Water evaporates at all temperatures even from what appears to be a solid. It’s the fundamental physics of sublimation. That’s why ice cubes shrink in your freezer and in fact will eventually disappear if left alone. When the constantly oscillating moisture molecules in the meats and vegetables stored in your freezer migrate to the surface, crystals of ice are formed. Even if the package has never been opened. What’s left behind is dry and shriveled up and looks burned. Can you prevent freezer burn? Only if you have a freezer capable of reaching absolute zero, -459 degrees Fahrenheit, where according to the Third Law of Thermodynamics, all molecular movement ceases.

Since the normal freezer temperature is 0 degrees Fahrenheit, there is no way to completely prevent freezer burn. You can slow down freezer burn by filling plastic containers with water leaving room for expansion and keep them in your freezer to help maintain the temperature. Meats and vegetables stored in a manual defrost freezer will last longer then those stored in automatic defrost freezers. That’s because the temperature of a manual defrost freezer remains closer to 0 degrees while the temperature of automatic defrost freezers fluctuates. The good news is that food with freezer burn is safe to eat if you don't mind eating dried, wrinkled up meats and vegetables

What can I do about freezer burn?

The fact is that you cannot prevent freezer burn. Leave anything with moisture in it in a freezer long enough and it will eventually become dry and unappealing. You can slow down the freezer burn process by tightly sealing everything you put in your freezer. Tightly sealing means to eliminate the space between the item you are freezing and the package. For example, if you freeze ground beef in a zip-type storage bag, close the ziplock 99% and use a straw to suck out the air that is preventing the plastic bag from coming in contact with the meat. Because it eliminates the space between the food and the inside of the bag, using a vacuum bag food storage system such as the brand-name Seal-a-Meal® will reduce freezer burn significantly.

Do you have a stinky fridge?

Newspaper works best at snaring those nasty invisible stinky molecules that float around your refrigerator and freezer. Just take a section of newspaper and crunch it up like a basketball to expose more surface area and put it in the freezer section of your refrigerator. Yes, that is correct, in the freezer. There is no need to put it in the fresh food section since 100% of the air in your refrigerator circulates through the freezer first.
Read more