This is Part 1 of a 2 part article on how to prevent freezer burn. |
Loading your freezer the proper way. |
Do NOT fill your freezer with too much chilled or room temperature food at one time. This causes the freezer to "warm" up. This leads to a longer time in freezing the food. |
When food (mainly meat) is frozen commercially, the food is place in a quick freeze or blast freezer. These freezer are operated at temperatures as low as 50 degrees below zero! |
This freezes the food very, very quickly. The faster the meat is frozen, the less chance ice crystals will form, and the likelihood of freezer burn is greatly reduced. |
Try not to put more than 1/4 of the freezer space with "warm" |
If possible, try and leave as much air space around each package of warm food for at least 24 hours. 48 hours would be better. |
After this time the food should be completely frozen, and you can stack the meat in the tightest position. |
HINT: Check the temperature of your freezer periodically with a high quality thermometer. 5 degrees above zero to 5 degrees below zero would be a good temperature. |
Read further for some excellent freezer tips! |
More freezer tips covering freezer burn, how to freeze meat, wrapping, etc. |
Freezer checklist. Before you buy a freezer, there are some features you should know about. |
ConsumersRechearch. Reviews of the best freezers on the market! |
Home Freezers. The full story. EVERYTHING you need to know about freezers. Such as only 2 manufacturers make almost ALL the freezers sold in the US! |
What size freezer is needed for a Whole Beef, 1/2 (side of) Beef and a 1/4 (quarter of beef - hind or fore quarter)? Whole Beef - Needs approximately a 28 cubic foot freezer. Side of Beef - Needs approximately a 14 cubic foot freezer. Quarter of Beef - Needs approximately a 7 cubic foot freezer.
|
Last Updated: Saturday, October 04, 2008 12:42 PM