Some think that shipping frozen food from one point to another while maintaining its quality is almost impossible. As hard as it seems but there are ways for frozen food to be transported successfully.
Whether you need to ship food for business or personal use, it is important that it will be shipped perfectly or else, you might end up losing a huge chunk of money. There are companies that specialize in this kind of service, hiring them is a good idea, but not for everyone as it comes with a fee.
If you are asking How To ship Frozen Food, without the need of hiring a professional service, here are some of the things you can do.
Ways To Keep Frozen Food In Best Condition While Shipping It
- Make sure that items are pre-freeze before travel
This is actually obvious, keeping food frozen is far easier if it is in that status before it is moved. Keeping it inside the freezer for 24 hours or more is the most ideal to start with. Depending on the item, it will reach its lowest temperature after being in the freezer for 24 to 48 hours, hence best to store it in the freezer before the actual shipping.
- Use a cooler that is high in quality
The cooler can make or break the successful transfer of goods. There are many coolers available in the market, but not all of them can provide the same level of performance. There are some that can keep frozen goods longer than the others, hence it is best if you rely on what is the most reliable in the market.
Sure, these coolers can be more expensive, but needless to say, if it can provide you the kind of cooling that you need, it should not matter as much.
- Pack all goods at the bottom of the cooler
The cold air sinks hence, you have to keep the goods at the bottom while the ice on top. Also, this can avoid the goods from getting exposed to heat when there is a need to lift the cooler’s cover.
- Use dry ice
If you have not tried using dry ice yet, it is high time that you do so. Dry ice does not melt like the regular ice, hence it is also cleaner and less hassle to use. This indeed is one of the most effective ways of keeping your products frozen.
But, just so you know, that all coolers can keep up with dry ice. There are some coolers that are not compatible with dry ice, hence it is best if you check on the label of the cooler first before deciding on using this option.
- Do not leave empty spaces on the cooler
There are some instances when you cannot fill your cooler with goods and as well as ice. This empty space can melt ice faster, the same as it can thaw goods at a lot quicker pace. If you cannot avoid spaces, you can just use clothes, towels etc. to fill the spaces in.
You would not want to spoil the successful transfer just because you failed to follow this simple step.
- Pre chill coolers
This is especially relevant for expensive coolers as they have thicker insulation and a lot of thermal mass. If it is left in a warm garage for quite a long time, the insulation could get hot as well. Hence putting goods and ice on the cooler without chilling it will just melt both the ice and frozen goods faster.
If the size of the cooler is just small, you can place it for a while in a deep freezer. If it is big or you do not have a deep freezer, you can just fill it with ice first until cold before putting your goods and new batch of ice.