Healthy eating without extra effort: why and what foods should be frozen
Kyiv • UNN
Freezing food helps preserve nutrients and simplify the cooking process. Fruits, broth, ginger, vegetables, grains, and meat can be frozen for long-term storage without losing their beneficial properties.
When it comes to healthy eating, it's important to remember that cooking at home is one of the best ways to ensure balanced meals. However, we often simply feel lazy to cook something or don't have time. Sometimes it seems that cooking healthy meals is too difficult. But what if there are actually methods that can help you simplify this process?
For example, as an option, freezing food. This allows you to preserve many nutrients, including vitamins and minerals, which can be lost during long-term storage or heat treatment.
Read in the UNN material which products you should start freezing to start eating right and save your time.
Fruits
Frozen fruits are an ideal solution for healthy eating. One of the advantages is that fruits do not lose their beneficial properties and retain their taste during freezing. In addition, they are already peeled or cut, which greatly facilitates their use during cooking.
If you have leftover fresh fruit, simply spread it on a baking sheet and freeze, then store in airtight bags or containers. This method will allow you to store fruit for up to a year, and it will always be at hand for making smoothies, desserts, or other dishes. Frozen fruits retain their qualities for up to 12 months.
Broth
Not everyone always has a lot of time for a lunch break. So a good solution is to freeze broth, which can then be used in the preparation of various dishes. It is suitable for soups, stews, roasts, and even for cooking cereals without oil. Frozen broth can be stored for up to six months, unlike how quickly it spoils in the refrigerator.
To freeze broth, pour it into silicone molds or freezer bags. You can also use ice cube trays to have convenient portions on hand for sauces or braising. Frozen broth thaws quickly and can be easily added directly to the pot.
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Ginger
Ginger is an ingredient with a spicy taste and numerous benefits for digestion and health, which will add more piquancy to your dishes. When frozen, ginger retains all its beneficial properties, which is no less important. In addition, it can be added not only to dishes, but also used to make delicious vitamin teas.
To freeze ginger, simply place the unpeeled root in a freezer bag. When cooking, frozen ginger can be grated directly into the dish. You can also chop it before freezing. Whole ginger can be stored for up to six months, and chopped ginger for three to four months.
Vegetables
Vegetables, like fruits, are great for freezing. They not only retain most of their beneficial properties, but also allow you to enjoy the taste of various vegetables even out of season. Frozen vegetables sold in stores are harvested at the peak of their ripeness, which allows them to retain the maximum content of nutrients and taste.
If you decide to freeze your own grown vegetables, the process is not complicated. The first step is their preparation: cleaning, cutting, and blanching (brief immersion in boiling water and subsequent cooling with cold water). This helps preserve the taste, color, and texture after freezing. Then the vegetables should be spread in a single layer on a baking sheet and placed in the freezer. After they are frozen, they can be transferred to bags or containers for long-term storage.
Grains, porridges
Grains and porridges are an important source of carbohydrates, which are the main source of energy for the body. However, their preparation can take a lot of time, especially when it comes to more hearty varieties, such as wild rice or quinoa.
To make their preparation faster, you can cook a large portion and freeze it for later use. Simply cook, for example, rice, cool it to room temperature, then spread it in an even layer on a baking sheet and freeze.
After that, transfer the rice to freezer bags, remove excess air, and store them in the freezer.
When it's time to use frozen grains, simply transfer them to the refrigerator for a few hours or overnight to thaw. Then they can be reheated on the stove or in the microwave and added to various dishes - soups, stews, pilaf.
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Meat and seafood
Meat and seafood are excellent sources of protein that add satiety and nutrition to your diet. Instead of buying them regularly, you can buy them during a sale and freeze them, which will save money and have ingredients for various dishes on hand.
Meat or seafood can be frozen raw or cooked. If you are freezing already cooked products, be sure to let them cool to room temperature before placing them in the freezer. Warm products can form condensation, which leads to the formation of ice crystals that affect the texture when reheated.
It is useful to freeze products in portions that you can use at one time. For example, salmon fillets can be divided into separate bags or containers for freezing so that you don't thaw more than you need. Grilled chicken can be shredded or cut into pieces before freezing.