Freezing Vegetables
- Freeze only fresh htgh-
quality 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 recom-
mended container and freeze.
Do not freeze lettuce, celery. carrot sticks. pota-
toes or fresh tomatoes All will become limp or
mushy. Tomatoes will collapse when thawed
Freezing Meats-The
meat you thaw can only
be as good as the meat you freeze “Drugstore”
wrap in meal-srze packages. Flat cuts or pattres
should be wrapped rndivrdually or In layers sepa-
rated by a double thrckness of freezer wrap.
Make sure store wrappings are morsture and va-
por proof If not, re-wrap meats wrth one of the
wraps recommended under “Packaging”
Freezing Cooked Food
- Prepare cooked
foods as you would for the table, shorten cooking
time10 to15 minutes toallow for additional cooking
during reheating. Omit seasonings and part of the
liquid. Plan to add them at reheating time. Pota-
toes 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.
Lrqurd or semi-lrqurd dishes may be frozen in rec-
ommended containers with heod~spoce. Casser-
oles and other more solrd foods may be frozen in
the baking container. If you don’t want to leave
your casserole dash in the freezer, lrne It with foil.
Bake, cool, freeze, lift out the forI package, bag it
and return to freezer.
Freezing Baked Goods-Wrap
baked breads
in recommended material. Thaw in wrapping. Un-
baked yeast breads can be frozen after the first
rrsrng. Punch down. wrap and freeze
Bake cookies as usual Cool and freeze on trays,
then pack In recommended freezer bags or car-
tons. Unbaked cookies may be dropped, molded
or rolled and frozen on cookie trays Store in bag or
carton; bake without thawing. Refrigerator-type
cookies can be wrapped and frozen In roll form
Thaw only enough to slrce when ready to bake.
Fruit pies are best frozen unbaked. Bake without
thawing. Bake pecan and similar pies before
freezrnggrrch fillings do not freeze solid Cut steam
vents in top crusts when ready to bake.
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