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FREEZING GUIDE: HOW LONG TO KEEP YOUR FOOD FROZEN IN THE FREEZER. Freezing means that we can prepare food in bulk, and can make the most of foods that are in season like now vegetables like ugu leaves (fluted pumpkin) are in season are less expensive.
If you have constant electricity and your freezer gets frosty, defrost every 6 to 12 months. If the freezer is opened often like in large households, the frost builds up often.
Your freezer can become a black hole if it is a very large one and you just keep adding until things disappear to be discovered years later and thrown away-
I don’t think that can happen in Naija sha with this epileptic power supply.
The freezing chart below is just a guide, make sure you use frozen things/foods within the recommended period of time because storing soup for instance for longer than 2 months is not the best.
FREEZING TIPS:
FREEZING GUIDE: HOW LONG TO KEEP YOUR FOOD FROZEN IN THE FREEZER
- Once frozen food is thawed, never refreeze it because it may cause food poisoning and may not be the same. Look at ice cream for instance, once it’s thawed and frozen again, it becomes crystallized and annoying.
- Freeze soups in airtight plastic containers. transparent ones are the best as you don’t need to open to see what soup is in there. Freezer bags and aluminium foil containers with lids (the party takeaway containers) are also good for freezing.
- Some foods should not be frozen; hard boiled eggs will become rubbery, Fresh whole eggs will expand and break, Vegetables with high water content will spoil, yoghurt will separate, custards, akamu/ogi pap, mayonnaise, and food containing gelatin cannot be frozen.
- Herbs and spices lose their flavour after 2 weeks in the freezer.
- If your freezer has so much, label things with a permanent marker and if you can, add the date when it entered the freezer.
FREEZING TIMING FOR DIFFERENT FOOD:
1-2 MONTHS:
- Soups
- Stews
- Pounded yam
- Eba
- Semovita
- Moi moi
- Akara should not exceed 3 weeks. I haven’t tried that long.
- Boiled rice
- Jollof
- Fried rice (1 month)
- Starch
- Tuwo
- Sliced bread
- Sausages
- Pancakes
- Milk
- Unbaked cakes
- Unbaked biscuits
- Sandwiches can last from 2 weeks to a month depending on the filling.
2-3 MONTHS FREEZING TIMING:
- Ice cream
- Cakes
- Fish- oily fish like Titus/mackerel, croaker, catfish etc
- Minced meats (except beef)
- Nigerian meat pies
- Left overs
FOODS TO FREEZE FOR 3-4 MONTHS:
- Cheese
- Salted butter
- White fleshed fish
- Fruit cakes
THINGS YOU CAN FREEZE FOR 4-6 MONTHS:
- Pork
- Unsalted butter
- Minced beef
6-8 MONTHS FREEZING GUIDE:
- Biscuits
- Unsliced bread
- Pizza
FOODS TO FREEZE FOR 8-12 MONTHS:
- Fruit cake
- Vegetables
- Fruit
- Poultry
- Beef…
- Cow leg
- Cow head
- Cow tail
- Shaki
- Goat meat
- Bush meat
If you have tried freezing other Nigerian foods not listed here, for longer and they remained fresh , you can add in the comment section please.
Don’t worry, one day Nigeria will celebrate one year uninterrupted power supply. If you have a small freezer, your generator should be able to carry it. My freezer is small, I leave it on even with generators.
Keep freezing and creating time for other things, having more time for the family.
NOTE:
You don’t have to defrost some foods before warming. Like rice, akara, pounded yam, eba,I microwave straight from the freezer because when cooked and frozen rice is allowed to thaw, it becomes soggy and tasteless and even broken.
For frozen moi moi, I steam all over again until it’s hot inside. Sometimes a little water is added to the bowl before placing moi moi and tossing in the microwave. Tastes new and fresh.
ALSO READ THESE POSTS
- HOW TO PEEL BEANS WITH A BLENDER OR FOOD PROCESSOR
- HOW TO MAKE EGG STEW FOR RICE
- SEE ALL NIGERIAN FOOD RECIPES FROM A to Z
- HEALTH BENEFITS OF EATING MOI MOI AND PAP
- ESSENTIAL ITEMS TO GO SHOPPING BEFORE CORONAVIRUS LOCKDOWN
- HOW TO COOK OHA SOUP WITH CHICKEN
- KNORR BEEF ONION THICKENER IN VEGETABLE SAUCE
- SWEET DODO WITH FRESH FISH SAUCE
Wow! God bless you for this. Thank you.
So, left over Eba can be kept in the freezer too?
You freeze pounded yam,Eba & Akara?That's a first.Well I freeze my raw pap & it's always intact.teemah
Yes dear, I don't throw left overs oh.
yes Amaka. Freeze, microwave,enjoy
Thanks for the info
Thanks for these tips. Made too much Eba yesterday and was wondering how am going to preserve. I will put it in the freezer now👌. Thanks again.
Thks for the info but how do i preserve my ogi
Freeze raw ogi. Bring out and wait to defrost when you are ready to use.
Frozen Eba, how do you use it again, because when I brought it out and left it to defreeze, it felt somehow. So I don’t know if it will still be good when you put hot water again
Don’t defrost. Just microwave and enjoy.