Is It Safe To Eat 2-Year-Old Frozen Bread?

Freezing bread can extend its shelf life, saving you a little dough while allowing you to enjoy your favorite loaf as you are ready to eat it (via Allrecipes). But let's face it, we all lose track of the foods we keep in our freezers, and sometimes we find things tucked away for months or years when we go fumbling or searching. No judgment. It happens to the best of us. As a result, the freezer can feel like a dark hole — a place of exile for surplus food or leftovers, only to be rediscovered when someone in your household dares to do whatever no one else wants to: defrost and clean the darn thing. 

According to Mr. Appliance, you should defrost your freezer annually. What a freezer goal! If you can't remember the last time you defrosted your freezer, we're with you. But when you get around to rolling up your sleeves to do this least favorite chore, many food items that fall into that dark abyss may get tossed in the circular while others might leave you pondering, including your beloved bread. Years could roll by before you find your favorite sourdough or pumpernickel hiding under a freezer-burned ice cream container. But — can you safely eat two-year-old, frozen bread? 

Per Oven Via, the question you should be asking is not if you can eat two-year-old bread from the freezer safely. The better question is, would you even want to? The site notes that you will probably be fine consuming this aged bread. However, they also reveal the texture and overall quality of the bread will not be the same after being subjected to extreme cold for two years. It will very well have freezer burn, and even worse, it will absorb the smell of other foods you may have stored near it.

Food Network recommends only keeping your frozen bread for up to three months. And to avoid the many mishaps that can happen when you freeze bread, they suggest a double layer of plastic wrap, and then placing that wrapped bread into a Ziplock freezer bag. This will help mitigate your bread falling victim to freezer elements. But Food Network goes on to share that it is important you only freeze fresh bread so that when you defrost it, your bread will be at its optimal taste.