Chill Out! Frozen Foods Quiz

Yes, microbes can multiply again once the food is unfrozen.

Avoid glass containers in the freezer. They'll expand as they freeze and possibly explode.

There's a pretty big range, of course, but the average life span of most frozen foods is six to nine months.

Chopped peppers and onions will cook fast, so don't blanch them before freezing.

You should never put food in a can in the freezer. Transfer the food from the can to a freezer-safe container if you have leftovers.

Frozen fruits and vegetables generally retain their nutrients pretty well, but 30 percent of vitamin C (which is water-soluble) can be lost during the blanching process.

It's perfectly safe, but if you want to freeze it for an extended time, you should rewrap it more tightly.

Wrap unused portions of crusty bread in aluminum foil, then pop the whole thing into a 350-degree oven for 10 minutes to thaw.

If you have leftover pancakes, freeze them between sheets of wax paper, which will keep them from sticking together. To reheat, put them in a toaster on the "frozen" setting -- they'll thaw out and heat up perfectly every time.

Freezers should be kept at 0 degrees Fahrenheit or colder.

The more, the merrier -- full freezers are more efficient. But there is such a thing as a too-full freezer.

You shouldn't store more than 2 or 3 pounds of food per cubic foot of your freezer. The freezer will have a harder time keeping the temperature at 0 degrees.

Bones, fish heads, shrimp peels and the like are great for freezing to make stock -- but you don't want any gills, guts, organs or offal in there.

Seal tomato sauce in plastic bags with all the air squeezed out to prevent freezer burn.

If you're not going to drink that last little bit of wine in the bottle, go ahead and freeze it in a bag. You can use it for cooking later.

In the microwave, in cold water and in the refrigerator are the only safe thawing methods to keep bacteria at bay while defrosting.

Plan ahead for holiday cooking because you're looking at a four-day thaw for a 20-pound turkey.

Freezer burn happens when air hits frozen food. It's not dangerous to health -- it just affect the flavor of your food.

You're going to lose some quality, but it's safe to put a thawed item back into the freezer -- just once. You shouldn't repeatedly thaw and refreeze the same food.

It'll take one and a half times as long for frozen to cook -- so 15 minutes for frozen, compared to 10 for fresh.