{"id":5431,"date":"2018-11-26T11:09:55","date_gmt":"2018-11-26T11:09:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ec2-54-254-239-209.ap-southeast-1.compute.amazonaws.com\/?p=5431"},"modified":"2025-08-22T18:09:49","modified_gmt":"2025-08-22T10:09:49","slug":"helperchoice-academy-cooking-tips-safely-defrost-food","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.helperchoice.com\/c\/helperchoice-academy-cooking-tips-safely-defrost-food\/","title":{"rendered":"How To Safely Defrost Food"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Many of us cook at home, of course, we love fresh ingredients, but we might sometimes buy frozen food as it is more convenient to store. One of the risks of frozen food is that when defrosting, bacteria can develop and lead to food poisoning. How to correctly defrost then? Here are 3 ways to prepare a safe meal for the whole family.<\/p><div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_81 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-grey ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.helperchoice.com\/c\/helperchoice-academy-cooking-tips-safely-defrost-food\/#If_you_are_planning_to_cook_on_the_next_day\" >If you are planning to cook on the next day,\u00a0<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/www.helperchoice.com\/c\/helperchoice-academy-cooking-tips-safely-defrost-food\/#If_you_are_preparing_lunch_or_dinner_a_few_hours_ahead\" >If you are preparing lunch or dinner a few hours ahead,<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/www.helperchoice.com\/c\/helperchoice-academy-cooking-tips-safely-defrost-food\/#If_you_are_in_a_hurry_and_the_kids_need_to_eat_as_soon_as_possible\" >If you are in a hurry and the kids need to eat as soon as possible,<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/www.helperchoice.com\/c\/helperchoice-academy-cooking-tips-safely-defrost-food\/#What_you_should_NOT_do\" >What you should NOT do:<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"If_you_are_planning_to_cook_on_the_next_day\"><\/span>If you are planning to cook on the next day,\u00a0<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The best (but also the longest) way to defrost food is to store it <strong>in the refrigerator<\/strong>, therefore respecting the cold chain. But make sure you do not want to cook on the same day. It usually takes one night up to 24 hours for a whole turkey, for example, to be entirely defrosted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The advantage of defrosting in the refrigerator is that the food does not have to be cooked right away, you can keep it <strong>no more than 2 days<\/strong> if you have a last minute change in plan. You will also be able to re-freeze it in the same period. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter is-resized\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ec2-18-139-0-249.ap-southeast-1.compute.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/peas-166969_1920-1024x682.jpg\" alt=\"How to defrost safely\" class=\"wp-image-5432\" width=\"512\" height=\"341\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.helperchoice.com\/c\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/peas-166969_1920-1024x682.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.helperchoice.com\/c\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/peas-166969_1920-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.helperchoice.com\/c\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/peas-166969_1920-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.helperchoice.com\/c\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/peas-166969_1920-1200x799.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/www.helperchoice.com\/c\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/peas-166969_1920.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 512px) 100vw, 512px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"If_you_are_preparing_lunch_or_dinner_a_few_hours_ahead\"><\/span>If you are preparing lunch or dinner a few hours ahead, <span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>you can <strong>thaw in cold water<\/strong>. It will take less time than the refrigerator, but will also require a lot more attention. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Submerge the frozen bag in cold tap water and change it every 30 minutes until the food is thoroughly defrosted to make sure it does not get too warm. <strong>Do not re-freeze it unless you cooked it. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"If_you_are_in_a_hurry_and_the_kids_need_to_eat_as_soon_as_possible\"><\/span>If you are in a hurry and the kids need to eat as soon as possible,<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>then <strong>use the microwave!<\/strong> It is the fastest way to thaw food thanks to its defrost function. But make sure the outside doesn\u2019t cook while the inside is still frozen. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As with the cold water thawing, you will need to <strong>cook the food immediately<\/strong> after defrosting, but you can safely freeze your dish afterwards. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"What_you_should_NOT_do\"><\/span>What you should NOT do: <span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Do not leave the frozen food outside<\/strong>, it might seem like the quickest way to defrost, but the temperature is too high and will develop.<\/li><li><strong>Do not defrost under hot water<\/strong>, for the same reason. <\/li><li>Be careful, even for fresh meat, many packages mention that the food was frozen and defrosted before. In this case, <strong>do not put it back in the freezer.<\/strong><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>You can now safely prepare meals for the whole family!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Many of us cook at home, of course, we love fresh ingredients, but we might sometimes buy frozen food as it is more convenient to store. One of the risks of frozen food is that when defrosting, bacteria can develop and lead to food poisoning. How to correctly defrost then? Here are 3 ways to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":5432,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"slim_seo":{"title":"How To Safely Defrost Food - HelperChoice Blog","description":"Many of us cook at home, of course, we love fresh ingredients, but we might sometimes buy frozen food as it is more convenient to store. One of the risks of fro"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[339,107],"tags":[446],"class_list":["post-5431","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-home","category-training-helper","tag-home-cooking-with-helper"],"blocksy_meta":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.helperchoice.com\/c\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/peas-166969_1920.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.helperchoice.com\/c\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5431","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.helperchoice.com\/c\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.helperchoice.com\/c\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.helperchoice.com\/c\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.helperchoice.com\/c\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5431"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.helperchoice.com\/c\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5431\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6253,"href":"https:\/\/www.helperchoice.com\/c\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5431\/revisions\/6253"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.helperchoice.com\/c\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5432"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.helperchoice.com\/c\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5431"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.helperchoice.com\/c\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5431"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.helperchoice.com\/c\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5431"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}