Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Thaw Frozen Goods Quickly

Frozen raspberries in need of a thaw


One problem with freezing your groceries is the fact that it can take hours, or even days, for some frozen goods to thaw out once they're placed in the fridge. For many people, that wait time simply isn't an option. There is, however, a superior method for thawing frozen goods quickly and efficiently. While this method may not work for all items, particularly extremely large ones, it works wonders with most frozen goods that you'll find hiding in the cavern of your freezer.


Instructions


The Cold Water Method


1. Place the frozen goods you want to thaw quickly into a Ziploc bag that is large enough to hold them all and still seal. If you don't have enough room in one Ziploc bag for everything, split your frozen goods up between multiple bags. Push out as much air from inside the bag as you can without spilling any of the contents.


2. Seal the Ziploc bag completely, leaving only the straw in place, with just big enough an opening for it to fit.


3. Use the straw to suck any remaining air out of the bag. Be careful to not suck any of the frozen goods up the straw during this process, especially if they could have food-borne germs or parasites that haven't been killed by cooking.


4. Seal the bag as you pull the straw out, not allowing any air to get back into the bag. Then place the bag into the large bowl or bucket that you've set aside. The container you choose must be large enough to hold your bags of frozen goods easily with enough room to add plenty of cold water.


5. Fill the container nearly to the top with cold water and check back every 20 minutes or so to see if your frozen goods have thawed yet.








The Microwave Method


6. Place the frozen goods you wish to thaw on a microwave-safe plate or inside of a microwave-safe bowl and place them inside the microwave.


7. Set your microwave power level to the "Defrost" setting. If your microwave has a 1 to 10 power level scale then you should set it to power level 3.


8. Run the microwave at two minute intervals for larger items, one minute intervals for smaller ones, and check between each heating time to see if the frozen goods have thawed sufficiently.

Tags: frozen goods, power level, cold water, enough hold, enough room, frozen goods have, goods have