HOW LONG CAN I KEEP FOOD IN THE FREEZER? (Baked Food, Grains, Dairy, Meat, Fruits, Leftovers, Mushrooms, Seafood, Poultry and Vegetables).
HOW LONG CAN I KEEP FOOD IN THE FREEZER? (Baked Food, Grains, Dairy, Meat, Fruits, Leftovers, Mushrooms, Seafood, Poultry and Vegetables).
Here are the maximum lengths to store different foods in your freezer.
Your food will still be safe to eat if frozen longer, but its nutritional value will decline and its quality will nose-dive.
Baked Foods.
- Bread about 3 months
- Cookie and pie dough about 6 months
- Muffins and quick bread. about 2 months
- Pancakes and waffles about a month
Beans & Grains
- Soaked (but not cooked) about 4 months
- Cooked about 6 months
- Rice and other grains, cooked. about 4 months
Dairy
Although all dairy products including milk and cheese may be safely frozen, these are the only ones that survive freezing without a radical change in their texture and/or flavor.
- Butter about 9 months
- Ice cream about 2 months
- Sorbet about 2 weeks
Fruit
Old-fashioned instructions often called for tossing fruit in sugar or sugar syrup before freezing it.
This is unnecessary for the safe preservation of the fruit, and you’ll have a healthier, fresher-tasting product if you skip it.
- Apples about 4 months
- Apricots about 6 months
- Bananas about 8 months
- Berries about 6 months
- Cherries about 6 months
- Cranberries about 1 year
- Peaches about 4 months
- Fruit juice about 1 year
Leftovers
- Soups, stews, chili, and chowders about 6 months
- Meat, poultry, and vegetable stocks for about 6 months
- Fish stock about 4 months
Meat
- Bacon and pancetta about 3 months
- Chops about 6 months
- Ground meats about 4 months
- Organ meats about 4 months
- Roasts about 1 year
- Sausage about 3 months
- Steaks for about 8 months
Mushrooms
Mushrooms with a fairly dry texture such as supermarket button mushrooms or some wild ones such as maitake freeze well raw.
Ones that have a higher moisture content, such as oyster mushrooms, are better sautéed before they are frozen.
- Cooked about 1 year
- Raw about 8 months
Poultry
These freezer storage times apply to all types of poultry, including chicken, turkey, and duck.
- Whole bird about 1 year
- Raw pieces about 9 months
- Giblets about 4 months
- Cooked Poultry Meat about 4 months
Seafood
- Fatty fish (including bluefish, salmon, and mackerel) about 3 months
- Lean and white fish (cod, flounder, haddock, sole) about 6 months
- Crab, cooked about 2 months
- Crab, raw about 3 months
- Crayfish, raw about 4 months
- Lobster, cooked about 2 months
- Lobster, raw about 3 months
- Shellfish, cooked about 3 months
- Shellfish, raw about 4 months
- Squid, calamari, octopus, raw about 4 months
Vegetables
Some vegetables such as leafy greens need to be blanched before they are frozen.
- Asparagus about 1 year
- Beetroots about 1 year
- Peppers (sweet, bell, and Chile) about 4 months
- Broccoli about 1 year
- Carrots about 1 year
- Cauliflower about 1 year
- Celery about 1 year
- Corn about 8 months
- Green and wax beans about 1 year
- Leafy greens about 8 months
- Okra about 8 months
- Peas about 8 months
- Tomatoes about 4 months
- Pumpkin, cooked about 1 year
- Zucchini about 8 months
Pestos & Oils
- Herbal oils about 8 months
- Pesto (without cheese) about 8 months
- Pesto (with cheese) about 3 months
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