How can frozen food go bad

Skip to content Lifehacks. February 18, Joe Ford. Table of Contents. Unlike your fridge, which can only keep foods fresh for so long ahem, milk , Lonsdale says that food that is frozen is safe to eat almost indefinitely. Yup, let that sink in. However, just because frozen food can last forever doesn't mean that it'll always be something you want to eat. The quality and taste of said foods can degrade over time—the longer it's in the freezer, the more at-risk it is to develop freezer burn ice crystals that can damage food.

Same goes for other types of store-bought frozen food. Pre-frozen foods have excellent longevity, she says, because they undergo a process called Individual Quick Freezing IQF that helps them last longer without freezer burn. When these are improperly stored or sit in the freezer too long, they tend to turn dark or pale brown due to lack of oxygen. Perhaps the simplest way to know whether your frozen food is still good is to label it when you put it in the freezer.

She also loves freezing peeled, ripe bananas for smoothies, chocolate nice cream , and baking. Frozen tropical fruits like mango and pineapple will add a similar sweetness to smoothies, while frozen melon chunks are great for making sorbet.

Vegetables contain enzymes that can cause flavor and color changes over time. Blanching vegetables — flash boiling or steaming, then quickly cooling them with ice water — before freezing slows these enzymes. You can blanch any plant food, but vegetables like broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, corn, peas, green beans, and leafy greens work especially well.

Because of the enzymes still active in raw vegetables, they tend to lose color and flavor in the freezer, and even more once you cook them. Larger pieces of meat have less surface area by weight, so they retain more moisture when frozen, Gorin says. This helps preserve their original texture upon thawing and cooking. And make sure to keep them cold. While you can safely freeze any food, some foods just don't freeze well. Stack's "don't freeze" list includes salad greens, meat salads made with mayonnaise e.

So you're gonna have to eat that whole custard pie or keep it in your fridge for up to five days. While you can freeze milk and cheese, "they may have some changes in their texture," said Stack.

Sorry, nope. Refrigerate or freeze perishables, prepared food, and leftovers within two hours. Good news! The experts say "no" with some caveats.

You may see some changes in the quality of the food but it will still be safe to eat.