Nothing beats a fresh, crisp salad with a cilantro-lime marinated chicken breast, tossed with an assortment of leftover grilled veggies from last night’s barbecue you hosted, for a healthy, balanced Paleo lunch on a hot summer’s day.
And the next day, perhaps some of those grilled veggies and leftover chicken find their way into a chilled soup puree simply by adding in some bone broth and topping with a dollop of homemade guacamole.
But by day number three, grilled chicken and veggies are starting to sound far from appetizing. While they’re still edible and nutritious, having been stored properly in the fridge, their appeal has dissipated to the point that they’re the last thing you’re craving.
You arrive at a crossroads: force feed yourself, or toss it in the garbage and wear the wasting food badge. Thankfully there’s another prong to this fork: freezing.
Prepared, frozen foods and meals tend to be high in sodium, sugar, and a wide range of unfavorable additives, and preservatives. But, freezing meats, fish, and produce can be a healthy, handy part of your weekly Paleo regime, not to mention a huge savings in time, labor and cost.
While some of the flavor may be lost in the freezing process, it’s a good way to preserve the nutritional value and texture. In fact, it’s not the freezing process that actually changes the food, but the cooking that is often done beforehand and thawing afterward.1
From a health risk standpoint, don’t make the mistake of taking out a whole frozen chicken and letting it sit all day on the counter to defrost. Raw or cooked meat, poultry or egg products, as any perishable foods, must be kept at a safe temperature during the thawing process. While they’re safe indefinitely while frozen, as soon as they begin to thaw and become warmer than 40° F, bacteria that may have been present before freezing can begin to multiply. As such, perishable foods should never be thawed on the counter, or in hot water and must not be left at room temperature for more than two hours.
Plan ahead and thaw in the refrigerator where the food will remain at a safe, constant temperature — at 40° F or below.2
With the cons of freezing almost negligible, we can safely incorporate the process and save ourselves a good amount of time by doing a once or twice weekly prep as I refer to in Paleoista, with the “Hour in the Kitchen.”
During this time, if we simply steam several types of veggies, bake, broil or grill a few proteins, wash our lettuces and so on, we end up at the end of the hour with many ready to eat options. Then, we can mix and match in order to create a nice variety of meals to eat right then and there, to go or to freeze! By portioning out foods that are completely prepared into single servings and then freezing, we also save on cost as this approach allows us to prepare larger quantities.
Isn’t fresh always best, though? Won’t freezing meats, fish, and produce cause the nutrient density to diminish? Yes…and no.
Of course, in an ideal world, we’d all eat fresh fish, grass fed meats and pasture-raised poultry with local, organic produce at every single meal, all the time. As soon as we get back to reality, however, it becomes very clear that for most of us, doing this every time we eat just isn’t practical. But which foods freeze best and which should avoid the icebox?
