If you’re in the hospitality industry, it’s a given that a continuous process of improvement and tight budgeting is needed in order to streamline production and utilise kitchen equipment in the most efficient and effective manner possible without bleeding time or money.
Although blast chillers or blast freezers can be costly, both developing businesses and established ones can enjoy many positives and a significant return on investment.
Here are 5 times that a blast freezer can help you save money:
1. Extend Shelf Life of Products
In standard freezing, food is subjected to a slow decrease in temperature over a course of 24 hours which causes large ice crystals to form from the water contained in the product. The edges of the ice crystals can cause damage to food cell walls and result in a loss of moisture and volatile aroma. Unfortunately, the loss of moisture also alters the texture and flavour of food products.
Blast chilling or freezing can significantly extend the food product’s shelf life by reducing moisture loss in cooked food products, thereby increasing yield and maintaining both flavour and quality. A blast chiller or blast freezer also allows you to reduce the waste that can result from the traditional chilling and freezing process.
2. Buy In-Season to Store
Blast chillers or blast freezers are able to maintain the fresh quality of ingredients which means that you can take advantage of in-season produce by purchasing larger quantities when they are readily available and cheaply priced. Store your ingredients for long periods of time, without any compromise on the quality or freshness.
In-season premium quality products that were blast frozen have been proven to be superior in quality than a fresh product available outside its peak season. The availability of in-season produce at any one time allows for a more effective kitchen ordering process with less disruptions due to the lack of available in-season ingredients.
3. Reduce Waste
Standard freezing may cause items to suffer from product deterioration, freezer burn, and shelf life reduction leading to discarding the damaged food and causing waste.
Blast chillers or blast freezers eliminate the temperature fluctuations found in standard freezing units and come with alarms to warn if the chilling process is interrupted, so that they can be quickly rectified.
4. Operate More Effectively
Blast chillers or blast freezers enable staff to work more effectively in the production process. The staff are freed up from constant monitoring of the freezing process and this gives the flexibility to adjust staffing levels to meet demand and control overhead costs.
5. Reduce Energy Consumption
Blast chillers or blast freezers play an extremely important role in the entire refrigeration process. Many traditional kitchens allow warm food to cool first before placing into a fridge or freezer. This is a breach to food safety regulations as the food sits in the ‘danger zone’ between 5°C and 63°C while it cools and allows for aggressive bacteria growth, which increases the likelihood of food poisoning.
It then became common practice to place warm food into a fridge or freezer to bring the food down to 3°C or -18°C accordingly but this would result in the fridge or freezer having to operate beyond its designed capabilities. This causes an increase the equipment’s power and service costs, as well as shortening the equipment’s expected life cycle.
Besides, cool rooms and fridges are only meant to keep food cold, while a freezer room keeps food frozen long-term.
Food safety regulations regard controlled temperature reduction in a blast chiller or blast freezer to be the best method possible to ensure food remains safe and hygienic besides at optimal standards for taste, freshness and quality. And it also means that the equipment is doing the job it’s meant for.
LOOKING FOR A BLAST FREEZER?
We have an entire range of blast freezers to suit various requirements. Our blast freezers come with standard features like intuitive touch control panels, visual and audible alarm alerts, easy to remove shelf supports for simple cleaning and maintenance, and stainless steel internal and external chambers.
Our latest Forced-Air blast freezer unit can achieve a temperature range of -10°C to -80°C! Learn more about them here.
See our other Blast Freezers? Drop us a line if you have questions.
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