Tips for Keeping Food in the Unit. Currys Essentials C50BW12, C50BS14

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Tips for Keeping Food in the Unit

• Cooked meats/fishes should always be stored on a shelf above raw meats/fishes to avoid bacterial transfer. Keep raw meats/fishes in a container which is large enough to collect juices and cover it properly. Place the container on the lowest shelf.

• Leave space around your food, to allow air to circulate inside the unit. Ensure all parts of the unit are kept cool.

• To prevent transfer of flavours and drying out, pack or cover the food separately. Fruit and vegetables do not need to be wrapped.

• Always let pre-cooked food cool down before you put in the unit. This will help to maintain the internal temperature of the unit.

• To prevent cold air escaping from the unit, try to limit the number of times you open the door. We recommend that you only open the door when you need to put food in or take food out.

Preparations for Freezing

• Use quality food and handle it as little as possible. Freeze food in small quantities as it freezes faster, takes less time to defrost and enables you to control the quantity you need better.

• Leave cooked food to cool completely. Chill food before freezing if possible.

• Consider how you will want to cook the food before freezing it.

• Don’t freeze food in metal containers if you may want to microwave it straight from the freezer.

• Use special freezer bags, freezer film, polythene bags, plastic containers, and aluminium foil (heavy duty grade only). If in doubt, double wrap your food. Don’t use aluminium foil for acidic foods, e.g. citrus fruits. Don’t use thin cling film, glass, or used food containers without cleaning.

• Exclude as much air from the container as possible. You could buy a special vacuum pump which sucks excessive air out of the packaging.

• Leave a small amount of air space when freezing liquids to allow expansion.

• You can use the space in the freezer most efficiently if you freeze liquids (or solids with liquids, e.g. stew) in square blocks. This is known as “Preforming”. Pour the liquid into a polythene bag which is inside a square sided container. Freeze it, and then remove it from the container and seal the bag.

• Label your frozen foods as they will look the same when in frozen state. Use special freezer tapes, labels and pens with different colours. This allows you to easily organise and to effectively use the freezer. Write the contents and date; otherwise the frozen food might exceed the storage time and this could cause food poisoning. Please refer to your food packaging for the recommended storage time.

• You may also add the weight and cooking notes, e.g. “defrost first”, “cook from frozen” and keep a separate log of what is in each drawer. This will save opening the door and searching around unnecessarily.