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Whole grains, root vegetables, meat, waterfruit suitable for processing and freezing, 1 time There is nothing wrong with preparing for a week.
The higher the water content, the more difficult it is to ensure the taste after thawing, so many vegetables are not suitable for freezing, but it is not impossible, if you only eat for a long time Frozen vegetables and fruits are not enough, you can consider taking some vitamin C and vitamin B supplements.
As people pay more and more attention to healthy eating, more and more people bring their own meals.
But it is really troublesome to cook every day. Some people want to make a week’s bento or add a dish on weekends, put it in the freezer, and take out a box to eat every day. It can also help us achieve A more balanced diet.
Let’s chat today. Which ingredients are suitable for freezing and which are not? How does freezing affect food? How to improve the ability and efficiency of “preparing meals for one week”?
Suitable for processingfrozen meals
If you want a balanced diet, but you want the finished product to taste good. A compromise solution can be adopted: the washed, cut, and prepared ingredients are divided into packages and frozen according to the amount to be used each time.
In this way, it can be put into the pot directly from the refrigerator, and it can be eaten quickly after heating, which is also very convenient. But some foods can be considered self-freezing, and some are not.
｜Many vegetables are not suitable for freezing
There will also be restrictions on the ingredients that can be frozen first. Vegetables with very high water content, such as green leafy vegetables and tomatoes, are not suitable for freezing.
The form of water in the food will change more or less during the freezing process. The higher the water content, the more difficult it is to ensure the taste after thawing.
So the packaged quick-frozen vegetable products you can buy are usually peas, carrots, corn, broccoli vegetables with less water and more starch.
｜4 foods suitable for processing and freezing
Whole grains
The staple food contains less water and is mainly starch, so it is more suitable for freezing at home. Especially whole grains such as multigrain rice balls, whole wheat bread, you can make a week’s amount at a time, and then package it, and you can heat it up and eat it every time you take it out, which is a convenient Ways to consume whole grains.
You can replace the white rice for making rice balls with brown rice
Root vegetables
Root vegetables may be relatively large and cannot be eaten at one time, and they have to be peeled when handling, which is more troublesome. You can also cut out more at a time and separate to freeze after blanching. You can add two tablets of vitamin C when blanching vegetables, which can slow down oxidation, protect the color, and reduce the loss of nutrients.
Chunks of meat
Remember to separate large pieces of meat and refreeze to avoid the loss of taste and safety risks caused by repeated thawing.
You can freeze the meat in the fresh state, or when the frozen meat is slightly thawed enough to be cut, You can also blanch or boil it before freezing.
Fruit
Frozen fruit can extend the “tasting period” of some of the more delicate fruits, it’s more convenient to mix yogurt and milkshake directly.
In addition, fruits such as frozen pears, durians, lychees, and grapes will have different flavors after being frozen.
For those who don’t even have time to wash fruit, frozen fruit is also an option.
What’s wrong with freezing?
Freezing, as a preservation method, can inhibit the biochemical reaction in food, delay food spoilage and bacterial reproduction, there is not much safety problem in itself.
｜Nutrition starts to lose a lot when cooked
Many people are also concerned, will there be any nutritional loss in freezing?
In fact, compared with freezing, the loss in the process of heating and cooking the food will be larger.
Like a vegetable, if you blanch it and then freeze it, the water-soluble vitamins in it will be lost. If you’ve been eating only frozen vegetables for a long time and aren’t getting enough fruit, consider taking a vitamin C and B vitamin supplement.
｜The taste still matters
Most Chinese food cooking methods require a relatively high degree of heat, so it is suitable to eat while it is hot. Different vegetable juices are mixed together, and the taste of the food also affects each other.
So when you freeze bento,there should be an expectation that it will taste worse.
It’s not just frozen vegetables that suffer from moisture loss, but meat too. Especially in the refrigerator at home, the lowest temperature is generally only -18°C. If the food is not frozen fast enough, the water in it will form ice crystals, which will destroy the original structure of the food and allow the water in it to flow out after thawing.
A microwave oven is often used to heat bento. The principle of microwave is to generate heat through friction of water molecules, so the water is likely to evaporate during the heating process.
Notes
｜Plan your purchases
If you want to prepare dishes for a week at a time, you can list the recipes according to your diet structure, for example, it is recommended to eat 300-500g of vegetables a day.
You can mix and match, which ones can be bought frozen, which ones can be prepared in advance, and which ones need to be eaten fresh? Then consider the overall dish collocation, buy and prepare the corresponding ingredients as needed.
｜Thaw hygiene
Be careful that food do not thaw directly at room temperature, as it may contaminate, allow bacteria to multiply, and may cross-contaminate other utensils and food.