How Long Does Frozen Food Keep?

Follow these important tips and freezing pointers to keep your family well-fed and healthy.

Your home freezer can be a real time-saver for today's busy lifestyle. It can store meats, fruits and vegetables and many items which can be prepared ahead: casseroles, main dishes, foods for parties or snacks, and even entire meals packaged in individual portions.

Three important points about keeping frozen foods fresh and safe to eat.

One, choose quality food products. Two, maintain the freezer temperature at zero° Fahrenheit or lower. Three, use appropriate freezer packaging materials.

You need to choose quality food products because a frozen food item will be only as good as the original product.

Follow recommended procedures for preparing foods for freezing, such as blanching for fresh vegetables .

A freezer temperature of zero° or below is essential for keeping frozen foods safe and delicious. Use a freezer thermometer to check the temperature of your freezer.

If you use containers and materials designed for home freezing, you can avoid freezer burn. This means using moisture-vapor-proof plastic bags and wraps, freezer wrap, freezer containers and heavy-duty foil.

When you package the foods, date them with an expiration date based on maximum storage times.

Avoid storing foods longer than recommended times. Be sure the temperature in your freezer is zero or lower.

Here are some of the maximum storage times recommended by USDA for maintaining good quality:

Fruits and fruit juice concentrates, 1 year; vegetables, 8 to 12 months; bread, rolls and doughnuts, 3 months; cakes, 2 to 4 months;fruit cake, 1 year; pound cake, 6 months; unbaked pies, 8 months.

Beef, such as hamburger meat, steaks and roasts, 2 months; cured pork, 2 months; fresh pork chops, 4 months; pork roasts, 8 months; and pork sausage, 2 months. Veal cutlets, chops and roasts, 9 months; cooked meat dinners, meat pies, or swiss steak, 3 months; cut-up chicken, 9 months; whole chicken, 1 year; chicken livers, 3 months; duck, goose and cut up turkey, 6 months; whole turkey, 1 year; cooked chicken or turkey dinners or pies, 6 months; fried chicken, 4 months.

Fish fillets, 3 to 6 months; crab meat, 3 months; oysters, 4 months; shrimp, 1 year; cooked fish and shell fish, 3 months; and ice cream or sherbet, 1 month.

For more information on how long frozen food keeps, contact your local county Extension office.