Registered Dietitian’s Guide to Freezing & Thawing Your Meals

Registered Dietitian on FREEZING Your Meals

Freezing your food is a great way to increase an ingredient’s shelf life, especially for perishable foods that can rot quickly, such as meat.¹

Based on what I’ve studied as a Registered Dietitian, freezing meals helps you retain their vitamin and mineral contents. A study found that vitamin C, trans-b-carotene, and folic acid within frozen fruits and vegetables don’t have any significant change compared to their fresh counterparts.²

Yet, you can’t just leave the ingredients forever in your freezer. Based on the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, ideally, you can freeze beef, lamb, and pork for 12 months. For chicken, turkey, or other poultry meats for 9-12 months. This duration assumes you put them in a freezer at 0°F (-18°C) or below.

Here are some general tips when trying to freeze your food:

• Ensure your freezer is at an appropriate temperature (0°F or lower).
• Divide your foods according to your portion. Ideally, you’d want to reheat and prepare your meals without thawing too much.
• Place the ingredients or premade meal inside an airtight ziplock bag or food container. Try to remove as much air as possible to prevent freezer burns.
• Let premade food cool at room temperature before putting them inside your freezer.
• Blanch vegetables first before freezing them. This process preserves their color by deactivating the enzyme that causes them to turn brown.
• You can freeze fruits directly without processing them first.

Registered Dietitian on THAWING Your Meals

As a Registered Dietitian, I must first remind you that bacteria can’t survive at a freezing temperature (0°C or lower). However, they certainly still exist within the food. When the temperature goes up, there’s a chance that some remaining bacteria can reproduce again. That’s why it’s better to avoid thawing food by leaving it at room temperature or soaking it in hot water.

Generally, there are three defrosting or thawing methods considered safe for health:^{3 4}

1. Refrigerator Thawing

You move the food from the freezer to the fridge, then let it thaw slowly.

The Downside:

• The bigger the food’s size, the longer it takes to thaw completely.
• Some parts of the meal may not thaw evenly. This depends on how you place it inside the fridge. The front side (where you open your fridge) will thaw quicker than the back. The top-most drawer also thaws your food faster than the bottom-most one.

The Upside:

You can refreeze the thawed food directly without cooking it first.

2. Cold Water / Running Water Thawing

Put the frozen food in a bowl, then run cold water (70°F or lower) over it. Change the water in the bowl every 30 minutes.

The Downside:

• The water flow should be strong enough to wash the ice away.
• The container must be airtight to prevent bacterial microorganisms from entering the food. The washing bowl should also be clean.
• If you want to refreeze the food, you need to cook it first.

The Upside:

The food thaws quicker than the refrigerator thawing.

3. Microwave Thawing

You place the frozen food inside a microwave, then let it heat the food directly.

The Downside:

• You must cook the food immediately because the bacteria can grow at microwave temperature (danger zone of 40°-140°F).
• Some parts of the meal may not cook evenly.
• If you want to refreeze the food, you need to cook it first.

The Upside:

You can thaw your food quickly.

General Tips on Thawing Meals

Apart from which method you’ll choose to thaw your food, I have some tips for you:

• You can actually cook a frozen meal directly without thawing. However, it takes a longer time. Size also matters as a big chunk of meat may cook unevenly. The outside is done, but the inside is still raw. The longer you cook it, the drier the texture.
• Make sure you thaw the food thoroughly before cooking them. Check whether there is any ice crystal left.
• It’s inadvisable to refreeze thawed food. With each freezing-thawing cycle, the bacteria inside keeps growing, so the quality of the food will drop.
• To avoid refreezing often, preparing your frozen meals in a ready-to-eat portion is recommended.

Avoiding Cross-Contamination when Thawing Food

• Store raw and cooked food in separate positions (not piling them up in the freezer).
• Thaw the raw foods in the bottom-most fridge drawer, thus minimizing the microbial activity before you cook them.
• Use an airtight container or plastic to freeze the meal and close it properly. When thawing, place it on a tray so the water won’t drip onto other foods.