For many families, the freezer is for last-minute meal options. However, new federal nutrition guidance and growing scientific consensus reveal a different reality: frozen foods can be the starting point for healthy eating, not a backup plan. That’s why the American Frozen Food Institute (AFFI) is launching “Fresh Thinking About Frozen,” a campaign to help families discover these benefits of frozen foods.

Making Nutrition Achievable

The recently released 2025-2030 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, the nation’s top nutrition advice, emphasizes portion control and nutrient-dense foods. Frozen options deliver on both counts.

Families who keep frozen produce on hand tend to eat more fruits and vegetables overall. Pre-portioned frozen meals also help people eat what they need without overdoing it. Plus, the convenience factor matters: frozen berries are ready for a morning smoothie, pre-cut frozen vegetables can be added to tonight’s stir-fry and a balanced frozen meal can be quickly paired with a salad.

That isn’t cutting corners. It’s being smart on how best to feed a family well.

 Freezing Hits the Pause Button on Fresh Foods

Freezing food only changes a food’s temperature, not its nutrition. Freezing keeps food close to its original state without requiring additives.

Produce begins to lose nutritional value right after it’s harvested. Freezing fruits and vegetables hours after harvest pauses nutrient degradation and locks in the vitamins and minerals, so the food remains farm fresh even as it travels across the country to your grocery store. Frozen meals are similarly made with real ingredients and turned into just-cooked recipes then frozen for families to eat when they’re ready.

The nutrition community understands this. A recent survey conducted by AFFI found 94% of registered dietitians agree frozen fruits and vegetables are just as nutritious as their fresh counterparts. Another 92% said frozen foods offer a variety of nutritious meal offerings. These findings are central to the “Fresh Thinking About Frozen” message: Frozen is not second-best. It’s simply smart.

Solving the Food Waste Problem

Nearly 40% of food in the United States gets thrown away, according to the nonprofit ReFED. That translates to roughly $1,500 per year per household, straight into the trash along with unused produce and forgotten leftovers.

Frozen helps fix that problem. Eight in 10 consumers agree buying frozen helps reduce food waste at home, AFFI research finds. The reason is simple: You use what you need, when you need it and the rest stays perfectly preserved. No more dreading the refrigerator cleanouts and feeling guilty over the uneaten food going into the trashcan.

Time for Fresh Thinking

Families already making this shift aren’t settling for less. They’re strategic about nutrition, budget and time. They integrate the freezer into regular meal planning. They feel confident about providing quality foods that are simply frozen.

The freezer isn’t a place of last resort. It’s a tool for eating well in real life. Visit frozenadvantage.org/FTAF for tips, recipes and resources to make the most of your freezer.

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Learn more below about how frozen foods help households maintain treasured holiday traditions and stretch their food dollar farther.  

Nutrition That Counts When It Matters Most 

With frozen foods, consumers can cut down on prep time in the kitchen, buy ingredients in advance without risk of spoilage, and add cost-effective frozen swaps into their holiday meals. Plus, frozen fruits and vegetables have the same nutrition as their fresh counterparts, and a recent analysis by AFFI found that popular frozen meals and side dishes have comparable nutrition to popular home recipes.   

Frozen vegetables and fruits are nutritional powerhouses. Flash-frozen at peak ripeness within hours of harvest, they retain their vitamins and minerals at levels that often exceed non-frozen equivalents. When you choose frozen green beans for that beloved casserole or frozen sweet potatoes for your pie, you’re giving your family maximum nutrition—something especially important during the holiday season. 

Stretch Your Holiday Budget Further 

• Buy in bulk, use as needed: Frozen foods let you purchase larger, cost-effective quantities, and you can use only what you need for each meal 

• Mix frozen and fresh strategically: Research shows that most shoppers use fresh and frozen food in their meals, so don’t forget to find delicious, cost-effective pairings that work with your menu 

• Zero waste means more value: Every bit of frozen food is usable—no stems to trim, no spoiled portions to discard 

Feed More People with Confidence 

Frozen foods excel at helping hosts extend their hospitality. Need to set another place at the table? Your frozen vegetables rolls, and desserts are ready to help you welcome everyone generously. With air travel experiencing delays, the ability to store ingredients long-term means you can stock up and be ready for unexpected guests or last-minute change of plans. 

Time: Your Most Precious Ingredient 

The holidays are about togetherness, not exhaustion. Frozen foods give you back precious hours to spend with loved ones: 

• Pre-chopped vegetables eliminate prep time 

• Frozen side dishes are ready to go into the oven, no additional work needed 

• Ready-to-bake pies and desserts deliver homemade taste 

• Frozen dinner rolls rise perfectly every time 

• Pre-seasoned options simplify complex recipes 

Building Community Through Shared Meals 

During times when communities need to come together more than ever, frozen foods enable generosity. They make it easier to: 

• Prepare meals for neighbors who might need extra support 

• Contribute to community dinners and potlucks 

• Share holiday surplus with extended family and friends 

• Create meal trains for those facing difficulties 

The long shelf life of frozen foods means you can shop sales throughout the season, building up supplies to share with others or enjoy throughout the winter months. 

Simple Swaps, Big Impact 

Transform your Thanksgiving prep with these frozen alternatives: 

• Frozen turkey to preserve peak freshness 

• Frozen butternut squash for soup—no peeling required 

• Frozen pie crust and dinner rolls—restaurant-quality results, fraction of the time 

• Frozen green beans for casserole—nutritionally identical to fresh, zero waste from trimming 

• Frozen macaroni and cheese—easily prepared side dishes 

• Frozen cranberries for sauce—more affordable than fresh 

• Frozen spinach for dips—pre-washed and ready 

• Frozen pearl onions for sides—perfectly uniform, no tears 

Frozen foods represent more than convenience—they represent possibility. The possibility to gather around a table filled with nutritious, delicious meals. The possibility that hosts can focus on what matters most: creating memories with loved ones. The possibility that generosity and abundance don’t require unlimited resources. 

In a season dedicated to gratitude and gathering, frozen foods ensure that everyone can participate in the celebration.  

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Today’s frozen food category offers many benefits: easy-to-prepare dishes, less food waste thanks to a longer shelf life, and quality meals captured through flash-freezing.

Frozen food also has nearly similar nutrition to non-frozen counterparts. For example, research reveals that frozen fruits and vegetables are just as nutritious – or even more nutritious – than fresh. This is due to freezing just-harvested produce at the peak of ripeness and locking in the nutrition.

A new analysis confirms that popular frozen entrees and side dishes also have comparable nutrition to their homemade equivalents.

How Frozen Meals Measure Up

In an analysis conducted by the American Frozen Food Institute (AFFI), food experts calculated the nutritional value per serving of five popular frozen foods – meat lasagna, pepperoni pizza, cheese pizza, macaroni and cheese, and broccoli with cheese sauce – and compared the dishes to their home-cooked versions.

The results may be surprising.

Data revealed that the frozen foods are comparable to homemade equivalents in fat, saturated fat, cholesterol and sodium. In fact, all of the frozen foods studied fell within a 5% Daily Value range of the non-frozen versions.

Additional data from the analysis reinforced other benefits of frozen food:

• Time and Convenience: Most frozen meals require zero or minimal preparation time, compared to an average of twenty minutes needed to prepare scratch meals at home. Additionally, scratch meals require, on average, 35 more minutes of cooking time than frozen meals.
• Cost Equivalency: Frozen meals stack up when compared to home-cooked meals. The analysis found that frozen meals and dishes are comparable in cost per serving to their homemade equivalents, with the frozen products on average falling within 5% of the cost to buy the ingredients and make the same food at home.

Click here to view the full methodology from the analysis.

Hitting the Pause Button with Freezing

Food makers use freezing to “hit the pause button” to lock in quality and freshness. For example, freezing protects protein, vitamins A and D and other nutrients, and preserves macro- and micronutrients in prepared foods. The nutritional comparability is also attributed to the fact that frozen food is real food. Frozen prepared foods use similar ingredients to those you would use in your kitchen at home. A white paper by AFFI explores the journey from farm to freezer, explaining how makers of prepared meals and side dishes can capture the nutrition, texture and taste of food by the great advances in freezing. By rapidly lowering the temperature in a matter of minutes, frozen food makers can maintain the quality meal that consumers expect.

Feel Good about Frozen

There are many reasons to feel good about frozen: less food waste, year-round access to fruits and vegetables, an easy to prepare meal, and a dish that is comparable to homemade. Families can confidently turn to frozen food and feel good about their choice.

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Continue reading to get an inside look at freezing:

The Science Behind Freezing

• How Freezing Works

Freezing preserves food by solidifying naturally-occurring water in foods. The solid water pauses nutrient degradation, bacterial growth, and enzyme activity. By simply lowering a food’s temperature, frozen food makers can stop these steps and prevent the degradation of food.

• Individual Quick Freezing

Frozen food makers frequently use a method called Individual Quick Freezing (IQF) to quickly extract heat from just-picked, just-cooked and just-crafted foods. IQF technology uses extremely low temperatures (-40°F) and turbulent airflow around the food to freeze it in a matter of minutes. In addition to quickly freezing food, IQF is highly effective at preserving individual foods such as blueberries, corn, and shrimp.

• Speed Matters

When food freezes more quickly, smaller ice crystals will form. Smaller ice crystals mean less damage to the food’s cellular walls, which results in better texture and flavor of the foods we love – whether produce frozen at the peak of ripeness or freshly-prepared meals.

Freezing Locks in Quality

• Sensory Experience

By pausing enzymatic activity with a low temperature state, frozen food makers can stop the processes that cause food to lose their color and delicious taste. That’s why we still enjoy colorful produce, sweet fruit or savory meals from the freezer.

• Prevents Soggy Food

Starches such as rice, pasta, and quinoa also benefit from IQF, as the smaller ice crystals prevent these foods from becoming mushy when thawed. Producers of grains such as pastas or rice will blanch or par-cook the grains to stabilize the moisture and enzymes of grains to ensure even freezing and texture.

• Don’t Get Burned

“Freezer burn” is dehydration of the outer surfaces of a frozen food and related development of large ice crystals on frozen foods. Frozen foods exposed to air inside the freezer will suffer damage from oxidation and dehydration. This dryness in the surrounding air can cause the moisture inside the food to escape and form these large ice crystals that comprise the color, texture and flavor of foods. To help avoid this, make sure to follow package directions for storing frozen food and use it within the suggested time. If you do experience freezer burn, just remove the “burned” portion and eat the food that remains – it is safe to eat.

Nutritional Benefits of Frozen Foods

• Farm-Fresh Fruits and Vegetables

Frozen food makers will freeze fruits and vegetables just after they are picked at the peak of ripeness. Freezing them at this stage helps to lock in vitamins and minerals. For instance, frozen berries are a great source of vitamins C and K, while frozen spinach is rich in iron and calcium. In fact, frozen fruits and vegetables have the same nutrient profile as their non-frozen counterparts.

• Nutrient-Rich Proteins

Research demonstrates that freezing saves the levels of protein and vitamins A and D in meat, seafood, and poultry.

Frozen Food Provides Big Benefits

Freezing provides significant benefits for consumers. By capturing produce at its peak freshness, freezing makes fruits and vegetables available year-round to families. It also allows for shoppers to enjoy delicious meals without the added preparation time required to cook from scratch. Additionally, once food is frozen, it remains safe for a long time, reducing food waste and extending the value of consumers’ food budgets.

Click through to learn more about how today’s frozen food makers provide quality and safe food thanks to the act of freezing.

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