to Cook? You Need a Fan. Find the Right Kind for You
Don't send budget dollars up in smoke when you need new kitchen ventilation. Here are 9 top types to consider
Full Story
tvq1