How long can you keep food in the freezer

Why frozen food stays safe but still loses quality

The short version comes straight from the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS): food stored constantly at 0 °F will always be safe, and only the quality suffers with lengthy freezer storage. Freezing slows molecules down so much that bacteria, yeasts and molds go dormant. They are not dead, though. FSIS notes that once food thaws, those microbes can become active again and grow at about the same rate as on fresh food, so thawed items need the same care as anything perishable.

Quality is a different story. FSIS explains that freezing only slows the enzyme activity in food rather than stopping it, which is why vegetables are blanched before home freezing. Air reaching the surface dries food out, large ice crystals from slow freezing damage texture, and some foods develop a rancid or off odor if they stay frozen too long. None of that makes the food dangerous, but a steak frozen for two years will not taste like the one you bought.

That is why every official freezer chart carries the same caveat. FoodSafety.gov, the federal food safety site run by the Department of Health and Human Services, puts it plainly above its Cold Food Storage Chart: the guidelines for freezer storage are for quality only, and frozen foods stored continuously at 0 °F or below can be kept indefinitely. Nutrition holds up well too. FSIS says freezing itself does not destroy nutrients, and meat and poultry show little change in nutrient value during freezer storage.

Freezer times for meat, poultry and seafood

These are the best-quality times from the FoodSafety.gov Cold Food Storage Chart for food held at 0 °F. Use them as a rotation guide, not a deadline.

Beef, veal, lamb and pork. Steaks, chops and roasts keep their quality for 4 to 12 months. Hamburger and other ground meats, including ground turkey and chicken, are shorter at 3 to 4 months. Bacon is listed at 1 month, raw sausage at 1 to 2 months, and hot dogs and luncheon meat at 1 to 2 months whether the package is opened or not.

Poultry. A whole chicken or turkey is listed at 1 year and chicken or turkey pieces at 9 months. The FSIS freezer chart gives uncooked giblets 3 to 4 months and uncooked wild game 8 to 12 months.

Fish and shellfish. Fat matters here. Fatty fish such as salmon, tuna, mackerel and catfish are listed at 2 to 3 months, while lean fish such as cod, flounder, haddock, halibut and sole last 6 to 8 months. Shrimp, crayfish and squid run 6 to 18 months, shucked clams, mussels, oysters and scallops 3 to 4 months, and fresh crab meat or lobster 2 to 4 months. Live clams, mussels, oysters, crab and lobster are not recommended for freezing.

Leftovers, soups and other cooked food

Cooked food generally has a shorter window than raw. FSIS gives the reason: raw meat and poultry keep their quality longer than their cooked counterparts because moisture is lost during cooking. On the FoodSafety.gov chart, soups and stews with vegetables or meat are listed at 2 to 3 months, chicken nuggets or patties at 1 to 3 months, pizza at 1 to 2 months, and baked casseroles with eggs or quiche at 2 to 3 months.

The two federal charts do not always match. FoodSafety.gov lists cooked meat or poultry leftovers at 2 to 6 months, while the FSIS chart lists cooked meat at 2 to 3 months and cooked poultry at 4 months. FSIS also lists frozen dinners and entrees at 3 to 4 months and meat or poultry gravy at 2 to 3 months. When charts disagree, the shorter number is the safer bet for flavor.

Timing before freezing matters as well. FSIS advises freezing leftovers within 3 to 4 days of cooking, and it says previously cooked food that was thawed in the refrigerator can have its unused portion refrozen.

Fruits, vegetables and foods that do not freeze well

The National Center for Home Food Preservation at the University of Georgia gives approximate storage of 8 to 12 months for fruits and vegetables at 0 °F, with a broader table that lists poultry at 6 to 9 months, fish at 3 to 6 months, ground meat at 3 to 4 months, and cured or processed meat at 1 to 2 months. It recommends the shorter end for best quality and notes that after these times food should still be safe, just lower in quality. Its poultry range is shorter than the FoodSafety.gov figures, another reminder that these are quality estimates rather than hard limits.

Some foods are simply poor candidates. FSIS names mayonnaise, cream sauce and lettuce as foods that do not freeze well, and the FoodSafety.gov chart says the same about egg, chicken, ham, tuna and macaroni salads. Eggs should not be frozen in the shell; FoodSafety.gov suggests beating yolks and whites together first, and lists raw whites and yolks at 12 months. Hard-cooked eggs and canned ham labeled Keep Refrigerated are on its do-not-freeze list.

How to judge food that has been frozen a long time

Freezer burn is the most common worry, and FSIS is clear that it does not make food unsafe. It appears as grayish-brown, leathery spots where air has reached the surface. You can cut those spots away before or after cooking, though heavily freezer-burned food may be worth discarding for quality reasons alone.

Color changes are also normal. According to FSIS, the bright red of fresh meat usually turns dark or pale brown in the freezer because of lack of oxygen, freezer burn or very long storage, and the bones of young poultry can darken as pigment seeps through them. For food that is not on any chart, FSIS suggests judging it after thawing: check the odor first, since some foods develop a rancid or off smell when frozen too long and should be thrown out. Food that looks tired but smells fine can still go into a soup or stew.

Common mistakes with freezer storage times

Reading the chart as a safety deadline. A bag of ground beef at month five has not crossed a line into danger. The chart says it is past its best, nothing more.

Assuming safe indefinitely covers any freezer. The promise depends on a steady 0 °F. FSIS recommends keeping an appliance thermometer in the freezer, and it says a refrigerator freezer compartment that cannot hold zero or is opened often should be used for short-term storage only. During a power cut, a full freezer usually holds for about 2 days with the door shut and a half-full one for about a day; food that has been warmer than 40 °F for more than 2 hours should be discarded.

Not knowing when something went in. Every chart above counts from the freezing date, which is useless if the package does not say. Writing the date on each package is the fix. Some people keep a list or use an inventory app instead; FreezeKeep, for instance, records the date each item went into the freezer and the shelf it sits on, then lists everything oldest first with a quality badge rather than a verdict on safety.

This guide summarizes USDA, FoodSafety.gov and National Center for Home Food Preservation guidance for home freezers. It is general information, not a judgment about any particular food. For specific questions, the USDA Meat and Poultry Hotline is 1-888-674-6854.

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