How To Prevent Freezer Burn

Keep your frozen food safe from freezer burn with these easy tips

Ever have a craving for that luscious pint of chocolate chip cookie dough sinfully calling your name through the freezer door? When you finally surrender resistance with a full glass of cold milk ready in hand, you close your eyes, dip your silver spoon into the creamy goodnes, raise it high...and discover the unnatural crunch of ice crystals with a hint of stale freezer wall.

There's nothing dangerous about freezer burn, but nobody wants to chew through the rough texture and bland taste it leaves behind. The main culprit in this inconvenient flavor slayer is air. It may keep us alive, but it can dehydrate poorly stored meat and vulnerable ice cream if we're not careful.

The key to preventing freezer burn is to keep air outside your storage containers. Most frozen food is packaged in freezer-friendly boxes, but it doesn't hurt to put the whole thing in a second plastic zip bag (after you squeezed all the surplus air out first, of course).

If you're planning on opening up a box and re-storing what you don't use, take the time to first wrap the leftover food in plastic cling. If you know you won't be heating the extras anytime soon, double wrap in aluminum foil and store all the pieces in a tightly sealed plastic bag.

This same principle should be applied when storing meat. Tight wrapping in freezer-strong packaging is essential. For cooked meals, avoid shoving a whole casserole dish on a shelf; there's too much room for air flow to corrupt your leftovers. Slide the contents into an airtight container, being sure to use the proper size that won't leave too much empty space.

And finally, to protect your precious ice cream, add an extra layer of safety under the container's lid. A strip of aluminum foil or more cling wrap should be tightly set over the top before you put the original lid back on.