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Making the Most of Your Freezer

Do you make the best use of your freezer? The freezer can be a great storage tool and way of minimising food waste, but how long is it safe to store foods in there?

Safety isn’t the only consideration – after a while foods stored too long will start to lose flavour.

Here’s a handy list of foods and their approximate storage time:

* Bacon and sausages – 1 month

* Chicken and other poultry – whole, for 1 year, pieces 9 months

* Mince, ground meat and hamburgers – 3-4 months

* Soups and stews with vegetables and meat – 1-2 months

* Cream – lightly whip double cream before freezing and freeze for up to three months

* Butter – 1 year

* Cheese – grate before freezing. Hard cheeses like cheddar, Parmesan and semi-hard cheeses such as mozzarella freeze well, but soft cheeses do not. Freeze for up to six months.

For more freezer tips, see BBC Good Food.

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