Ice Cream unopened -- how long will it keep or stay fresh?

[mafibisha]

Our little local grocery has a GREAT deal on ice-cream!

We don't eat too much of it during the winter, other than birthday parties in Feb and March. So if I buy alot now and don't open it, keeping it constantly frozen, how long will it keep?

TIA

 

[Laurawill]

Air is the enemy when dealing with freezer foods. If the ice cream is unopened in a home freezer I would say at least 6 months (though I believe here it is tagged with a sell by date that is about 1 year out).

One thing I have recently tried is covering the surface of the icecream with plastic wrap before putting the lid on and putting it back in the freezer. It has made all the difference. I have a half quart I have been working on for about 3 months now and it still tastes fresh and there are none of the yucky freezer crystals on it.

 

[Kellydelly]

Unless you have a deep freeze I would not stockpile ice cream.

 

[QVCshopper]

Ice cream usually has a best buy date on the bottom, so I would follow that. Also, I wouldn't stock pile too much. One electric outage and bye-bye ice cream.

 

[momtosam]

A long time ago Rite Aid had a deal that made ice cream come out to be free. Someone suggested then putting wax paper under the lid to help keep the ice cream from getting freezer burned/"crystally."

 

[Lewisc]

Frost free freezers raise the temperature in order to melt the frost on the coils. I'd only stock up on ice cream if I had a chest freezer which requires manual defrost.

 

[squirrel]

Another way to stop the crystals from getting to all your ice cream is to scoop it down, not across.

I scoop all the way to the bottom and then go back to the top and work my way down again. I rarely eat ice cream at home. I've had some in the freezer for close to a year that has been partially used. It has few crystals and it tastes fine.

 

[swilshire]

Frost free freezers raise the temperature in order to melt the frost on the coils. I'd only stock up on ice cream if I had a chest freezer which requires manual defrost.

Exactly! People think I'm crazy because I insist on a freezer that is NOT self defrosting. The food stays better much longer.

Sheila