Once you have defrosted milk

[Marg0]

can you safely refreeze and then defrost it?

[Goodsoulette]

You can refreeze meat as long as it has been cooked and cooled properly (cooling quickly is the key). Meat once cooked as a rule has a three day life on it so you can freeze it at anytime up to then as long as it has been stored during the interim period below 4 degrees. Refreezing a whole chicken sounds a bit gross though and the more you freeze and cook food the mushier and more bland it becomes but it should be safe to eat.

[Marg0]

pauls, I think it is, but the processing changes the crystal/fat distribution. or something.

i think semi skimmed has a higher water proportion so you may get more swelling of bottle etc.

i was in a hurry once to chill a bottle of wine (Marlborough vineyards chardonnay) so I popped it in the freezer, and forgot about it (as you do). It froze, expanded, and popped out the synthetic cork. I defrosted it and drank it, best wine I ever had, no kidding. I should patent the idea.

[Marg0]

Thanks goodsoul. So if it's just cooked it's ok to put it in the fridge?

[Goodsoulette]

You can refreeze meat as long as it has been cooked and cooled properly (cooling quickly is the key). Meat once cooked as a rule has a three day life on it so you can freeze it at anytime up to then as long as it has been stored during the interim period below 4 degrees. Refreezing a whole chicken sounds a bit gross though and the more you freeze and cook food the mushier and more bland it becomes but it should be safe to eat.

No leelapops, am not a food biologist but I ran a pub with 35 grand of food orders going through our kitchen every week, I had it drilled into me. I did think about retraining for an EHO job though but I decided on something where people are less likely to hate me quite so much.

[Postdog]

I freeze it too, but I only drink cravendale - living alone, it's nice to know that an opened bottle can last days without going off. However, I tend to use the frozen one, and freeze a replacement.

[Goodsoulette]

Are you having a giraffe MArgo?

You can out it in the fridge but not whilst its hot, else that decreases the temp of the rest of the food in your fridge, which then compromises your health. You need to cool the food quickly, ideally within 2 hours. To make this easier, you should divide the food up into smaller portions.

[Jugglering]

I didn't know that milk froze very well - I tried it once but it separated when I defrosted it, so I never bothered again. Now I know all you have to do is give it a good shake, I'll try again.

I often freeze cheese, but I find if it's frozen in a block it seems to have dried out after defrosting. Nowadays I simply buy a really large block of my favourite, grate it (food processors are very useful here) and then freeze the grated cheese (which can be anything from cheddar to parmesan) in open trays. When the cheese is totally frozen, I then bag it up into small bags. Because it's been grated, it defrosts very quickly.