Refrigerator food? - Page 2

**Cinnamon Bear** · 05-01-2016, 05:41 AM

Does food stay fresher longer in freezer rather than fridge cause I have 3 unopened bags of food that need to go in freezer bags, get dated & frozen away (cause I heard that the bags the food comes in isn't meant for freezer?)

Also, Serendipity why do you wash bowls every day? I used to do that in case of bacteria but fell out of the habit but that maybe something to consider as well during the summer? Is that why you do it cause of bacteria?

Edit: I forgot that you are probably cleaning dish because of recent moth problems!

**Cinnamon Bear** · 05-01-2016, 06:19 AM

Update: I just divided up those 3 unopened bags into freezer bags & made room for them in the freezer. There isn't much room left for me now

I just went thru my freezer & I have 2 freezer bags of seed mix that expired Dec 2015, but since it's been in the freezer it should be good still I'd imagine?

Abi5sos1d · 05-01-2016, 07:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cypher

Abi5sos1d I would definitely put home made cookies in the fridge if not the freezer, they probably won't keep long at room temp.

I don't freeze substrate either, I only have a small freezer compartment on my fridge & it's full of ham food, herbs, flowers & one or two wooden toys!

One reason for keeping food in the fridge other than being air tight & away from bugs is that a lot of ham ingredients or treats have fairly high levels of essential fats which just don't keep long in a warm room.
Nuts & seeds are certainly worth putting in the fridge even if you don't put anything else in there.

Alright, I have done it now thank you so much for the advice.

cypher · 05-01-2016, 07:53 AM

CB your seed mix should be ok for a little while but wouldn't keep fresh very long once you take it out of the freezer.
I don't know how long hamster food keeps in the freezer tbh but maybe as a guide something like (human) biscuits keep for a couple of months, even frozen food deteriorates with time.

**Cinnamon Bear** · 05-01-2016, 08:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cypher

CB your seed mix should be ok for a little while but wouldn't keep fresh very long once you take it out of the freezer.
I don't know how long hamster food keeps in the freezer tbh but maybe as a guide something like (human) biscuits keep for a couple of months, even frozen food deteriorates with time.

Ok thanks Cypher, the expiration dates have expired on 2 bags so far. I have the expiration dates labeled on the freezer bags but 2 of the bags say Dec 2015. One bag I pulled out last week that is also expired & have been feeding it to Izzy & Maddi.

Didn't realize this until now. Seems like it's still good? But today I'll just toss the expired food. I have so much of it, it's not worth giving them stale food

cypher · 05-01-2016, 08:34 AM

It will still be edible & safe for a bit but past it's nutritional best so if you have a lot of food it might well be worth counting your losses & tossing the stale stuff.

**Cinnamon Bear** · 05-01-2016, 08:41 AM

Think your right!

Update: I just tossed out all the expired or questionable food. I just took a bag out of the freezer expired last week but since it's been in the freezer I'd think it would be good? But maybe not? I think I'll toss that too just in case?

Now I've thrown put about $25-30 worth of food, oh well!
I'm glad I posted this thread otherwise would have not paid attention to the dates thinking it's all good still just cause its in the freezer

**Cinnamon Bear** · 05-02-2016, 01:09 PM

I threw out alot of seed mix in the dumpster that could have been used to feed the wild life. So today I got another plastic bag with lots of treats that are too sugary, they don't like, or are expired & fed all that to the wild life

oddlyoblivious · 05-03-2016, 01:19 AM

I've got more hamster food than people food in my freezer. (I admit trying one of the strawberry yogurt drops out of curiosity. Not as bad as I expected) I didn't know about the freezer bags CB. I'll have to do that once the food goes through it's Freeze it till everything's dead moment.

I tend to use mason Jars for everything. (they were cheap) though I may have to re think that now. Thanks for posting this up!

Pebbles82 · 05-03-2016, 01:32 AM

I used to have a list/book that said lengths of time in the freezer for different things - most things were a year or two, some only 6 months - wish I could find it lol! I did find things started to deteriorate a bit if you left them for a year though. I thought the airtight storage boxes like the lock and lock and tupperware ones, were supposed to keep things fresh longer. But good point that once they've been frozen they could lose nutritional value quicker Cypher.