I’m a big fan of frozen foods, for lots of reasons:
- Often – and especially this time of year in the Midwest! – frozen fruits and veggies are more nutritious and healthy than what’s in the produce aisle. That’s because they’re picked, prepared, and frozen in the height of freshness, instead of being shipped hundreds or thousands of miles and then sitting on a grocer’s shelf for days or weeks.
- While I aim for 2-3 nights a week of “from scratch” cooking, there are plenty of nights when we just don’t have the time to do everything we want or need to do plus cook a full meal. Whether it’s a bag of veggies or a prepared dish, my freezer offers plenty of options for getting dinner on the table quicker and with fewer dirty pots. On busier nights, I love that I can still sit down at the table and have a real meal with my family.
- Frozen foods have gotten a bad rap for being overly processed and full of preservatives, sugar, and sodium, but here’s a little myth-busting for you:
- Healthy Choice meals use apples instead of added sugar for sweetness and red wine for flavor, instead of extra salt.
- Read the packaging! You’ll find ingredients like whole-grain pasta, real cheeses, fresh veggies, olive oil, and herbs and spices.
- The veggies in a Healthy Choice meal are frozen within 24 hours of being picked, so you always get garden-fresh flavor and nutrition
- The pasta in a Healthy Choice meal is homemade from scratch, not dried, and prepared and frozen right in the Healthy Choice kitchens.
I’m working with ConAgra Foods to dispel some of the myths surrounding frozen meals and to show how frozen foods can be incorporated into your family dinners – either on their own, or as just one part of a meal. Whether you’re warming up the homemade soup you made last month or heating a prepared meal to serve your family on a busy evening, frozen foods are definitely one smart way to get dinner on the table.
Up top, there’s a video I made showing how to blanch and quickly freeze veggies at home to lock in flavor and freshness and avoid freezer burn, similar to the way a Healthy Choice meal is prepared and stored before it goes to the freezer aisle…and your home. I hope you enjoy it!
Tell us: How do you incorporate frozen and foods into your family meals?
