Freezer Storage – A Breakdown and Slowdown

Freezer storage is one of my preferred methods of food preservation. As it turns out, we have a goodly amount of food that constitutes frozen assets. One lamb, one hog and half a beef is quite a bit of food when you think about all the vegetables we have in there as well. The point I want to make about freezing is that it’s a good food storage method as long as you realize two things – it breaks down the food and it slows down spoilage.

We’ve probably all heard of people freezing and thawing steaks repeatedly to tenderize them. The freezing and thawing cycles breakdown tissue. Whether we like it or not, freezer storage does much the same thing only on a more limited basis. So, the freezer can be used for preservation of many things, but you’ll notice less evidence of breakdown of your food if you focus on freezing food that is already well broken down, or food that can stand up to freezing. Think about food such as:

• soups
• stews
• casseroles
• vegetables that are naturally firm and fibrous (like beans and corn)
• meat

Freezer storage isn’t a good approach to very long term storage because it only slows down spoilage. Sure, some of the mechanisms of food spoilage can’t operate at zero degrees Fahrenheit, but some can and do. Think of a freezer like a refrigerator, only more intense. Food spoils in the refrigerator, but lasts much longer than sitting on the counter. The same holds true for the freezer; food spoils in there, but lasts much longer than sitting in the refrigerator.

With this in mind, my suggestion is to keep meat in the freezer no more than one year. Red meat kept about two years will exhibit a change in flavor, and not for the better. The same holds true of fish, except you’ll notice a change in flavor in less than one year. For all other foods, I’d generally recommend no more than two years storage. If you’d like to store food longer than that, I’d look into canning and drying as better alternatives.

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Clair Schwan freezes, dries, cans, pickles and refrigerates some of his meat, eggs and produce. He has ample food supplies for many foreseeable events, whether manmade or naturally occurring. He believes in being reasonably prepared for marketplace perturbations, but largely relies on his own sense of self sufficiency. See his adventures in a self directed life over at Frugal Living Freedom where the motto is, “…living well, and well within your means…”