Why You Should Be Cautious With Frozen Food

In theory, frozen food serves a purpose. We can skip a 45 minute preparation time in lieu of a 5 minute (sometimes even shorter) heating period. The food sounds healthy enough – “whole wheat pasta with grilled zucchini and mushrooms”, where could we go wrong? It’s better than McDonalds right?

Like everything else, inventions serve a purpose. It’s up to us to decide what we are to benefit from said technology. These days, fruits and vegetables are farm-fresh frozen, meaning that the maximum nutrients available to us are coming to us – and that too without any added preservatives.

This permits for us to enjoy certain seasonal items throughout the year – giving us continuity in nutrients as well as becoming a budgetized way to keep up with some potentially healthy habits.

The key to frozen food is simple, if it’s already prepared then served – skip. If its been taken straight from a farm – use it without fear.

For years, I’ve skipped all frozen foods of any kind but steadily I’ve added frozen fruits and vegetables back into my diet mainly to ensure that I’m actually getting the healthiest version of my produce without questioning levels of pesticides, origin of the product and finally the consistency of the taste (which these days, there are simply no guarantees).

Of course like when buying regular produce, be smart. Something too cheap or sounding too good to be true probably is. If a vegetable is imported from halfway around the world and costs 1/10 of the price of the actual vegetable – you’ve been warned!

-Amit Vaidya

Amit Vaidya is the best-selling author of the memoir Holy Cancer and the upcoming Food Is Medicine cookbook series. He is the in-house health & wellness expert for Kapiva Ayurveda, advocating for the empowerment of all individuals to be in the driver’s seat of their own lives. He chronicles his life on Instagram under the handle @live4todayamit. 

Check out our blog on Food Combinations to Avoid