How long can I freeze food?

[Guest guest]

HOW LONG CAN I FREEZE FOOD? "

What a great question for summer, when our freezers get a workout. And

whether you have a separate unit or not, you can make your freezer work more

efficiently. The following tips and information are from a variety of

sources, including personal experience and advice from readers past.

First, arm yourself with the tools. Buy both the quart and gallon sizes of

zipper-top freezer (not just storage) bags. If you, like B.B, eat a lot of

restaurant food, get some small freezer containers to hold individual

servings.

And put a ball-point pen beside your refrigerator to write on the bags. Do

not let anybody else take this pen for homework or writing checks or any

other reason. Tie a string on it if you have to. It is your freezer

information lifeline. A calendar is also useful, because, instead of just

writing today's date on the package, you can figure out your own " use by "

dates using the time lines suggested below.

-- All leftovers should be refrigerated or frozen within two hours. If you

go to dinner and then a movie, you should not leave the food in your car

while you watch all of Tom Hanks in " The Terminal " and THEN refrigerate it

when you get home.

-- Label leftovers (use that pen) with the date, refrigerate them and eat or

freeze them within three or four days. Once a week, toss old leftovers from

the fridge.

-- As you add food to the freezer, put it in the back and pull older items

forward, so you can find them easily before they are past their prime.

-- If you're cooking in bulk on weekends and want to freeze the extras, cool

foods quickly in shallow dishes. Remember the mantra: " Two inches thick to

cool it quick. " Slice large cuts of meat and divide gumbos, stews and chilis

into small containers.

-- Cooked rice, packaged in small amounts in freezer bags, freezes and

reheats beautifully in the microwave.

-- Leftover plain pasta freezes best if dry. Put it in plastic freezer bags

and squish out all the air first.

-- Freeze extra pasta sauce and pasta separately, or just freeze the sauce

and make fresh pasta later.

-- Baked pasta dishes, such as lasagna and baked ziti, freeze well. Freeze

whole dishes in glass, plastic or foil containers, covered in plastic wrap,

then foil.

-- To freeze soup, line a single-serving bowl with foil and fill it with the

soup. Freeze it; then pop the soup out of the bowl and put it in a freezer

bag. For a meal, peel off the wrapping, put it back in the bowl, and reheat

to boiling in the microwave.

-- Use frozen cooked meat, meat dishes, meat gravy and broth within two to

three months.

-- Cooked chicken and fish dishes are good in the freezer for four to six

months.

-- Fried chicken can be frozen for up to four months.

-- Cooked ham, lunch meats and pizza should be used within one or two months

after freezing.

-- Meat gravy and broth: two to three months.

-- Nothing made with mayonnaise freezes well.

-- Cheese can be frozen, but the texture may become crumbly and it won't

melt well. However, frozen cheese can be used in recipes. Sour cream, cream

cheese and cottage cheese shouldn't be frozen.

-- Margarine and butter freeze well.

-- Frozen foods should be thawed in the refrigerator or in the microwave on

low power. (Frozen food should not be thawed in warm water or on the kitchen

counter, where dangerous bacteria can grow as the meat's outer layers

defrost.)

-- For food safety, all leftovers should be thoroughly reheated before

serving