Freezing Vegetables - Freeze only fresh hrghquality vegetables picked when barely mature. For best results, freeze no more than 2 to 3 hours after picking. Wash in cold water, sort and cut into appropriate sizes. Blanch or scald. Pack in recommended container and freeze. Do not freeze lettuce, celery, carrot sttcks. potatoes or fresh tomatoes. All will become limp or mushy. Tomatoes will collapse when thawed
Freezing Cooked Food - Prepare cooked foods as you would for the table, shorten cooking time10 to15 minutes to allow for addrtional cooking during reheating. Omit seasonings and part of the liquid. Plan to add them at reheating time. Potatoes should also be added to soup and stew at heating time Add crumb and cheese toppings at heating time. Cool as rapidly as possible and freeze at once. Liquid or semi-liquid dishes may be frozen in recommended containers with head-space. Casseroles and other more solrd foods may be frozen in the baking container. If you don�t want to leave your casserole dish tn the freezer, line it with foil. Bake, cool, freeze, lrft out the forI package, bag it and return to freezer.
Freezing Meats-The meat you thaw can only be as good as the meat you freeze. �Drugstore� wrap in meal-size packages. Flat cuts or pattres should be wrapped individually or in layers separated by a double thickness of freezer wrap. Make sure store wrappings are moisture and vapor proof. If not, re-wrap meats with one of the wraps recommended under �Packaging�
Freezing Baked Goods -Wrap baked breads in recommended material. Thaw in wrapping. Unbaked yeast breads can be frozen after the first rising. Punch down, wrap and freeze. Bake cookies as usual Cool and freeze on trays, then pack In recommended freezer bags or cartons. Unbaked cookies may be dropped, molded or rolled and frozen on cookie trays. Store in bag or carton; bake without thawrng. Refrigerator-type cookies can be wrapped and frozen in roll form Thaw only enough to slice when ready to bake. Fruit pies are best frozen unbaked. Bake without thawing Bake pecan and similar pies before freezing.. rich fillings do not freeze solld Cut steam vents In top crusts when ready to bake.
