Can I cook chicken breast and then freeze it?

Sometimes you really want to prepare a lot of food in advance. For a couple of weeks, for example. But how to save it? Not all dishes will last that long in the refrigerator. If you have a large freezer, you can freeze food. And then slowly defrost and eat gradually.

By the way, this is very convenient if you want to help your older relatives. They will be able to eat home-cooked meals for a long time, without having to come and cook for them a couple of times a week.

Let's figure out which dishes or preparations for them can be frozen.

How long does raw chicken last in the freezer?

Cold food storage scheme

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Broths

An excellent option for freezing, many housewives pour the broth into ice cube trays or small containers and freeze. So they always have some broth for sauce or gravy. The broth must be frozen without the vegetables, carrots, and onions included in it.

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Soups

Seasoned soups tolerate freezing well. Freezing is generally one of the ancient methods of preparing and storing daily cabbage soup. In winter, they were cooked in an oven and frozen outside, then heated and eaten. Thanks to freezing, the cabbage soup turned out very rich and tasty. Borscht and solyanka can also be frozen. The main thing is that there are no grains in the soup.

The soup should be poured into heat-resistant jars or containers. It is best to pour it into several jars to defrost in portions; after defrosting, it can spoil very quickly. If the soup contains a piece of meat or chicken, it is better to freeze it separately. Fish soups cannot be frozen, as well as puree soups, which separate when defrosted.

Is it possible to freeze boiled or chilled chicken?

Chilled chicken should be frozen immediately after purchase. The expiration date indicated on the package should not expire on this or the next day. When a product has been chilled on the top shelf of the refrigerator for two days, it is prohibited to freeze it.

Frozen raw chicken cannot surprise anyone. She settled firmly in the freezer. But there are circumstances when boiled poultry asks to be frozen.

In order to take a reasonable approach to saving money, it is worth finding out whether it is possible to freeze boiled chicken.

• Before freezing, you should decide how the bird will be used after defrosting. Depending on this, it can be placed in the freezer whole or divided into pieces.
• Pack each piece of chicken in a thick plastic bag. It is good to close or tie it so that there is no touching the raw food.
• It is better to freeze boiled chicken and store it at -18 degrees, but in order to avoid loss of beneficial qualities, do not store it for longer than 5-6 days.
• Use defrosted chicken meat immediately.
• Repeated freezing is unacceptable. It causes destruction of tissue structure, a sharp loss of protein and microelements.

Before freezing fresh poultry meat, take into account the following nuances:

• poultry is not washed before freezing;
• meat that has been lying on the top shelf of the refrigerator for 2 days is not frozen;
• if the carcass was at room temperature for more than four hours, then it cannot be frozen;
• To prevent the product from weathering, use sealed packaging.

Chicken fillet

Storing boneless meat in the freezer is much preferable as it increases the shelf life of the product and helps in maintaining its freshness. Therefore, before freezing, it is better to cut up the chicken carcass, remove all the bones and leave only the fillet. This way, more healthy components will remain in the poultry meat when it is defrosted.

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Chicken fillet can be stored for a long time at low temperatures from -18 degrees. In this case, the vital activity of pathogenic microorganisms inside the product stops. Moreover, complete destruction does not occur; their further reproduction and development are temporarily suspended.

The shelf life of a frozen product is limited by the temperature and the state of freshness of the bird at the time of purchase.

Despite the fact that the freezer increases the shelf life of chicken several times, it varies:

• if the temperature inside the freezer at home is from -8 to -5 degrees, the maximum storage period will be 3 months, the minimum – 1 month;
• at sub-zero temperatures ranging from -8 to -14 degrees, the maximum shelf life of meat in the freezer will be six months, the average value is 3 months;
• if you set the mode inside the chamber from -14 to -18 degrees, you can store chicken in it from six months to 9 months;
• The maximum shelf life of the product in the freezer is about a year - this is possible at a temperature of -24 degrees.

These are approximate recommended times. You need to focus on the operation of the freezer and the quality of the poultry: how and for how long it was stored before freezing, how it was frozen. Also, the length of time you can store chicken fillet in the freezer differs from how long a whole carcass is stored.

Small pieces placed in bags or containers last longer than a whole carcass. This is explained by the fact that they do not contain bones, which deteriorate faster. In addition, the smaller the meat briquette, the stronger and faster it freezes.

Cheesecakes and cottage cheese

It is best to freeze semi-finished products: make dough for cheesecakes, cut them up, roll them in flour. The same can be said about lazy dumplings; freezing them before cooking is generally very useful, they become denser and are less boiled over.

Cheesecakes can be frozen or fried.

You can also freeze fresh cottage cheese. Please note that you will need to defrost it slowly, first transferring the cottage cheese to the refrigerator.

Cottage cheese casserole also tolerates freezing well.

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Storage options

Properly selected containers are a guarantee of high-quality preservation. Cellophane bags are absolutely not suitable. It is better to use vacuum or plastic sealed containers with increased moisture resistance.

Plastic bags

As mentioned above, forget about plastic bags when freezing chicken. The material will stick strongly to the carcass when defrosting; you will have to tear out the bag along with the meat fibers and skin. First, wrap the chicken in food paper or foil, and then put it in a bag. Before placing a bag of chicken in the freezer, remove the air from it.

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In a plastic container

This method is convenient because you can store not only chicken, but also broth in plastic containers. It is poured into prepared containers and frozen, thus preparing the basis for the future soup. By the way, the technique allows you to supplement chicken broth with various herbs, dried vegetables and even pasta. As for bones and cold cuts, they can also be stored in containers and later used as a base for soup.

When choosing a container, you need to pay attention to its tightness. The fact is that an open lid can cause chapping. As a result, the meat product will become dry and tough. In addition, there will be a loss of its taste. Its structure may also change, becoming porous. Prolonged refrigeration of a leaky product can not only affect the smell, but also cause an unpleasant taste.

It is better to take small containers for storing frozen chicken - this makes it easier and faster to defrost the meat. In addition, portioning is convenient, because you don’t have to wait until part of the product is defrosted, and even more so you don’t need to make efforts to separate the necessary part. Containers are also convenient because they are easier to mark by writing the freezing date on top of the lid.

In a glass container

When choosing the option of freezing chicken in a glass container, you need to take into account that this method requires the correct defrosting technology. For example, you should not use hot water when defrosting, placing a glass container with frozen meat under the running stream of a kitchen sink.

However, this method cannot be called completely suitable for freezing, because users who have tried this technology note that this may cause the bottom of the container to burst. In addition, there are reviews saying that quick defrosting is harmful for glass containers. You can find recommendations that say that for freezing you do not need to fill the container to the top, and also that you should not cover it with a lid.

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However, here everyone decides for himself: is it worth using glass packaging or is it better to resort to well-proven methods of storing in bags and containers.

In a vacuum

Research has shown that vacuum packaging can increase product shelf life from 50% to 400%. The key to increasing product shelf life is determining the ideal packaging atmosphere for each product. Therefore, vacuum freezing of food is considered, perhaps, the best.

Vacuum packaging technology allows you to prevent the development of aerobes by vacuuming. It creates a special gas environment inside, through which air is displaced, and moisture is removed due to nitrogen.

It is difficult to create such conditions at home. However, a similar procedure can be followed here. To do this, you need to prepare ziplock bags, a container of cold water, and a portion of chicken.

At home, you do not need any equipment to create a vacuum.

1. First, a portion of meat is placed in a plastic bag and not closed completely, leaving a small gap (1 cm). After this, the bulk of the air is removed from the bag by squeezing. Holding the bag with your hands, it is slowly and gradually lowered into the prepared container with water. At the same time, make sure that water does not get inside the bag, and the hole itself does not accidentally close.
2. Almost most of the bag of meat will be located in the water. The tip of the bag with an open hole will remain on its surface. If water gets inside while lowering the bag, you will have to do the whole job again. In general, when the bag is lowered lower and lower due to pressure, the remaining air will “leave” from the bag. This will ensure the so-called vacuum effect created at home.
3. After this, you need to close the hole and remove the bag of meat from the water. Then you can start freezing it in the freezer. Using this technology, you can freeze both minced chicken and poultry fillets. In this case, it is preferable to send small portions of the product into the bag.

Children's menu

Complementary foods begin to be given to the baby at approximately 6 months. After the vegetable purees, it’s time to try the meat. And every mother faces the same problem. It is very inconvenient to cook a small piece every day for a little one, it takes a lot of time. Is it possible to freeze boiled meat for a child?

Yes, many mothers use this method. Some people freeze small meatballs from raw minced meat so that they can be stewed with vegetables for lunch. Others boil the chicken, divide it into 3-4 servings at once and put it in the freezer. After this, all that remains is to put the contents of the bag into a pan, add vegetables, and in 15 minutes the soup is ready.

Cutlets and chops

Cutlets are great for freezing. You can save already fried cutlets, or you can make minced meat, make cutlets, roll them in breading or flour and freeze them that way. When you fry, simply throw frozen cutlets into the pan, fry a little and only then add oil.

Chops can be frozen ready-made, or you can, as in the case of cutlets, make raw semi-finished products, cut them up, add salt and pepper, and put them in the freezer.

Fried meat is stored well in the freezer, but if you froze the semi-finished product, it will turn out tastier and juicier.

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How long can fried meat be stored without refrigeration?

How long does fried meat last without refrigeration?

At home, without resorting to methods of increasing shelf life, the product will last no more than 48 hours, but its taste will change. In a dark, cool place, the time period increases to 72 hours, but it is recommended to consume the product within the next 4 hours.

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How to choose fresh

The quality of the prepared dishes and your health will depend on how fresh the chicken you bring home is.

If the chicken is packaged, you need to look for the production date on the label. If there is none, feel free to rip the packaging. The buyer has the right to be informed about the quality of the goods.

They say about the freshness of a chicken carcass:

• Smell. Even without experience, a person can determine whether chicken is “smelly.” Feel free to bring the carcass to your nose. You need to smell the incision site on your stomach. Fresh meat has almost no smell. Any smell should stop you, it’s better not to buy such chicken.
• Mucusiness. The skin of fresh chicken without packaging may be a little dry, this is normal.

Do you know that…

Before slaughter, birds are prohibited from being given a whole list of feeds that impair the taste and affect the smell. However, manufacturers neglect this in order to reduce the cost of products.

Broiler chickens sold in stores are often wet. There are several reasons for this:

1. To increase weight, they increase the moisture content of chicken meat (this is beneficial to producers).
2. Before shipping, chicken is washed with special disinfectants (this extends shelf life).

However, moisture and mucus are different things. Mucused meat may not have an unpleasant odor if it is washed with special solutions. But identifying the presence of mucus is not difficult; the main thing is to look closely and touch the carcass with your hand.

But you don’t need to pay attention to color. A pale chicken is no worse than a yellow one. In order for the chicken to have a marketable appearance, it is fed corn before slaughter.

The color of the bird does not affect the quality and freshness of the meat; the broth from yellow chicken will simply be yellower

Smoked meats for solyanka

Since freezing can significantly extend the life of food, you can take advantage of this and make preparations for first courses. Pea soup, solyanka, aromatic Kiev-style borscht - all these dishes cannot do without smoky meat. Is it possible to freeze cooked smoked meat? Yes, it retains its properties perfectly. The only negative is that after defrosting it loses its juiciness.

• Cut into portions.
• Only pack in freezer bags. After that, put them all in another bag. The aroma of smoked meats can penetrate into other products.
• It’s very convenient to have a bag like this in the freezer in case you want to make a salad. Add an egg, mayonnaise, crackers or cucumber and get a great snack.