"Not suitable for home freezing" and "Do not reheat"

[WildRosie]

Do you follow these instructions to the letter ? Yesterday I cooked a M&S pizza which I'd had in my freezer; I defrosted it first, it cooked beautifully and it tasted really good (spinach and garlic mushrooms if you're wondering). Afterwards, I noticed the packaging said that it wasn't for home freezing but, 24 hours later, no harm done. On umpteen occasions I've cooked lasagne in the oven, with the intention of reheating in the microwave at the office that evening. Not supposed to reheat, apparently, but I'm still here. Are these 'warnings' more for the protection of the retailer or manufacturer rather than the health of the consumer ?

Do you have an iron stomach from regularly ignoring guidelines and most people would have died from that pizza?

I ignore some...I would ignore the no freezing on the pizza - possibly it’s that the garlic butter would go a bit funny? And I definitely reheat stuff!

I pretty much ignore.

I read the instructions on packets and then take my own oven into consideration and alter cooking times.

I think it depends what it is, generally I ignore.

I would do the same as you with the examples you gave. I'm more careful about certain foods though.

I've had things from Mark's and Spencer that say not suitable for freezing, usually they contain mushrooms and I've always thought that maybe the texture of the mushrooms doesn't do well with freezing.

My best guess is that the mushrooms on the pizza would go soggy when defrosted... but then crisp up when cooked. Meh. What you do is normal.

I just served up leftover rotisserie chicken from a supermarket. I froze the leftovers. I do this a lot. Not dead yet.

Sometimes things have already been frozen during the preparation process - you shouldn’t refeeeze it without cooking it first. That’s why they sometimes say not suitable for home freezing. On fish counters now you’ll see ‘has been previously frozen under specific conditions but still suitable for home freezing’ or something to that effect which I guess is their alternative.

"Not suitable for freezing" I think is a quality thing. I mean literally, what's going to happen when you freeze that means it won't be safe to eat?
Reheat more careful eg rice can be dicey

I freeze pretty much everything regardless of what it says and I quite often cook it from frozen. Never had a problem.

i am always reading the cooking instructions on packets and seeing things

Not for home freezing...oh well too bad
Defrost overnight in fridge, do not cook from frozen...this I regard as a challenge
Do not reheat... "fed the kids earlier, put ours back in the micro for a zap while I chase them to bed...."

like the Pirate Code ...more guidelines than actual rules.

It can be to do with product quality being impacted by freezing, and it can also be because the product has already been frozen previously and the sold on the defrost so it’s not supposed to be refrozen on those grounds.

Letsnotargue is right. Well, you cant argue with a name like that. It's normally because things have been frozen, then defrosted, so you shouldn't refreeze.

Cook from frozen is usually around quality, rather than safety.

The pizza didn't suffer from its frozen indignity although I concede it could have used an extra two or three minutes in the oven. I find that previously cooked lasagne has an improved flavour when the microwave does its stuff.

@MonkeysAllGoWoo

Do you have an iron stomach from regularly ignoring guidelines and most people would have died from that pizza?

Died from eating a spinach and mushroom pizza that had been frozen? Died from what?

I heard some guy on the radio say years ago that ‘not suitable for home freezing’ was a quality thing.

I would be more wary if the product contained meat or fish in case it was previously frozen , but anything veggie no I wouldn't worry unless it has salad type ingredients which would go mushy if you froze them

Sometimes it will be because there's previously frozen food in, others it's because things like mushrooms might not freeze well.

I'd use my own judgement and probably ignore the instructions as I do routinely and have never had an issue.

Died from all the vomit, I suppose @Clymene

I find that my stomach tolerates a lot but DPs tolerates much more. Some of my friends won't touch things on the end date or if they've been out of the fridge etc. They would suffer.

Years ago when we first got freezers everyone froze everything, and we survived. I don't think they had 'do not freeze' warnings on the packages. I remember my mum bringing home 'fresh' new zealand lamb and freezing it. At that time it was frozen in NZ shipped over here and defrosted to be sold as fresh. As long as everything is frozen as soon as possible and cooked food is put in the fridge and reheated thoroughly I don't see any problem.

I work in the food industry and can confirm its a quality thing mainly. You have no idea how many people go back to the supermarket to complain that their milk was bought with 7 days life but gone off after 6 or used a buttery knife in their jam, then complain there's mould next time they use it. Every complaint has to be logged and fully investigated back to manufacturers and suppliers no matter how daft. That's why you see more and more instructions on food!

I regularly freeze things that aren't supposed to be frozen, it's about quality not safety.

As for reheating, I do it all the time.

I have bought frozen meat pies from the butcher and expressed concern that they would be defrosted by the time I got home. He just said it wasn't a problem and to put them in the freezer anyway. He was right! No ill effects. Must be a cautionary/protectionist thing. Obviously, some folk have stronger stomachs than others so are better placed to throw caution to the wind.

Don’t home freeze usually means the quality may no be so good if frozen, it may separate or get ice crystals