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Foods | Usual use | Condition after thawing |
---|---|---|
Raw cabbage1, celery, watercress, cucumbers, endive, lettuce, radishes | As raw salad | Limp, water-logged, quickly develops oxidized color, aroma, and flavor |
Cooked cream vegetables | Side dish | Loses flavor rapidly. Store only a few weeks for best quality |
Irish potatoes, baked or boiled | In soups, salads or with butter | Soft, crumbly, water-logged, mealy |
Watermelon | As raw fruit | Soggy/watery |
Egg whites, cooked | In salads, creamed foods, sandwiches, sauces, gravy or dessert | Soft, tough, rubbery, spongy |
Icings made from egg whites | Cakes, cookies | Frothy, weepy |
Cream or custard fillings | Pies, baked goods | Separates, watery, lumpy, soaks into the crust |
Milk sauces and gravies | For casseroles or gravies | May curdle or separate. Best to thicken with waxy starch (Clear-Jel)... less likely to separate |
Sour cream | As topping, in salads | Separates, watery |
Cheese or crumb toppings | On casseroles | Soggy |
Cooked macaroni, spaghetti or rice | When frozen alone for later use | Mushy, tasted warmed over |
Mayonnaise or salad dressing | On sandwiches (not in salads) | Separates |
Fried foods | All except French fried potatoes and onion rings | Lose crispness, become soggy |
Potato salad, macaroni salad | Salad | Becomes watery and tough, mushy |
Unbaked biscuits | Baked products | Smaller and less tender |
Unbaked muffins | Baked product | Poor texture |
Gelatin | In salads or desserts | Weeps |
Fruit jelly | Sandwiches | May soak bread, weeps |
Chocolate-covered cherries | Candy | Expands during freezing causing them to break |
Related articles
- Safety of Canned Food That Freezes
- Preserving Dried Beans
- Preserving Garlic
Source: OSU Master Food Preserver Program
Adapted from: So Easy to Preserve, 5th addition, cooperative extension services, the University of Georgia and Freezing prepared Foods, PNW 296.
- 1Cucumbers and cabbage can be frozen as marinated products such as "freezer slaw" or "freezer pickles." These do not have the same texture as regular slaw or pickles.
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