Can frozen be just as good as fresh?
Throwing frozen food in the oven — an icy pizza, for instance — has long been the go-to move for streamlining dinner and getting food on the table fast after a busy day. Though convenient, freezer foods have had a bad rap for being unhealthy and full of sodium and preservatives.
However, that perception is evolving. “Some of it is that the pandemic led people to take a second look. Some of it is also that I think the options are getting better,” said Meghan McCarron, a journalist who writes about food and culture.
McCarron put a spotlight on frozen food’s “new wave” in The Atlantic and joined “Marketplace” host Kai Ryssdal to talk about her piece. The following is an edited transcript of their conversation.
Kai Ryssdal: I am not alone, I’m sure, when I say frozen food — ew. But that’s changing.
Meghan McCarron: It is changing. And also, you’re definitely not alone in that perception. I think I even shared that perception for a long time. I don’t know how you grew up eating dinner, Kai, but I grew up eating a lot of frozen meals at times, and, you know, I wasn’t always mad about it. There’s like that one weirdly good fudgy brownie in Kid Cuisine that I still think about sometimes. But yeah, it was, you know, it was a little mid. American perceptions are really changing about frozen food, and some of it is that the pandemic led people to take a second look. Some of it is also that I think the options are getting better. And also, there’s so much information online now about all these hacks to freeze food you’ve cooked yourself, like if you’re a really nerdy, serious home cook, you’re also getting into your freezer.
Ryssdal: All right. So let’s go through a couple of those. First of all, you point out that really, the relationship that we have with our freezers began to change because of the pandemic. And you know, certainly in my house, we were freezing a whole lot of food.
McCarron: Yes, I feel one of the pandemic status accessories was the chest freezer, right?
Ryssdal: But there’s, there’s more to it than just that, right? Well-known name-brand cooks are saying, “Look, frozen food is now not only just acceptable, but actually good.” I’m no fan of Gordon Ramsay, but you quote him in this piece.
McCarron: Yes. We didn’t actually speak to Gordon, but he has said, you know, he sort of gave a couple quotes to the press over the years saying, you know, frozen food isn’t very good. Or, you know, in 2020 he disparaged microwaves as not really imparting any flavor for cooking. And recently, he launched his own line of frozen food. This is kind of a familiar move for chefs. Wolfgang Puck has had a frozen line for a really long time, but I think what’s really changing is that, you know, you don’t just have to microwave frozen food anymore. The air fryer has made frozen food a lot crispier and tastier and so sort of air fryer mania is another thing that has made people say, like, “Wow, if I microwaved this chicken nugget, it was soggy and really sad. But if I throw it in my air fryer, it’s delicious.”
Ryssdal: You’ve been writing on food and culture for a good, long while. Has your relationship with your freezer changed?
McCarron: Most definitely, yeah. I’ve been covering food for over 10 years, and when I started, I would say I wasn’t even freezing stuff I had made fresh. That was just not interesting to me. But around that time, you know, I was like a canning hipster for a hot minute.
Ryssdal: Canning is hard, man. That’s the beauty of the freezer, right? You wrap it up, you pop it in the freezer, and you’re good. Canning is just, that’s a whole different thing.
McCarron: Yeah, so that was my gateway. I was like, “Oh well, I can make this jam and just put it in the freezer. Or I made this stock, I can put it in the freezer. Oh, I made this bread, I can put it in the freezer.” And then from there, you start saying, like, “Well, why am I so down on these frozen french fries?” Like, sometimes you just want some french fries in the house.
Ryssdal: Can I just say I just discovered you could freeze bread, like, two years ago. It’s embarrassing, truly.
McCarron: But once you figure it out, you’re like, “I’m a genius.”
Stories You Might Like
There’s a lot happening in the world. Through it all, Marketplace is here for you.
You rely on Marketplace to break down the world’s events and tell you how it affects you in a fact-based, approachable way. We rely on your financial support to keep making that possible.
Your donation today powers the independent journalism that you rely on. For just $5/month, you can help sustain Marketplace so we can keep reporting on the things that matter to you.
