I have been told that ground coffee, once the packet has been opened, keeps fresher in the freezer. Is this true? If true, how long will it keep in the freezer?

Thank you for your frozen food question. This is true. It is possible to keep your coffee indefinitely if you keep the temperature constant, low enough and if you keep the pack airtight whilst minimising the air within. Freezing foods halts bacterial growth and preserves food naturally without the need for additives. Click here to read more about storing frozen foods.

So, if you need to know about storing your other frozen foods... we have listed the most popular frozen foods below with guides to how long each food item will last in your freezer if your frozen food is packaged correctly and if your freezer remains on! On the packaging of a frozen food item there is often guidance stating how long the food can be stored using freezers of a given star rating. As a guide here are some suggested MAXIMUM storage times at -18°C for a variety of foods.

These figures refer to commercially frozen products; food frozen at home is unlikely to remain of high quality for the same length of time. Pre-packaged frozen foods and frozen ready meals are expertly packaged and so they last longer in the freezer as a result. Frozen ready meals often have the air flushed out of them to create a vacuum and this helps them to last longer too. Frozen ready meals packaging is completely air tight and so the moisture can not escape which sometimes happens with home freezing. Frozen ready meals are less prone to freezer burn. Ensure that you remove the air from your bacon packaging every time you close it before returning the pack to the freezer. So, next time you are at your supermarket why not check out your frozen food isle – there may be more be more frozen foods than you expect. From luxury frozen pre-packaged frozen foods and ready meals to delicious frozen ice creams and frozen desserts and from healthy frozen vegetables to great frozen winter warmers it all there for you to discover! 

Indeed, freezing food as a form of food preservation has been used for thousands of years. The rmans and the Ancient Chinese froze foods thousands of years ago in snow caves. We are not sure if the process, its history and the science of frozen foods have been properly documented since. And that is the purpose of our site – to go behind the scenes of frozen foods!

Thank you for your frozen food question. Click here to see where your frozen food comes from.

The New Ice Age Team