Can you put foil in the freezer? Yes, and cleaning experts say you should

If you’re anything like me and try to meal prep constantly then maximising your freezer space is a top priority for keeping your meals fresher for longer, as well as saving you time and money. Luckily, food storage has got a little easier as experts have revealed it is possible to store food in tin foil in the freezer.

Whether you’ve got gym goals to hit or want to save money on the food shop, using your freezer to store meal prep is a great way to store food to make it last longer. If you've run out of food containers, tin foil is a great option for storing your perishables with ease. It's even encouraged by some experts who say that storing food in tin foil in the freezer can protect your dish from moisture, oxygen and bacteria.

Why should you use foil in the freezer?

‘To keep food fresh it needs to be sealed as airtight as possible. Tin foil is a freezer-safe material, and will prevent condensation from getting to your food and causing freezer burn,’ explains Ian Palmer-Smith, appliance repair expert at Domestic & General.

Petya Holevich, domestic cleaning expert at Fantastic Services, agrees stating that foil is safe to use in your freezer for up to a year. ‘Food-grade thin foil is an excellent choice for that unless the food you’re storing in the freezer is highly acidic. Usually, it’s okay to freeze meat or poultry, for example, directly in its supermarket wrapping, but it’s often thin and still lets air in. Because of that, unless you plan to use the food in around a month or two, put an additional layer of wrapping over the packaging with thin foil, which should provide additional protection for the product from freezer burn and prolong the freezer storage time.'

‘Keep in mind that for effective results, you’ll need to use heavy-duty thin foil that’s used in the food service industry and not a type that’s thin and can tear up easily,' Petya adds. 'One other way to use thin foil for this purpose if you don’t have heavy-duty thin foil is to wrap your food leftovers in it, then wrap the foil-wrapped food in plastic wrap or another kind of air-tight material or container or freezer bag before freezing it. You can also do the opposite and wrap the food in plastic wrap first and then thin foil as an outside wrapping.’

What type of foil should you use?

As Petya said, while tin foil is a great option for storing foods in a freezer, there are some instances where you should avoid using it - such as when storing acidic foods like fruits and tomatoes.

‘Thin foil shouldn’t be used to wrap highly acidic foods if they’re put in the freezer because it can result in them spoiling faster. Technically, tin foil is a safe solution for frozen food storage, but like plastic, it’s not the most sustainable one. Even though it is recyclable, landfills collect a lot of thin foil over time and the processing of thin foil’s raw materials creates a lot of greenhouse gas emissions,’ says Petya.

It’s also important to consider the type of foil you use. A heavy-duty foil ( you can buy extra thick foil on Amazon for £13.49), often makes a superior choice to standard kitchen foil.

‘Aluminium foil can become brittle in the low temperatures of your freezer, making it more likely to tear. I recommend using a more heavy-duty aluminium foil designed for freezing as it will be less likely to tear or puncture. If not, you can wrap your leftovers in two layers of foil to keep it as airtight as possible. Also, you could place your foil-wrapped food in a freezer bag for added protection,’ says Ian.

While you should be more careful with items such as putting glass in the freezer, tin foil is a cheap and fail-safe way to store leftovers.