How long can you safely freeze food?
Frozen food lasts indefinitely. But does that mean the raw chicken you bought on sale and froze will taste as good a year from now as it will three weeks from now? No. You can cook up that chicken a year later and it won’t harm you, but its taste and texture will be diminished. The key is knowing when frozen food starts to lose quality.___16___.
Fruits and vegetables.
You can freeze most vegetables and non-citrus fruits for about 8 to 12 months, according to the National Center for Home Food Preservation. (You can freeze citrus, too, but you need to take some extra steps.) Vegetables will benefit from blanching（用沸水烫）before you freeze them. ___17___, which affects nutrient levels and appearance of your veggies.
___18___
●Ground beef, turkey, veal, pork and lamb: For best flavor and texture, these ground meats are best used within three or four months of being frozen.
●Steaks and chops: These cuts of beef, veal, lamb or pork can be frozen for six to 12 months before losing quality. Chops of these meats start to lose quality after four to six months.
●Poultry: ___19___ ; pieces of birds keep their quality for up to nine months.
●Fish: For best quality, fatty fish (salmon, tuna) should be consumed within two to three months. Lean fish (cod, flounder) should be consumed within six months.
Soups, stews, chili and casseroles
Soups, stews chili and casseroles that have vegetables, meats, grains, pasta or cheese will keep their quality for two or three months in the freezer. ___20___.
A. Raw meat
B. General leftovers
C. Whole birds can keep their quality for up to a year
D. The point of that process is to stop the enzyme（酶）process
E. It’s still safe to eat, but it will have a lower quality taste and texture
F. This depends on whether they are newly purchased of freshly made and frozen
G. There isn’t a magic number of days for each food, but there are general guidelines to follow