Sneakers
Just sneakin' around....
A number of months ago, no one was sure if we would have another food supply shortage, so I stocked the freezers with a number of items. Now that the supply stream is reasonably back to normal and looks like it will be stable, it was time to start using some of things from the freezer that were in long term storage. This was both a survival consideration and an experiment to see just how well some things survive over time.
Things that do well: any poultry that is well sealed. Whole chicken/turkey/game hens in the sealed plastic right from the store is fine. I've used whole turkey frozen for over a year and it's perfect. Chicken parts in the individual portion sealed plastic also, like Purdue has. It's a big package made up of 6 individual pouches with 3-4 pieces in each pouch. I vacuum seal some myself, and it lasts well, but start to show signs of freezer burn after about 7 months. Any kind of bread freezes really well if vacuum sealed(1). Pre-packaged dinners like lasagna, meatloaf, salisbury steaks, mac and cheese, etc.... all last a very long time. Beef works well too. Steaks vacuum sealed last a year or more. Ground beef in the tube also. Mozzarella block and string cheese. Sausages.
Things that do not do well: whole milk longer than a few weeks. I un-thawed some from 1st week December. It had separated and had a strange texture. Maybe skim milk would fare better, but for emergency, dry powdered milk is fine and easier to store. Barber's stuffed chicken breasts do not do well after a few months, they get freezer burn, ice forms in the package and they dry out. Unappealing to eat, but perfectly safe. Maybe if they were unwrapped and re-vacuum sealed..?
(1) Tip: freeze the bread first, and a day later vacuum seal it, otherwise the vacuum squashes the bread and it doesn't always rebound when thawed. Take it out of the freezer a day in advance, remove it from the vacuum bag, put it in a zip-loc and let it thaw on it's own on the counter.
I have my main fridge/freezer, a secondary smaller fridge/freezer, a large upright deep freezer and my 3.5cf camping freezer all running. It only added about $15/mo to my electric bill as opposed to just running the one fridge/freezer and upright freezer, but now that the 'experiment' is over, time to reduce.
Things that do well: any poultry that is well sealed. Whole chicken/turkey/game hens in the sealed plastic right from the store is fine. I've used whole turkey frozen for over a year and it's perfect. Chicken parts in the individual portion sealed plastic also, like Purdue has. It's a big package made up of 6 individual pouches with 3-4 pieces in each pouch. I vacuum seal some myself, and it lasts well, but start to show signs of freezer burn after about 7 months. Any kind of bread freezes really well if vacuum sealed(1). Pre-packaged dinners like lasagna, meatloaf, salisbury steaks, mac and cheese, etc.... all last a very long time. Beef works well too. Steaks vacuum sealed last a year or more. Ground beef in the tube also. Mozzarella block and string cheese. Sausages.
Things that do not do well: whole milk longer than a few weeks. I un-thawed some from 1st week December. It had separated and had a strange texture. Maybe skim milk would fare better, but for emergency, dry powdered milk is fine and easier to store. Barber's stuffed chicken breasts do not do well after a few months, they get freezer burn, ice forms in the package and they dry out. Unappealing to eat, but perfectly safe. Maybe if they were unwrapped and re-vacuum sealed..?
(1) Tip: freeze the bread first, and a day later vacuum seal it, otherwise the vacuum squashes the bread and it doesn't always rebound when thawed. Take it out of the freezer a day in advance, remove it from the vacuum bag, put it in a zip-loc and let it thaw on it's own on the counter.
I have my main fridge/freezer, a secondary smaller fridge/freezer, a large upright deep freezer and my 3.5cf camping freezer all running. It only added about $15/mo to my electric bill as opposed to just running the one fridge/freezer and upright freezer, but now that the 'experiment' is over, time to reduce.