A perfectly good hard-boiled egg can be ruined if you put it in a freezer. The freezing temperature inside could expand and crack the shells of the whole eggs and thus allow bacteria to make their way in. Even if the shells somehow remain safe, the yolk will almost certainly become mushy and won’t mix well with the egg whites. Furthermore, the whites too tend to become rubbery when inside a freezer. Icings or sauces made with eggs should also be kept out of the freezer if you want them to maintain their texture.
2. Dairy Products
Almost all dairy products should be kept away from the freezer. Milk, cream cheese, cottage cheese, sour cream, and many other dairy products will suffer a texture change if put there. These products are likely to become crumbly if they were hard or become crystallized if they were soft. Generally, sour cream separates and becomes watery inside a freezer while milk, yogurt, cream, and the likes might thicken and also give off a foul smell.
3. Fried Foods
You had a whole plate of chicken cutlets left from dinner and your refrigerator is completely crammed. Well, why not just put them in the freezer, right? You can always microwave them the next morning. That would be a mistake, though. Fried foods taste delicious when they are fresh and crispy. Putting them inside a freezer will take away their crispiness. This happens because thawing makes previously crunchy foods soggy and watery and really difficult to reheat.
Homemade French fries, however, are an exception. You can cook and freeze them and then recook them without thawing them first. However, how well they freeze is going to depend on how long they were left out at room temperature. Ideally, freezing your French fries within 2 hours of being cooked should work well.
4. Soft Herbs
A leafy green herb can become a blackish-brown ball of mush if kept in the freezer for too long. The texture of soft herbs like basil, cilantro, parsley, mint, and tarragon, is bound to transform with such a dramatic temperature change like this. These fresh herbs become soggy and limp inside a freezer and won’t be useful as a garnish.
However, if you have absolutely no option other than the freezer to keep your soft herbs temporarily, there is a way that does work. Just chop the herbs, cover them with oil, and freeze them in an ice cube tray. That should keep them safe for a while.
5. Some water-rich fruits and vegetables
Fruits and vegetables with high water content should be a strict no-no for the freezer. You are almost certain to end up making them into a limp and mucky mess. That's because when the ice inside them melts upon defrosting, these fruits and vegetables become quite unsavory. Their taste and smell are also likely to become worse after thawing and freezing will also bring down their nutritional value.
Fruits and veggies such as cucumbers, cabbage, lettuce, watermelon, potatoes, grapes, and apples, have high water content and should be kept far away from the freezer.
6. Raw Potatoes
Potatoes don’t hold up well in the freezer. Freezing potatoes separate the starch and the potatoes' water, leading them to become watery, squashy, and inedible. Also, thawed raw potatoes tend to become discolored and, in some cases, even turn black.
If you have a bunch of potatoes you have to store for a long time, then the first thing you should do is partially cook them as they will require less oven time later. Freeze them in airtight bags for quicker freezing and defrosting. However, we must repeat here that raw potatoes don't freeze well and can even turn grainy once thawed.
7. Seasonings
Spices and seasonings like garlic, pepper, and imitation vanilla will not fare well in the freezer. Unlike what many believe, freezing does not extend the shelf life of spices and instead causes their taste and flavor to change. Also, storing small amounts of spices in the freezer will trap humidity once it’s opened. In fact, leading food experts say that spices like curry develop a musty off-flavor when frozen. Now, that doesn’t sound appetizing at all, does it?
8. Cooked Pasta
While fresh pasta can be kept in the freezer before cooking, freezing fully cooked pasta will lead them to become mushy and limp. They are more likely to resemble a sloppy bowl of noodles with an odd warmed-over taste.
That being said, with pasta that has been cooked up to al dente, meaning when it's still firm when bitten, you will get better results with freezing. Since the texture is still hard, it will hold up well inside the freezer. Cooked pasta that is already soft will almost certainly disintegrate the moment you reheat it after freezing.
9. Carbonated Drinks
Cooling a carbonated can in the freezer might sound like a cool experiment but it would be a big mistake. When you leave a bottle of soda in the freezer for a long time, it can explode and leave a sticky mess inside. The thing is, that when the water in the soda freezes, it attempts to push the carbon dioxide out. Carbonated water expands at the rate of about nine percent when it freezes. However, sealed, pressurized containers do not allow for their expansion and hence they explode. Thus, it is better if you keep those drinks in your refrigerator instead.
10. Jelly
Freezing a jar of jelly won’t help you extend its life at all. The jelly’s texture will not be the same once it’s been frozen and its consistency is likely to be softer and more watery than before. The National Center for Home Food Preservation at the University of Georgia explains that jelly may become so watery on being frozen that it "may soak bread" when it's defrosted. Now, that won’t really be useful, would it?
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