Freezing foods

SunnyDub1

When you freeze foods do they foods lose there nutritional value?

For example If I where to make a chicken stir fry from scratch - 70% of the stir fry would be made up from veg. If I was to freeze this stir fry would the veg lose there nutritional value ?
Has frozen Veg got the nutritional value has fresh veg ?

Or I where to freeze a dish made with coconut milk would the coconut milk still hold the same fat as it did before I froze it ?


Thanks

Emeraldy Pebbles

I'm a great advocate of cooking in bulk and freezing, it makes eating well so much easier during the work week. I don't think it would much affect nutritional value, the biggest problem with freezing is that sometimes it disimproves the texture of food. But as I regard food as fuel during the week, I brush past this pretty quickly.

thegreatiam

frozen veg and fruit, the kind you buy in the freezer section, is very similar in nutrition to fresh. (better in cases where its frozen at source)

if you buy the fresh veg, chop it and freeze it it will be slightly less.

I eat stir fries a lot, and i can share some tips.

rather than create a stir fry and then freeze it, just prep the ingredients and freeze them separate.

chop the veg you want to freeze on the day you buy it. lay it flat on a tray and put in the freezer for an hour or 2, after this transfer it to a suitable container or freezer bag. this is to stop it clumping together in one big ball.

when its time to make your stir fry just grab handfuls of the veg and heat it up, it works fine.

personally i think the texture is a little less pleasant then fresh but the taste/nutritional value is close enough.

veg i freeze: peppers, onions, carrots, celery. (bananas apples berries all for smoothies)
veg i buy frozen: peas, green beans. broccoli

Emeraldy Pebbles

Also, OP, when I batch cook, I don't freeze two or three portions, as these will be grand to keep in the fridge as long you eat them on successive days after cooking them.

SunnyDub1

Emeraldy Pebbles wrote: »

Also, OP, when I batch cook, I don't freeze two or three portions, as these will be grand to keep in the fridge as long you eat them on successive days after cooking them.

How many days do you leave ?

I'd be freezing from anything to 7 - 10 days

Emeraldy Pebbles

SunnyDub1 wrote: »

How many days do you leave ?

I'd be freezing from anything to 7 - 10 days

Well, if I cook something I'll freeze some straight away and then pop two portions in the fridge for the next two days. 7-10 days is grand for freezing.

rubadub

I would never freeze a chicken stir fry, somethings are more suited to freezing, there are several threads about it. e.g. curry would freeze & thaw far better than a stir fry as it is already stewed and full of liquid. Things like mushrooms will turn to mush when frozen in a household freezer and then thawed. So a stir fried mushroom will come out nasty, while a mushroom in a slow cooked casserole is not much different.

This is why one of the posters above mentioned freezing fruit for use in smoothies. Sometimes shops sell off black over-ripe bananas, they are ideal for freezing for smoothies.

El_Dangeroso

Frozen and then pulverized banana is nature's ice-cream. Ice-cream is also nature's ice-cream though.:)

Curries seem to taste better after freezing, all the ingredients and flavours meld together so much better.

As regards nutrition it makes very little difference:

http://nutritiondata.self.com/topics/processing

Typically 5%, but in some cases up to 30% as is the case with vitamin C.

Bulk cooking is the cornerstone of my healthy eating so that I always have something tasty and healthy to hand when I'm lazy or pushed for time.

Mellor

El_Dangeroso wrote: »

Frozen and then pulverized banana is nature's ice-cream.

lol beat me to it. I was about to post the same when Rubadub mentioned over-ripe bananas.

One of the hosts made this on this years Australian MasterChef.




Black Banana Ice-Cream

Ingredients

4 very ripe bananas, peeled, frozen.
(yup, that's all)

Place frozen bananas into the bowl of a stick blender fitted with chopper attachment. Blend until smooth and creamy. Serve immediately.