How long is too long to keep food stored in your freezer?

How often do you open your freezer to discover a container with a left-over meal and thought to yourself, I wonder how long that has been in the freezer, is it still ok to eat? Or pondered over whether the frozen raw meat you’ve just stumbled across in a zip lock bag will be ok to cook? Even, will fruit and vegetables, how can you tell they are still ok for your kick start breakfast smoothie?

It is often hard to know just what you can freeze safely and the period it will stay consumable. Liebherr identified these little dilemmas when it comes to frozen storage and set about creating a simple, yet effective storage information chart located on the front of the transparent freezer drawers. Storage periods displayed on the information chart is just a guide but highlight several food types and their estimated lifespan.

So how long is too long to store foods in the freezer?

(1) Ready-made meals, ice cream: 2 to 6 months.

(2) Pork, fish: 2 to 6 months.

(3) Fruit, vegetables: 4 to 8 months.

(4) Sausages, bread: 4 to 8 months.

(5) Game, mushrooms: 6 to 12 months.

(6) Poultry, beef/veal: 6 to 12 months.

Now this of course only solves one problem – how long they can safely be stored. But how do you know how long the items have been in the freezer? Without an exceptional memory, it can be difficult to recall just how long the food has been in the freezer, unless of course it was from a specific occasion.

When it comes to freezing foods we always recommend you label the food using a sticker or writing on the packaging, with the actual food type and the date it was cooked or placed in the freezer after being purchased. By doing this, it removes the need to open containers or unwrap items to try and determine what is inside (assuming they are not in their original packaging). It also means your freezer door is not left open while you’re trying to work out what each food is, so the contents are less effected by external warm air.

It only takes a few extra seconds to label your foods prior to freezing but can save a lot of time down the track. Plus, it makes it super easy to determine if the item in question is considered consumable within the storage guidelines provided.

All Liebherr transparent freezer drawers come standard with the storage information system.