Frozen foods are becoming more and more popular as days pass by. From children to elders, everyone loves the taste, and great convenience frozen foods bring. After all, who wouldn’t want a tasty burger, fried fish, nugget, chicken patty, vegetable, shake, and fruit after just a few moments of preparation? That is the allure of frozen foods, and those food categories are just a small sample of them.
The principal reason why people love frozen foods is that they fit the way people live and eat today – in an age where everyone is seemingly always on the go and doing something. Frozen foods offer incomparable value in several ways, such as dollar savings, energy savings, time savings, and, sometimes, even better nutrition and quality than fresh foods.
Frozen foods have their pros and cons as well, much like everything else in this world. In this article, we will look at them deeper in the hopes of determining whether or not the benefits of frozen foods outweigh their negatives.
Summary Table
Here is a quick rundown of the pros and cons of frozen foods.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Frozen foods are great time-savers | Frozen foods more often than not don’t taste as good as fresh food |
| Frozen foods are convenient | It has limited variety of frozen dishes |
| They are often cheaper than fresh food | Issues with the cooling chain can lead to health problems |
| Can be helpful on stressful days; perfect after a tiring day’s work | Texture may be altered when freezing food |
| Enables you to precook food and then freeze | Some frozen dishes contain preservatives; others may prove too salty |
| Can prevent the development of bacteria | Frozen foods do not all look pleasing |
| Can reduce food waste | Takes up a chunk of your freezer space |
| Can prove beneficial to restaurants | You may forget your food in the freezer |
| Frozen foods give you flexibility in your meal plan | Usually not diet friendly;usually high in fat and calories |
The Pros of Frozen Foods
Frozen foods are great time-savers
Nowadays, when everyone always has something to do and is always on the go, time-savers are considered saving graces – such are frozen foods. Today’s society has seemingly got most people stressed and occupied all the time, and quite often than not, they no longer have enough time to create a meal out of fresh food. This directly correlates to the ever-increasing popularity of frozen foods, which experts believe could reach a market size of over $504 billion by 2030.
Frozen foods are convenient
Convenience is arguably the greatest pulling factor of frozen foods. You just have to open your freezer, pull out your favorite, and easily place it in your trusty microwave or oven for cooking. That is it. Frozen foods are often already cut, and you do not even have to make an effort to prepare them. Furthermore, they are readily accessible in almost every store you see.
They are often cheaper than fresh food
You can also save tons of money allocated specifically for food if you buy frozen instead of fresh foods. To give you an idea of how much you can save by opting for frozen foods instead of the fresh variant, say, for example, if you want to buy fresh fish, you would have to pay multiple times more than just purchasing the frozen one. Although it isn’t advisable to constantly buy frozen food, going for them more often than not saves significant money.
Can be helpful on stressful days
Pull one from your freezer, put it in your microwave or oven, and wait for a few moments. Voila! You now have a tasty meal for dinner! Frozen foods are perfect for stressful days when you feel as if you no longer have the energy or time to cook yourself a fresh meal. After a long day’s work, some just want to relax and give minimal effort – frozen foods allow you to do just that while still keeping you well-fed and nourished.
Frozen foods give you flexibility in your meal plan
Frozen foods can also give you much more flexibility regarding what you want to consume for the next few days. Note that frozen foods have a much longer shelf life than fresh foods. If you buy fresh foods, you would have to use them within a few days so they won’t get bad and ultimately waste money and food. In contrast, if you rely on frozen foods instead, you can choose spontaneously what you want to eat for the day.
The Cons of Frozen Foods
Frozen foods, more often than not, don’t taste as good as fresh food
While frozen foods’ taste has indeed jumped in quality over the years, more often than not, they still don’t taste as good as their fresh variants. Some may stand par to par with fresh foods in terms of quality and taste, but most just can’t. That said, if you want to eat the best foods, you may want to rely on fresh food instead of frozen ones.
It has limited variety of frozen dishes
Unlike fresh foods, where you practically can cook up anything you want using the ingredients at your disposal, in frozen foods, what you see is what you get. Even though there are now some frozen convenience products that encourage experimentation akin to fresh foods, the selection of such products is still often limited, and many of them also do not taste as good. So, if you want to experiment while cooking, you better stick to fresh foods, at least for now.
Some frozen dishes contain preservatives
Another major downside of frozen foods is that they often contain unhealthy preservatives in order to have an even longer duration. Needless to say, these preservatives can lead to serious health issues for some people after prolonged or constant consumption. Moreover, frozen foods also usually have lots of sodium in them. While this keeps the food fresh and ready for consumption, some people may find the food too salty because of it.
Frozen foods do not all look pleasing
If you love your food to look presentable and ultimately pleasing to the eyes, you may not be a fan of frozen foods that much. As we have already established in the pros section above, convenience is at the heart of frozen foods – it is arguably the principal reason they were made in the first place. Hence, appearance is at the bottom of the manufacturer’s concerns.
You may forget your food in the freezer
Some people simply forget their food in the freezer – in fact, some may even leave a pack or two in there for years! This usually happens when you have a large freezer at home and have many different layers of food in it. If you store foods in the freezer for too long, chances are they may no longer be edible, or at the very least; they may no longer taste as good.
Related Article: How Long Can You Keep Frozen Food In The Freezer
Conclusion
What we have here is but a small sample of the advantages and disadvantages you can get from consuming frozen foods. While not everyone may be a fan of them, it is worth noting that the frozen foods industry is continually evolving and is at a rapid pace from competing head-to-head with fresh foods in almost every category.
Nevertheless, we sincerely believe that indulging in frozen foods can be great from time to time, especially if you don’t have the time, money, or energy to go and cook a meal by yourself using fresh ingredients.
So, are frozen foods considered processed foods? What are their differences or similarities? Read our article about that after this.
