Foods you should never store in a freezer
Internet hacks will tell you that avocados can be frozen with careful preparation – chopping, dressing in lemon juice, and fast freezing. However, that buttery texture and vivid green colour will be lost, leaving you with a mush that's pretty useless (unless you can hide it in a smoothie).
If you know your beans, you'll know the delicious aromatics that emerge from coffee mostly come from flavour compounds within the beans' natural oils. Preserving the life of these oils is a good instinct, but the freezer can't help.
Vegetables with a high water content will cope poorly with the freezing process, as their delicate liquid-containing cells (which, when fresh, give them such a satisfying crunch) will be blown apart as the liquid expands into ice crystals.
The high water content in cream cheese makes it prone to bacterial spoiling before you get around to using up the full tub. But be warned: store this high-fat cheese in the freezer, and that gorgeously silky consistency we all love will turn grainy, crumbly and wet.
Freezing cucumber batons may feel like the ultimate get-ahead canapé trick, but it's really not such a great idea. A high water content means the cell walls in this classic salad vegetable will expand and burst as they freeze.
Trifles, brûlées, and bakes filled or topped with custard are too good to waste, so we won't blame you for wanting to make your leftovers last. But while authentic egg-based custards are just divine when enjoyed fresh, they undergo an unfortunate transformation as they defrost.
Delicate rose petals or frothy elderflowers can make a beautiful addition to cakes and desserts. Some cooks even mill them into pasta dough or glaze them onto sourdough loaves for a beautiful aesthetic.