How long do things stay good in the freezer?

amother

Tue, May 21 2019, 5:23 pm

Going to my mother for about 3 months out of the country. I have frozen

raw poultry, meat , hot dogs

And also - challah, Baked goods (muffins, apple cake)

And frozen vegetables (these I assume are fine)

Do you think there will be a noticeable change in quality of the chicken/ meat? Is there a health risk in having g it frozen for so long? I feel like when I’m here I sometimes have things in my freezer for that long, just feels different leaving it for a whole season un touched....

zaq

Tue, May 21 2019, 6:21 pm

Google "shelf life of foods".
It depends very much on the quality of your freezer and how well the food is wrapped. The lower the temp and the less air is in the package, the longer things will last. Three months is not that long and your food should be fine if it hasn't already been in there for many moons. Cooked poultry, fish and meat lasts longer than raw so you may want to thaw and cook any raw provisions and then freeze them.

How reliable is the power where you live? If your house will be vacant and no one opens the freezer while you're away, that will extend the shelf life, but if power outages are common, that will shorten it.

There's a difference between "safe to eat" and "peak quality". Your food will be safe to eat, but taste and texture may suffer especially if the food is not wrapped well , the freezer is not very cold or the temperature fluctuates a lot.

Leaving the stuff untouched for three months is actually way better than storing it for three months while you're home, opening the freezer on a regular basis, letting in warm air and raising the temp inside.

amother

Tue, May 21 2019, 8:03 pm

zaq wrote:

Ya it’s a good freezer and we don’t usually have outages Bh- if there was one in the building my neighbor would let me know but I’m not planning for that.

It’s a good quality no Frost freezer that will be on the lowest temp and stay closed.