How to Thaw Frozen Food the Right Way

Whether you’re freezing large batches of leftover food from a party, preparing meals for the week, or preparing for doomsday for the end of civilization, freezing food ahead of time comes in handy. The only downside is when it’s time to enjoy and savor the fruits of your labor You have a block of ice that will water down your meal if you don’t approach it with the right technique.

Depending on the dish, there are ways to thaw frozen foods without unnecessary breakdown. Here are some tips on how to preserve as much of your original as possible taste and texture as possible.

How to thaw frozen soup

The other day I found myself in a difficult position with my prepare lunch. I had frostbite container of pozole, that I wanted to thaw overnight and have lunch the next day. I put it in the fridge towards early evening start thawing. Unfortunately the fridge didn’t thaw the pozole fast enough, and in the morning I was still freezing Solid block Soup.

Although the immediate instinct is to smack my forehead and saying I should have just let the soup thaw at room temperature, warns the FDA that this is not a safe method of defrosting food. Instead, if time permits, thawing the soup in the refrigerator two days in advance is ideal. However, if you’re pressed for time and have stored the soup in a freezer-safe bag, the best way to thaw it is by running cold water over it.

How to defrost meat

For a long time I was on the verge of poisoning myself without knowing it. How do you ask? I figured I could quickly thaw chicken by placing it in a bath of warm water or if I even needed to more quickly, I would put it in hot water. That’s a big nono, loud USDA.

Remember all those times your mom asked you to take the meat out to thaw for dinner? and as you would immediately forget and then remember at the last minute and rush to do it before she gets home from work? So the Joke is on your bill, Mom leave chicken—or any raw meat—from on the counter to defrost is not advisable.

A better and faster way to defrost meat is to microwave it. but watch closely. Raw meat that is defrosted in the microwave should be cooked immediately to reduce any bacteria that may be present. One downside to microwave defrosting is that it can actually bring the food to what the USDA calls what the USDA calls a “danger zone” temperature, which would be the optimal environment for bacteria to grow. The danger zone is anything within 40-140 degrees Fahrenheit, which risks we have researched beforeand any thawing method that keeps food at that temperature for more than a few minutes should be avoided if possible. But with little Precision and care, you can cook and Enjoy your frozen food even at the last minute, no matter how forgetful you are with your meal preparation.