How much can you and how to properly store shrimp in the freezer and signs of spoilage

Seafood is a reserve of vitamins and minerals. Violation of the conditions of detention leads to a decrease in their useful qualities. Failure to follow the rules causes damage to crustaceans. In order not to end up in a hospital bed with poisoning, you need to know how many shrimp can be stored in the freezer, how to choose them correctly and what criteria you need to pay attention to.

How to choose shrimp for storage

The secrets of choosing seafood for long-term storage:

1. When buying a hermetically sealed product, they check inside for pieces of ice and snow. Their presence warns that the shrimp have been frozen and thawed several times.
2. Choose a shrimp from a transparent container. This is the only way to assess the quality of crustaceans by their appearance.
3. When choosing seafood, you need to pay attention to the shell. It should have a uniform color, without black spots.
4. Upturned tails indicate that the invertebrates died before being frozen.
5. By buying a product by weight, they examine it closely. A dull, dry shell, yellow-tinged meat indicates that the seafood is starting to go bad.
6. Peeled shrimp are not suitable for long-term storage.

When choosing seafood, smell it. Damage is indicated by a foul odor.

Storage rules

How long shellfish are good for food depends on the container and storage conditions. To extend the shelf life of a product, you must follow the rules.

At room temperature

Unchilled raw foods cannot be stored at room temperature, they will deteriorate within hours. To prolong the freshness of shrimp, they should be placed in salted water. This will help extend the shelf life by one day. Chilled seafood should be wrapped in foil (at least 3 layers), placed so that direct sunlight does not fall on them. The shelf life of cooked shellfish does not exceed 5 hours. At the same time, it is forbidden to soak them in cold salt water.

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In the fridge

Fresh shrimps are stored in the refrigerator at a temperature of + 2 ... 6 ˚С for no more than 3 days. You can increase the period to 4-5 days by placing the shellfish on a shelf above the freezer. At the same time, they should be kept in a food container, abundantly covered with small algae, pieces of ice (which change as they melt), covered with a cloth to reduce evaporation. There shouldn't be any other food around so they don't get saturated with their smell.

There is no need to open the sealed package, just put it in a container and cover it.

In the freezer

At a temperature of -20 ˚С, shrimp retain their taste for 2 months.Seafood wrapped in aluminum foil and placed in the freezer can be stored for up to 4 months.

Before eating, shrimp are thawed not in the room, but in the refrigerator. The product is placed on the shelves where the temperature is the highest. It takes up to 24 hours to thaw, so take shellfish out of the freezer ahead of time. The original packaging is opened just before preparation.

How to store boiled shrimp

Cooked shellfish will not keep for more than 3 days. Basic rules:

• Before sending the product for storage, any liquid must be removed from its surface. Residual water will deteriorate rapidly;
• wrap in foil or parchment paper (not a plastic bag), removing as much air as possible;
• place on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator. Place away from other products so that they are not saturated with a specific smell;
• to keep prawns longer, more salt is added during cooking, which acts as a preservative.

A poor quality product, even cooked, will not keep for long.

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Possibility of refreezing

Do not refreeze and thaw shellfish. Not only do they lose their taste, but their appearance changes, and a specific smell may appear.

Signs of product deterioration

Factors indicating that the product is spoiled:

• yellow tint of meat - low-quality seafood;
• strong repulsive odor;
• straightened tails indicate that the crustaceans died before freezing;
• black head, deformed shell indicate that the shrimp has been sick during its life;
• snow and pieces of ice in the package - non-compliance with transport rules.

Fresh invertebrates give off the scent of the sea. Shrimp is a perishable food and special attention should be paid to its storage. The main thing is to choose a quality product when buying.