Freezing foods is quite convenient for most of the people as they can plan their meals ahead of time. Freezers are also great as they will help you avoid often visits to the grocery stores but still you have food at home which is available every time you want to prepare something.
Although freezing food is quite helpful it can reduce the quality of food, especially when you refreeze meat which can lose its taste and freshness. So certain foods you should never put back in the freezer after you take them out.
Here are foods which you should never refreeze:
- Ice Cream: Surprise! Many people refreeze ice cream, but this is an extremely bad idea. Ice cream is a dairy product and it can spoil very fast once you take it out of the freezer. Also it will change its flavor and texture: so throw it in the trash.
- Fruit Juice: Never refreeze fruit juices, especially concentrates. They will lose their quality
- Smoothies: It is best to drink smoothies immediately after you prepare them. Most of the smoothies are made with milk, so thawing them is not a good idea as they become lumpy.
- Raw Meats: Never refreeze meats. They change their color and become smelly, which means that they are no longer safe to eat. This also goes for seafood and poultry.
- Cooked Meats: Aside from raw meats, you should also avoid refreezing previously cooked meats because proteins easily go bad after thawing them for the second time. You definitely don’t want to consume bad meat.
- Salad Greens: Salads are tastier with crispy greens, but you won’t achieve the same taste with greens from the freezer. For example, if you want to use lettuce, avoid refreezing this vegetable as it will become flavorless, limp and soft.
But if you must refreeze your food then at least make sure there are still ice crystals. Although not all of the food should be put in the freezer like turkey for example. Never refreeze turkey even if it has ice crystals. This is because big food can be still warm inside so it is not safe to consume it again. If you have to refreeze raw meat, refreeze it while it is still cold.
Source: http://www.stethnews.com
