Make Your Freezer Your Friend This Winter

During winter, when there is a more limited variety of fresh produce available locally, frozen foods are a great option to keep on hand. While they may not be as eye-catching as fresh produce, frozen foods can be especially helpful when you are short on time or feeling less motivated to cook while still providing essential nutrition for you and your family. I love being able to reach into my freezer to grab a bag of frozen vegetables, like broccoli or spinach, to add to soups or stir-fries, or to toss frozen berries or leafy greens into the blender for a quick breakfast smoothie. Today, we are celebrating our freezers! We’ll highlight the benefits of using frozen produce and share best practices for freezing foods and thawing them safely, so you can enjoy delicious meals all winter long.

Perks of Frozen Foods

There’s nothing better than eating fresh, locally grown fruits and vegetables straight from nearby farms. However, frozen produce offers many benefits, especially during winter when fresh options are harder to find. Frozen foods are often more convenient and can save time in the kitchen, as many fruits and vegetables are washed and chopped before freezing and are ready to use right out of the bag. Freezing food also helps reduce food waste. Frozen foods last much longer than foods stored in the refrigerator, giving you more time to use them. In fact, food kept at 0℉ or colder can last indefinitely! You can use your freezer for meal prepping, or preparing large batches of food ahead of time and dividing it into individual portions before freezing for easy future meals. When using large bags of frozen produce, simply take out what you need and return the rest to the freezer. Another great benefit of frozen produce is that it can be just as nutritious as fresh. Fruits and vegetables are often frozen at peak ripeness, and the freezing process preserves much of their nutritional value. Freezing also allows you to enjoy out-of-season fruits and vegetables year-round. As a final added bonus, frozen foods are often more affordable than fresh options!

How to Freeze Food Safely

When freezing fresh food, make sure to start by cooling it down—refrigerating beforehand works well. Select freezer-safe storage containers that are airtight, leakproof, durable, and designed to withstand low temperatures. Storing foods in small, meal-sized portions allows you to thaw only what you need at one time; smaller or shallow containers also freeze more quickly. Be sure to remove excess air and label containers with the food name and date before freezing, and avoid overloading your freezer to allow proper air circulation needed to maintain safe temperatures. Keeping your freezer about 75% full is recommended for optimal efficiency. Also use a thermometer to verify that your freezer is staying at 0℉, which is the temperature recommended by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Food Safety and Inspection Service.

Food Safety Tips for Thawing

When thawing frozen foods, it’s important to do so safely. While freezing can kill certain parasites, it does not kill food-borne bacteria; freezing only causes them to become dormant. Thawing foods in ways that keep them at unsafe temperatures for too long (ex. on countertops for several hours) can allow harmful pathogens to grow rapidly and may cause us to become ill as a result.

When thawing packaged foods, make sure to always follow the manufacturer’s cooking instructions. The safest way to thaw frozen food is in the refrigerator, though this may take a couple days depending on the type and amount of food. If you need to thaw food more quickly, place it in a leak-proof bag and submerge it in cold water, changing the water every 30 minutes; alternatively, you can also use a microwave. In both cases, cook food immediately after thawing. Lastly, although frozen food can be stored indefinitely at 0℉, its quality may decline in the freezer over time. Freezer storage charts are available on various Extension websites as well as from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to provide guidance on storage times for food quality purposes.

We hope this article inspires you to become friends with your freezer this winter—it can be a lifesaver for putting quick, nutritious meals on the table. Remember, eating fruits and vegetables in any form—fresh, frozen, or canned—is important for good health. To learn more about the nutritional benefits of fresh and frozen foods, contact the North Carolina Cooperative Extension – Lee County Center (919-775-5624) and ask for Meredith Favre or Ashley Szilvay, our Local Foods Agent or Family and Consumer Sciences Agent respectively, for more information.

This article was original posted in the Sanford Herald on 1/31/2026.

References

• Benefits of Freezer Meals (University of Missouri Extension)
• Who buys frozen fruits and vegetables? (South Dakota State University)
• Using Canned and Frozen Fruits and Vegetables (Colorado State University Extension)
• Frozen Food Nutrition (Dinner Tonight, Texas A&M Agrilife Extension
• Day to Day Eats: Frozen Fruits and Veggies (Cornell University)
  
• REFRIGERATOR & FREEZER STORAGE CHART (U.S. Food and Drug Administration)
• Freezing and Food Safety (U.S. Department of Agriculture Food Safety and Inspection Service)
• STOCKING YOUR FREEZER (University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture)