LATEST NEWS: Victory for the Frozen Message

Dr. Oz & TIME Magazine Help Bring Frozen to the Public 

The American food supply is abundant, nutritionally sound and affordable – and it can be found in your supermarket.

An article written by Dr. Mehmet Oz, well-known surgeon, author and personality, in a TIME cover story called “What to Eat Now,” might include the most important message today’s families can hear when it comes to their diet. Though the idea is not exactly new, talking about it in a new way has been tectonic, and it may change, once and for all, the way we think about nutrition.

It’s a message consumers and their families are prepared for. Dr. Oz’s clear statements about frozen and canned food speak to nagging myths we’ve lived with too long. For example, is frozen food as nutritious as fresh? Today, technology allows us the taste and nutritional advantages of fruit and vegetables harvested and preserved at their peak. (In his article, Dr. Oz explains the shift in freezing that began with Charles Birdseye.) Nutrition, in fact, comes in many forms, and one is certainly frozen. Eating frozen and canned foods is an important part of how most of us can eat healthily now.

Eating for Our Time 

Today, the message to consumers that affordability, convenience, and ease is not just OK, but it can also be nutritionally sound is one embraced by families tasked with providing meals nutritious enough to stave off the increasing threat of obesity and disease. Healthy food should be, and is, achievable for all of us by shopping right at the supermarket where we can take advantage of frozen and canned food as well as fresh or when fresh is not available. Families facing squeezed food budgets and precious little time for food preparation can turn to frozen and feel good about their nutritional choices.

Dr. Oz makes his case, he says, after years of research and experience. “The American food supply is abundant, nutritionally sound, affordable,” he said of what he calls the 99% diet. (You can hear Dr. Oz talk more about this on CNN.) It’s time for all of us to throw our hats skyward to join him in celebrating frozen and the opportunity for good health for everyone.

Wild: The Best of Frozen

According to Dr. Oz, canned salmon and frozen peas are a part of eating well on a budget without sacrificing nutrition – and with no concerns about waste, a major food budget killer. Dr. Oz is also a notorious proponent of wild blueberries), and wild blueberries offer a perfect case in point: while they are harvested in Maine and parts of Canada, the frozen fresh method of freezing allows our region to supply the entire country and parts of the world all year round with the berry’s wild nutritional advantages. Live outside of these regions? Not the harvest season? Buying affordably in bulk at the supermarket? Wild blueberries are there to oblige in the supermarket’s frozen aisle, easily purchased in large bags to be used as needed anytime, always at the peak of taste and nutrition, just like they were at the moment they were frozen.

Among its many rewards, frozen allows for variety, which is one of the best way to eat nutritiously. Wild blueberries lead the pack when it comes to nutrition. A wonderful way to introduce color into your diet, wild blueberries stand out because they outperform other fruits when it comes to measuring total antioxidant capacity per serving. Because of their powerful antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, they can help protect against diseases such as cancer, heart disease, diabetes and Alzheimer’s. Wild blueberries are an important component of an affordable, nutritionally sound diet, not to mention a gift to mothers everywhere: have you ever heard a mother warn their child to “finish your wild blueberries”? Of course not – they are already gone.

Forging A Path to Frozen

We’ve assembled some of our favorite frozen-focused posts that have helped herald this new age of nutrition. In light of frozen’s passionate support from Dr. Oz and countless other experts, we thought it would be appropriate to look at them in a new light – as part of a revolution to bring good nutritional health to one and all.

Here are some highlights from past posts that have helped forge a path to frozen.

Saving Your Frozen for Processing? You’re Missing Out
That frozen is only for food processing is a once widely held belief is changing rapidly. Today, frozen wild blues are an ingredient that works in more than smoothies. IQF freezing means each berry maintains its size and structure. That means we can bake with frozen when the individual berry is important, or thaw them for use in any number of toppings, salads and entrées.

Frozen Fruit Myths…Debunked!
Here, the myths of frozen face incontrovertible evidence to the contrary. Think frozen means a glob of ice or a square of green? Not a chance. Not premium quality? Nope. Less nutritious than picked from a field? No sir. Get hip to the next generation of frozen and dispense with the old school beliefs.

Milk, Eggs, Butter….and Frozen
Got frozen on your list? Here’s why you should. Frozen can eliminate kitchen prep time, it’s easy to work with, and it’s there when you need it – in your freezer, as good as the day you purchased it.

Frozen Bombshell: Why Nutrition No Longer = Fresh
Consumers have wisely tuned in to foods that offer competitive prices and low waste. They’ve had to. From the ultimate foodie to the frying-pan challenged, we all need healthy ingredients that are affordable and available. Thinking “frozen” as well as “fresh” offers the answer.

Embrace the Brrr! 5 Summer Fruits to Eat Frozen This Winter
Got a yen for summer fruit but the mercury is low? Enter frozen! Find out how you can eat mangoes, peaches and wild blueberries as if it’s the height of the summer (and not have to pay more.)

Help make the case for frozen! Check out these 10 Fruity Reasons to Visit the Frozen Aisle.

Frozen Fruit Myths…Debunked!

With ample evidence that frozen is just a good as fresh when it comes to getting delicious, healthy fruits into your diet, you might still hear that voice in the back of your head – the one hanging on to the notion of “fresh” – the one that makes you feel that during the winter months when produce shelves are wanting, frozen is a necessary compromise.

It’s understandable. Fresh is great, and it has long been a mantra for healthy eaters. And, old notions of frozen – those established prior to quick freezing technology – can bring to mind ideas of ice-encased foods that lack taste or nutritional value. But those ideas are old-school. A rising interest in competitive prices and low waste, along with an effort by consumers to raise the bar on their nutrition has only contributed to making frozen, well, cool.

It’s important to get your servings of fruits and veggies. They are simply the best avenue to maintaining weight, improving health, and preventing disease. So, in an effort to reinforce what those who enjoy their fruit every season of the year already know, we’re debunking some frozen myths (using the wild blueberry as a case in point) that will help even fresh fanatics turn toward the freezer section.

Myth #1: Frozen isn’t as nutritious as fresh. 

Not so. In fact, this myth has been proven to be untrue for quite a while. Way back in 1998, the Food & Drug Administration confirmed that frozen fruits and vegetables provide the same essential nutrients and health benefits as fresh – great news for those seeking year-round healthy foods. Consider this: wild blueberries top the ORAC chart of 40 tested foods, making them the #1 antioxidant fruit – fresh or frozen – it makes no difference.

Myth #2: OK, but frozen definitely isn’t better than fresh.

This one may surprise you: Quick frozen foods like wild blueberries actually can be. They retain their nutritional value longer, and they are preserved at their peak, not before. Since development of a technology known as the individually quick-frozen (IQF) method, foods can be frozen when they are at their peak of freshness. Some fresh-sold fruits are picked early to ensure they won’t spoil during the long shipping and storage, but not those that are quick-frozen. And, their value doesn’t deteriorate during storage periods, something that is inevitable with fresh-sold fruit. The ability to be captured at their peak of taste, ripeness and nutrition means everything you like about your favorite fruits is captured and locked in for the duration.

Myth #3: Frozen means a glob of ice.

Chalk this one up to quick freezing technology as well. IQF means the integrity of delicate foods like berries is completely preserved. The wild blueberry, for example, as small as it is, holds its shape and texture through the quick freezing method. Because the “I” in IQF stands for Individual, frozen berries maintain their identities – they don’t glob together in balls of ice. They maintain their quality for more than two years, too. So, if you still think using frozen foods means chopping through the tundra, think again.

Myth #4: I cook, and frozen is harder to use.

This is simply not the case. Performance is first class for IQF fruit. For example, blueberries have superior performance when used in recipes, and retain their structure even better while frozen – and they can be used in most recipes that call for blueberries. Plus, frozen is a better choice for concocting frosty, nutritious smoothies. (Also, did you know frozen wild blueberries have less water than cultivated blueberries, making them the better choice for most recipes?)

Myth #5: Big frozen packages just aren’t convenient.

Don’t kid yourself. Single servings are easy to extract from the freezer for use in meals, in recipes, or for snacking. Stand-up bottoms with resealable zip pouches are available for some premium products. And, frozen is always there when you want it – whenever you need a cup, a scoop or a sprinkle. What could be more convenient?

Myth #6: Frozen fruit isn’t premium quality.

Debunked. The most popular frozen fruit brands use only premium fruit for freezing, yielding a consistently superior product.

Myth #7: With frozen, I don’t know what I’m getting.

Frozen fruit is just that: fruit. Unless the label says otherwise, frozen fruits like blueberries contain one ingredient. They have no caloric syrups and additives, and are just pure, unadulterated, nutrient-rich fruit.


Myth #8: Impressive. So, frozen must be more expensive.

Not a chance. Frozen fruits are usually found at a remarkable value when compared to in-season pricing. And, you can buy them in economically sound bulk packages knowing that no aging or spoiling means no waste, adding to the economic benefit.

Forgoing fruit during the long winter season? How uncool. Now is no time to compromise on your health. Every season is the perfect season for taste and nutrition – go frozen!

High Five Your Freezer – March is Frozen Food Month

A month that celebrates what is in your freezer? You bet. Consider that less than a century ago, before the launch of quick frozen foods, consumers were unable to take advantage of the convenience and nutritional value of fruits, vegetables, meats and fish. Today, “frozen” has truly caught on with consumers who seem poised to take full advantage of the benefits. The race is on to feed healthy foods to our kids at home and at school, and all across the country people are paying attention to rising rates of obesity and preventable diseases. As a result, the demand for available, nutritious foods has skyrocketed. Nothing comes to the rescue better than frozen foods.

In 1998, the Food & Drug Administration confirmed that frozen fruits and vegetables provide the same essential nutrients and health benefits as fresh. What’s more is that quick frozen foods can actually be better than fresh because they retain their nutritional value longer, and they don’t lose nutrients as they age during shipping and storage. Foods like wild blueberries, for example, are picked and frozen at the peak of freshness, locking in all that antioxidant power, thanks to individually quick frozen (IQF) technology, and that’s exactly how they show up on your plate. And, fruits and vegetables like frozen wild blueberries are available in stores everywhere.

Consumers have discovered the facts about nutritional value, and they are demanding food that is available year round without nutritional sacrifices. A rising interest in competitive prices and low waste has only contributed to the budget stretching trend known simply as frozen. So go ahead and give your freezer a little love this month by stocking it with the benefits of frozen!

You can also join the fun by entering a $10,000 sweepstakes sponsored by the National Frozen & Refrigerated Foods Association. Check it out at EasyHomeMeals.com.