Feel the Burn

• Freezer burn affects virtually everything inside your freezer, including ice cream. This is when ice crystals develop and spread across the surface of your food, draining it of moisture. This saps the creaminess out of your ice cream, leaving it dry and covered in chunks of ice. Typically, any food stored in your freezer lasts about three months before freezer burn starts to develop. This does not necessarily apply to ice cream that is stored with an airtight vacuum seal, as this may prevent freezer burn from developing until the seal is broken.

The Crystal Method

• Temperature fluctuations affect the quality of ice cream. Discard ice cream that has been held at a temperature of 40 degrees or above for more than two hours -- even if it still feels cold. In that amount of time, it may have started to spoil or grow bacteria. Even a few minutes out of the freezer can start to compromise the food's integrity. Natural ice crystals start to break down and combine with each other, forming large chunks of ice, or freezer burn. Purchase ice cream in small quantities and serve it in its entirety, rather than purchased in large tubs and repeatedly moved in and out of the freezer.

Containers Matter

• The more air in your ice cream's container, the faster it develops freezer burn. That is why the ice cream you buy in the store is either packed to the rim or sealed with plastic, and why it develops freezer burn faster after you have removed a few scoops. To help your ice cream stay fresh, store it in broad, flat containers, and pack those containers tightly. This keeps the temperature consistent throughout, as it has equal exposure to the walls of the container, and permits as little air as possible into the container.

A Deep Freeze

• The door of your freezer is one of the worst places to store ice cream, as its exposed to warm air every time you open the door -- even if only for a few seconds at a time. That exposure is enough to negatively affect the ice crystals, making freezer burn develop and ruin your ice cream. Store ice cream as deep in the freezer as possible, where it won't be exposed to temperature fluctuations.