Before we start:

• You don’t want piping hot soup, kugel, or anything in your freezer. There’s a risk of it heating up the rest of your frozen food. Let it cool down for 2-3 hours, and if still warm, put in the fridge until it reaches room temperature

Freezing:

• How you wrap your food will depend on how long you want to keep it in the freezer. For shorter periods of time, plastic bags or cling wrap is enough. Ensure the wrapping is airtight so that you don’t end up with ‘freezer burn’. Freezer burn can change the color and/or texture of food,  and give food a freezer taste
• For food being kept frozen over longer periods of time use plastic freezer bags, or wrap food in aluminum foil, and airtight plastic above that
• Never freeze glass jars, unless they are specifically freezer safe. Untempered glass can shatter when frozen, especially if there’s a liquid inside that will expand once frozen

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Quick Defrost Tips

How you defrost your food can have even more of an effect on than freezing it. Here are the best ways to do it:

1. In the fridge - the best, easiest and safest method. Food will be kept at safe temperatures throughout. The downside? You have to remember to take the food out in advance
2. At room temperature - safe for pastries, bread, and fruits. Not recommended for meats, fish, and vegetables, as bacteria grows quickly as the surface warms up - which brings us to:
3. In cold water - put a sealed package of frozen food in cold water.

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Here are some of our favorite ways to defrost:

Soups - put frozen soup in a pot, add a bit of water, and heat on a small flame. This works especially well for blended soups

Potato kugel - put straight into a hot oven (175 celcius) and bake until crisp. For an overnight kugel, pour water over the top of the kugel, cover tightly. Place a pan of water on a lower shelf, and bake overnight on 120 celsius (250 fahrenheit)

Cakes, muffins, cookies - defrost on the counter

Kneidlach - put frozen kneidlach into the soup, and bring to a boil

Meats - defrost in the oven or blech

Breaded cutlets - defrost and fry fresh

Challos - defrost on the counter, then reheat in the oven. For shabbos day, remove from freezer and put on to cholent pot/blech

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Freezer Shelf Life

Food will stay safe indefinitely if frozen solid. However, after some time it wlil start to lose it’s flavor and texture. Here’s a rough timeline:

Soups - 3 months

Kugels - 3 months 

Beef and lamb - up to 12 months

Poultry (whole) - 12 months

Poultry (pieces) - 9 months

Ground meat and poultry - 4 - 6 months

Fish - 3 - 6 months (lean fish will last longer than fatty types)

Cookies (baked) 6 - 8 months

Cookie Dough - 3 months

Cake - 3 months

Cheesecake - 6 - 8 months

Challah and Bread - 4 months

Cream cheese - 2 months

Hard Cheeses (mozerella, cheddar, swiss) - 6 - 8 months

American cheese - 3 - 6 months

Soft cheeses (ricotta, feta) 3 months

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How do you freeze?

Share your go-to freezer hacks and what works for you below