Take Heed of Foods That Do Not Freeze Well

Before you order that gourmet frozen dish, take heed of these foods that experts say do not freeze very well. Most of these foods do not freeze well in their whole form, but when combined with other ingredients will last for a while in the freezer. It's always best to ask your prepared food deliverer about freezing the foods and meals you order. Many items will come with a cooking/freezing guide for your information.

The sources for these guidelines are "Home Freezing of Cooked and Prepared Foods" by Katherine Riddle and Anna Mae Brenner and "Freezing Prepared Foods" by Susan Reynolds.

The effect of freezing on spices and seasonings:
When using seasonings and spices, season lightly before freezing, and add additional seasonings when reheating or serving. Pepper, cloves, garlic, celery seasonings, green pepper, imitation vanilla and some herbs tend to get stronger and bitter. Onion, paprika and curry change flavor during freezing. Salt loses flavor and has the tendency to increase rancidity of any item containing fat.

Foods that will have problems from freezing:
Unbaked biscuits will be smaller and less tender, unbaked muffins will likely have poor texture, custards and cream pies soak into the crust, meringue on meringue pies toughens and sticks to the wrapper, milk sauces sometimes curdle and separate, gravy tends to separate and curdle when thawed, cooked, creamed vegetables tend to lose flavor rapidly and should only be stored for a few days, lettuce, other greens and raw tomatoes lose crispness and become soggy and ham and other cured meats may lose color when frozen and become rancid more quickly than other meats.