A few food questions - freezing, reheating and such like..

1. You can keep the chicken in the freezer for about a month, some say longer but I don’t push it beyond a month just to be safe.

2. If you cook the fresh chicken, put it in the soup, then freeze the soup it is fine to reheat (I think that is what you are asking?)

3. Don’t know about coconut milk, sorry.

Food safety officer reporting for duty.

Assuming your freezer is working effectively you can pretty much store food in it as long as you like as no pathogenic bacteria will grow at -18c or lower (which your freezer should be operating at) however after a while the quality of the food may be effected from freezer burn. But if the food is well wrapped it should prevent this.

the key safety consideration are the cooling of the food, don't let it sit in your kitchen for ages get it in the fridge or freezer ideally within 90mins of cooking.

rehearing the soup will be fine as long as it is piping hot. When defrosting the chicken for sandwiches defrost in the fridge over night but really must be eaten on the day it is defrosted.

Not much help with most of this, but i made a chicken curry thing the other day with coconut milk and it was fine when I reheated it. I didn't die so I assume you can freeze it.

I always let the food cool down in the kitchen as I thought putting it in the fridge raised the internal temperature of the fridge which was bad for the other items stored there. Is this wrong then? Is it best overall to put the warm food straight into the fridge or freezer?

http://www.redcar-cleveland.gov.uk/rcbcweb.nsf/web+full+list/6a918eebcb09033480256edf003ced98

I leave things in my freezer for yonks! It's surprising what you can find in there when you have a mooch.

And I'm no expert, but I wouldn't think twice about re-heating the soup either.

Yea thats right don't put it in the fridge warm you do need to let it cool down but don't leave it out in your kitchen for hours (over night etc) you can help things cool down quicker by removing food from the pan you cooked the food in. If its a sauce pour into shallow container, rice pasta etc run cold water on for the chicken if you break it down into smaller pieces while it still warm it will cool faster.

I'm still confused because the link says you need to cool things quickly but mentions that fridges used for cooling must not be used for storing chilled foods also. I only have one fridge!

Oo cross posted. Thanks that's great.

You really can find the answer to anything on hitched! Cool!

I think its more for commercial kitchens who will have multiple fridges

Yea most large scale commercial kitchens will have what is called a blast chiller specifically for the cooling of food and is designed to put hot food directly into. Such chillers have high powered fans designed to cool food.

I just read the link and I'm shocked that the local authority recommends the use of fans!!!!

I thought this when I read it.