How Long Does Frozen Pizza Last in the Fridge – Best Way To Store Pizza
Have you ever thought a pizza is such a blessing for Humankind in this world? No, No, don’t laugh; let me solve this notion. A frozen pizza is a thing that can be your life-saving tool in emergencies, late-night pangs of hunger, sudden get-togethers, your broken times, and many more scenarios to name.
Yes, many other frozen items can do the purpose the same way, but A pizza is a pizza, with 5-7 minutes of microwaving and the same bubbling cheese melting in your mouth the next minute.
But how long does frozen pizza last in the fridge and at room temperature? Generally speaking, you can leave it for 3-5 days max. In some cases, a thawed pizza’s life can extend to a week or more. But that is very rare but very common behind food poisoning stories.
But let’s see the frozen pizza temp and time settings, green and red flags of freezing uncooked and leftover pizzas, and the best way to store pizza in the freezer.
Don’t follow more if you don’t bother about frozen pizza shelf life.
How Long Does Frozen Pizza Last in the Fridge – But, Can You Freeze Cooked Pizza Even?
The common perception is you can only freeze an uncooked pizza. For cooked pizza, the faith is only to consume in one go or waste it. So, can you freeze a cooked pizza?
Ideally, yes!
However, cooked pizzas or leftover pizza slices are very delicate things regarding reheating and bacteria interaction. Most of the time, if you do little carelessness or delay in consuming the frozen cooked pizza, you might land in serious health trouble.
I am not saying this, The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states, around 50M of US citizens get a victim of food poisoning. And a significant portion falls prey to consuming ill-cooked or expired frozen/preserved foods.
So, in that regard, how long can pizza be refrigerated so it doesn’t turn into a foul meal? You know, it entirely depends on the pizza ingredients. As generally, most of the chefs claim frozen pizza shelf life is between 3-5 days.
Yet, if your pizza has been topped with extremely delicate ingredients to environmental microbes, you shouldn’t wait for the third day right after it has been pulled out of the freezer for thawing purposes. The most delicate pizza ingredients include
- Shrimps
- Salmon
- Egg
- Lots of Onion
- Mushrooms
- Dairy products in the dough like milk, yogurt
- Spinach and such other ingredients
So, whether it’s a store-bought uncooked pizza or cooked pizza leftovers, no matter how much safer you store frozen pizza in the fridge, don’t jump the red line, which I consider to be the 3rd day since you defrost it.
Is Frozen Pizza Bad for You? Busting the Myths:
Does frozen pizza go bad against your health? Yes. Honestly speaking, you’ll find many chefs and food enthusiasts answering this query with a straight NO. “Frozen pizza is also pizza; it doesn’t hurt you in any significant way” you probably will hear this on various platforms.
I rather don’t want to inject chilling facts into your bones but hear my standpoint on this question without making it complex and technical.
Frozen Pizza, when not properly thawed and reheated, can be injurious to your health. But how? Apart from calories, sugar, fat, carbohydrates, sodium, and potassium concentration theories, there are some basic facts you should note down;
Can disturb Your Metabolism:
Do you know why eating hard and cold foods have been medically prohibited? The reason is that frozen food directly affects your metabolism with slow digestion.
Factually, the cultural diversity in Asia is tremendous. In cultures like India, China, Pakistan, and Japan, there is a sort of dietary prohibition on the intake of cold water after meals.
The reason is that your body decomposes the food; the cold temperature water takes a counter dig at a natural process and forcefully slows down the metabolism.
The same happens with frozen pizza; the frozen fats, carbohydrates, and sugar slow down the metabolism rate; that’s why you mislay your physical stamina and get very prone to diabetes, heart diseases, and much more.
Nevertheless, don’t worry; the side effects mentioned here will not haunt you in the very first bite you take from your frozen pizza. Just avoid overdoing it.
Is frozen pizza healthy? – Probably Only a homemade One:
I don’t want to spoil your frame of mind but if you ask, is frozen pizza healthy to consume? I WOULD NOT vouch a Yes for it. But maybe your homemade frozen pizza can be a less dangerous staple food than the store-bought.
The fact is, some of the brands add artificial preservatives and chemicals to keep their frozen product going to longer extents.
For example, you check the ingredient list on different frozen pizza brands and see the “Bleached or refined Flour” there.
Mostly, you ignore these because you don’t know what nutritional benefits these contents give. Basically, these are refined contents that get added to the frozen pizza recipe to make it last longer from the date of manufacturing. And you should know from now “Processed foods are not good for human health.”
Other than these, sometimes there is a multi-layer of chemical preservatives that provide no nutritional benefits rather put you in conditions like blotting, vomit, or food poisoning.
That’s why, in the how to use section, you sometimes see “don’t microwave” and “don’t refrigerate.”
Technically, homemade frozen pizza doesn’t have all these. So, the damage gets minimal but doesn’t vanish at all.
Can You Refreeze Frozen Pizza – Do Frozen Pizzas Expire?
Ideally, the process is, you make the pizza or buy it from the store, and after the resting process, you freeze it. Now in an hour of need, the pizza needs to be refrigerated for thawing purposes. So after reheating it, you can’t refreeze the frozen pizza. No, Never!
Freezing the pizza lets hibernate all the microbial activity. Once you reactivate it in the form of reheating, you initiate moisture, bacteria, fats, and other environmental factors affecting your food. So as long as you have reheated it, the max time to consume it is 2-3 hours.
So what happened after this limit? You won’t find any change in the smell and taste of your pizza. But in a very microscopic world, there will be a huge army of bacteria attacking your food ingredients.
This can cause severe food poisoning, a stomach infection, blotting, and other conditions.
But when does frozen pizza expire? Look, there is a sign of relief for you, mate.
It also depends on storing mechanisms and ingredients. If your ingredients are all veg and no dairy products in the making, it even lasts up to 6 months in many cases. Yet, fundamentally, you shouldn’t go above 2 months to be on the safer side.
How to Store Pizza – The Best Way to Store Pizza:
All the deadlines and claims on how long frozen pizza lasts come true when you store the pizza in the right way. Also, the quality is highly dependent on what temperatures and the amount of air you manage for storage.
On a very absolute note, the temperatures should be 0 to -3 degrees Fahrenheit or -18-24 degrees Celsius. You can go somewhat below it but above the 0-degree limit is the start of refrigeration temperatures which can shorten your frozen pizza life span.
So, you can store your pizza in three different ways:
Airtight Containers: Ceramic, glass, or BEFA-free plastic jars won’t let moisture penetrate the storage pot.
Freezer bags: A better alternative that consumes less space if you need to store the bulk of frozen pizza in your cold storage.
Paper Towels: Although people use them, I haven’t saved my pizzas with this material, but yes, at my 3rd priority, this can also be used as the best way to store pizza.
People Also Ask – FAQs
Is 2 day old pizza still good?
2 days old pizza will not be good if you haven’t stored it properly. If you have left it at room temperatures, most chances are this will be equally poisonous for your health.
What to do if Accidentally Left Frozen Pizza out overnight?
You better move on, your pizza will not be rotten at moderate room temperatures if accidently left out overnight. But if you’re a serious health conscious, you better avoid it for the sake of your good health.
How long is a pizza good in the fridge?
To my experience, a pizza is totally good to consume if it hasn’t been residing more than two days in the fridge. Yes 3-4 days is also a good range, but for the 2 days, you can consume it with great peace of mind.
The Bottom Line: Are you Ready to Have a Refrigerated Pizza?
So, how long does frozen pizza last in the fridge? I believe 3-4 days is enough time to consume it. And for the health precautions, till you know the game of best ways to store pizza or uncooked pizza, you are winning some great treats for your taste buds. However, don’t cross the limit. Frozen pizza isn’t a healthy diet; rather, it gradually increases bad fats and sugar in your blood.
