Can You Safely Can Previously Frozen Food?

Yes! It is safe to can most previously frozen foods. There are certain items that will require extra precautions, but other than something like winter squash, you can safely can previously frozen food.

There are a few things you’ll want to consider before tossing all your food in the freezer “for later.” Keep reading for my tips!

Strawberry jam cooking in a yellow pot on the stove.

Foods You Can Freeze Before Canning

Fruit

Any type of berries or fruit that will be turned into jams, jellies or fruit butters can be tossed in the freezer for later. I just arrange the fruit on a tray lined with a silicone mat (or parchment paper) and place it in the freezer to flash freeze. Once the fruit is frozen I store them in gallon ziplock bags.

This method also works well for any fruit that you want the juice from later on.

I don’t recommend freezing peaches or pears if you want to can them later. The texture will not be the same and there may be some discoloration. Depending on the variety, sometimes freezing apples causes them to become mushy and soft. So it’s important to know what the end product will be prior to tossing it in the freezer.

two jars of strawberry jam sitting on a tabletop with fresh strawberries around it.

Canned Fruit Recipes

jars of canned chicken on a towel on kitchen counter

Meat

Meat is a great option for utilizing the freezer before you’re ready to can some of it up.

If you’re spending an entire day butchering dozens of chickens, the last thing I have the energy for is canning chicken. So we put all of it into the freezer and I can pressure can the chicken another day.

This works well for any kind of meat that you’d want canned, especially stew meat. And, you can also can meat with the bone in! Many people don’t know this, but it’s good to know.

You’ll need to look up each meat type to know how that specific cut of meat needs to be canned (hot packed, cold-packed, pressure canned or water bath canned).

For example, ground beef needs to be hot packed and then pressure canned. If you try to can ground beef without cooking it first and following the hot-pack method, it ends up creating a dense loaf in the jar which is too dense for the heat to properly penetrate for safe canning.

fresh green beans being snapped in bowl on counter for pressure canning

Vegetables

Technically, you can safely freeze and then thaw and can vegetables. However, you will want to consider a few things first.

When canning vegetables, they are fully cooked. There’s no way to get an al dente green bean from canned green beans. Furthermore, when you blanch and freeze (or sometimes just freeze) vegetables and then thaw them, they already become soft (and sometimes mushy). In this case, I wouldn’t want to then can these mushy vegetables because the end result wouldn’t be good.

Though freezing items like corn, green beans or carrots and then canning them wouldn’t result in a great end product, you can safely follow those methods.

There is one family of vegetables that I wouldn’t recommend freezing first. Winter squash. I wouldn’t personally cube and freeze, then thaw and can any of the following:

Pumpkin
Butternut Squash
Acorn Squash
Delicata
Hubbard
etc.

Because it’s not approved to can pureed squash, my concern would be that freezing and then thawing the squash would make it too dense to know that it’s getting to the proper internal temperature to be safely canned.

homecanned green beans in jar on counter

Canned Vegetable Recipes

Tomato sauce being poured into a large pot on the stove.

Freezing & Canning Tomatoes

There’s something unique about tomatoes when they go through a freeze on the vine. When a tomato plant freezes it’s killed instantly. The act of the vine dying with the tomatoes still intact causes the tomato pH to change.

Because tomatoes are already too acidic to water bath can without adding acid, this change in the tomatoes makes them unsafe for canning.

However, a tomato that’s been picked from the vine fresh and then frozen does not go through the same pH changes. So, if you pick tomatoes fresh and then freeze them, they can still be safely canned once thawed.

Frozen and thawed tomatoes are perfect for making tomato sauce. Because they do become extremely mushy, they’re not great for making something like a canned salsa.

Pro Tip: Reserve the juice from the berries when thawing and use that juice in any recipe you’re using those frozen berries or frozen fruit for!

Tips for Canning Previously Frozen Foods

There are safety rules you must follow if you want to can food that has been previously frozen.

You must fully thaw the food prior to canning.
Make sure you’re only canning fresh food that hasn’t sat in the refrigerator for more than two days.
Ensure the food is free of blemishes, bruises or rotten spots.
If it’s food that must be hot-packed, it must reach the hot pack temperature prior to canning, just as if it were fresh.

Grape leaves and spices in a jar for homemade pickles.

Azure Standard

This podcast was sponsored by Azure Standard, and I’m thrilled to share that Azure now has their own line of canning jars! I’ve been using them all summer for both water bath and pressure canning without issue.

If you’re a first-time Azure Standard customer, you can get 10% off your first order ($50 minimum) with coupon code MELISSA10 at checkout.

Everything Worth Preserving

If you haven’t yet purchased my book Everything Worth Preserving, grab it now, and you’ll have a great resource for all your canning recipes that follow safe and approved methods.

Verse of the Week: 1 Corinthians 4:5

A woman pulling out home canned foods from a pantry.

Can You Safely Can Previously Frozen Food?

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