Frozen Food… More Nutritious?

There is a lot of time spent watching YouTube videos in my life that probably should be spent on schoolwork… luckily for me, sometimes the two intertwine. About a month ago, a fantastic channel called AsapSCIENCE released this video titled “Fresh vs Frozen Foods” which argues that whether one is more healthful than the other is entirely dependent on circumstances.

If any of you have harvested tomatoes or perhaps some other produce at farm like Common Thread, you will know that this food is often picked before it is ripe in order for it to last longer at the market. In other words, the food’s “peak nutrition” has not yet been reached and nutritional content only continues to decay after being picked. The same idea applies—often to a larger degree—to larger enterprises across the globe that supply your local supermarket. The time spent sitting at the store and eventually in your home is significant: up to 50% of the nutritional value of some foods can be lost if you leave them alone long enough.

On the other hand, frozen foods are picked when they are ripe and are frozen immediately. Of course, some nutritional value is lost after being frozen, but the majority of it is “locked in” until the nutrition decays after being thawed. So unless such foods can be bought at a farmer’s market or picked from your garden and eaten that same day (which is especially unlikely when certain produce is out of season), frozen foods can often be a healthy alternative.