People already lose roughly $1,500 a yr to spoiled groceries, in accordance with a 2025 CNET survey, however the freezer is not at all times the rescue it seems to be.
The freezer looks like a protected haven for something you are not prepared to make use of or that bulk haul of produce you got on sale. The issue? Not all the things comes again from the chilly in a single piece. Some meals want particular dealing with earlier than they’re frozen, whereas others merely cannot be saved — rising mealy, mushy or utterly inedible.
Earlier than you seal one thing in a bag and name it “saved,” listed below are 11 widespread meals that don’t have any enterprise in your freezer.
11 meals you need to by no means freeze
1. Milk and cream
Preserve your dairy out of the freezer or it’s going to separate and curdle.
Most dairy merchandise cannot be frozen and can change into inedible if they’re. Milk, cream, yogurt and bitter cream are inclined to separate when frozen. As soon as they do, there isn’t any returning them to their former state, and the thawed end result can be grainy, watery and even curdled. Nut milk, alternatively, may be frozen extra efficiently.
Ice cream is a identified exception to the dairy rule as a result of its excessive sugar content material lowers the freezing level and retains the product delicate and palatable.
2. Potatoes
Potatoes should not even be refrigerated, by no means thoughts frozen.
America’s favourite carb turns mushy and grainy when thawed, a bodily state that’s no bueno to be used in something from mashed potatoes to french fries. It is because the water separates from the tuber’s starch, leading to a gag-inducing texture that not even trash-foraging critters like raccoons can abdomen.
Freezing cooked or partially cooked potatoes (sometimes parboiled) is OK, as a lot of the water is extracted throughout cooking. Bagged potato merchandise from the freezer part of your native grocery retailer are handled with chemical substances, preservatives or different specialised preparation strategies to make sure taste and texture are preserved when frozen.
3. Cheese
There are methods to retailer all forms of cheese that can preserve them contemporary for longer, however the freezer is not one among them.
Pesky ice crystals kind in frozen cheese, which utterly adjustments its taste and texture profile. This primarily applies to delicate and moldy cheeses, although some onerous varieties similar to cheddar and jack can stand up to the constant blast of chilly air if grated first and laid flat in a plastic storage bag.
Learn extra: Store Cheese Properly and You’ll Extend Its Life by Days, Even Weeks. Here’s How
4. Fried meals
Unfortunetly, that leftover pal hen cannot be frozen for later.
One of the best a part of fried food is, in fact, its crunchy breading. When positioned in a freezer, this batter or crumb absorbs moisture from the equipment, making the meals soggy. Moreover, fried meals is chock-full of — you guessed it — oil, which does not freeze utterly and might spoil earlier than the meat or vegetable it has been cooked with. This may result in foul-tasting meals and a doubtlessly harmful bout of meals poisoning.
5. Eggs
Eggs have a fairly lengthy shelf life within the fridge so that you should not have to freeze them.
If you’d like rubbery scrambled eggs, go forward and stick them within the freezer earlier than you put together them. This is because of a course of referred to as “gelation,” wherein the yolk’s protein molecules clump, making the liquid thicker. Egg contents additionally increase when frozen, inflicting complete eggs to crack and leak. Avoiding eggs within the freezer means stopping egg-based condiments, similar to mayonnaise, which will get lumpy and unspreadable.
6. Delicate salad greens
The lighter in coloration the salad inexperienced, the much less seemingly it’s to outlive being frozen.
Whereas some greens, together with kale, spinach, and collard greens, deal with the freezer nice, extra delicate and water-dense varieties will collapse. Preserve blended and mesclun greens, romaine, and iceberg within the vegetable crisper and away from the freezer.
7. Water-dense greens
Tomatoes, cucumbers and different water-dense greens do not make good candidates for freezing.
If it is a fruit or vegetable that may go right into a typical salad, it will not maintain up within the freezer. This contains produce with excessive water content material similar to tomatoes, cucumbers and celery.
8. Avocado
Frozen avocado cannot be revived to make use of in salads or for guacamole, although it may be dropped right into a wholesome smoothie or shake.
The beloved avocado will even not fare effectively in extraordinarily low temperatures. Because it thaws, it’s going to instantly start to brown. No one needs to dip their means via brown guacamole. When you cannot revive frozen avocado to unfold over toast or make a dip for taco evening, you should utilize it as an ingredient in smoothies.
9. Entire citrus
Your best choice with an extra of citrus is to juice the fruit and freeze the juice for recipes and cocktails later.
Some dense fruits, similar to berries and mangoes, do effectively within the freezer, however citrus will not maintain its integrity as effectively and most complete citrus fruit will change into mealy after thawing. In case you have an abundance of lemons, limes or oranges, your greatest guess is to juice them and freeze the juice for later.
10. Cooked pasta and rice
Leftover cooked rice and pasta may be frozen safely however will lose a lot of its construction and toothsomeness upon reheating.
You possibly can freeze cooked pasta and rice, however that does not imply you need to. The water content material causes the cells in noodles and grains to burst, leading to pasty, gloopy leftovers that may’t be salvaged with even probably the most scrumptious sauces.
Pasta is nearly actually going to emerge from the freezer in tough form. Rice is a bit more sturdy however take into account vacuum-sealing it to maintain moisture out earlier than popping it within the freezer for preservation.
11. Bottled or canned drinks
We have all tried to quick-chill a beer or soda within the freezer.
Who hasn’t tried to cheat time by chilling a lukewarm beer can or bottle within the freezer, solely to neglect about it and return to discover a frozen, effervescent catastrophe? For those who use the freezer to sit back canned or bottled drinks, you would be smart to set a timer for 10 minutes so they do not freeze stable and explode.
