Reduce Waste Using Your Freezer

Freezing is a great way of storing food, keeping leftovers, and cutting down waste. For safety, it's ok to freeze most raw or cooked foods providing you do the following things:

Freeze food before the 'use by' date

Have you got a fresh product that’s coming up to the best before date, but you don’t have time to eat it? Freezing can add anything from one month up to 12 months of storage time, obviously depending on what you’re freezing. You just need to make sure it’s frozen before the use by date.

Follow any freezing or thawing instructions on the label

You can extend the life of ambient or chilled foods by freezing them, if the food is suitable for freezing. Some products will state on pack: ‘Suitable for Freezing’. Products which have been previously frozen will state: ‘Not Suitable for Freezing’.

Thaw food in the fridge so that it doesn't get too warm

When you take food out the freezer, be sure to defrost it in the fridge for around 24 hours (check packet as this will vary depending on product). If you leave a frozen product at room temperature, it can become to warm.

Use food within one to two days

Once defrosted, use food within one to two days after as it will go off in the same way as if it were fresh, and never re-freeze.