Nowadays, more and more delicious foods are being "frozen quickly." Besides traditional frozen dumplings and wontons, meatballs, chicken pieces, shrimp, and even frozen vegetables from their places of origin have become popular choices in supermarkets. Thanks to their convenience and time-saving nature, these "lazy-person foods" are rapidly gaining popularity and finding their way onto consumers' tables.
In a simple sense, frozen foods refer to products that are frozen in about 15 minutes in a strong cold environment, allowing them to be stored, transported, and preserved for long periods at -18°C or lower. They typically include aquatic products (such as shrimp, frozen fish, peeled shrimp), fresh meats (such as pork, chicken), hot pot items (such as fish dumplings, fish balls, meatballs), staple foods (such as sweet rice balls, dumplings, buns), breaded and deep-fried items (such as chicken nuggets, croquettes, fried squid), and vegetable items (such as peas, carrots).
When it comes to frozen foods, people often worry that they are not fresh or nutritious. In fact, from a nutritional perspective, "quick freezing" can maximize the preservation of the original freshness, color, flavor, and nutritional content of natural foods.
Especially for busy people, instead of buying a week's worth of fresh meat and vegetables and storing them in the fridge at once, it might be better to opt for frozen foods. This is because a home freezer takes at least several hours to freeze food, while true quick-frozen foods reach a frozen state in 15-30 minutes. This "fast freezing" process keeps the food's molecular structure largely unchanged and, unlike "slow freezing," prevents the loss of nutrients.
However, not all frozen foods are nutritious. Stuffed and deep-frozen frozen foods share a common flaw: their high fat content. Secondly, although some meatballs and fish balls may not be as delicious as fresh meat or fish, they taste exceptionally savory. This is because a significant amount of MSG and high-flavor seasonings are added to frozen foods.
Data shows that the salt content in frozen foods like fish balls is 4-5 times that of fresh pork belly, making their sodium content very high, which is obviously detrimental to patients with hypertension, heart disease, and kidney disease. Moreover, to maintain the basic palatability of meat products, their fat content cannot be lower than 20%. The tenderness, juiciness, and flavor of meatballs and fish balls are all achieved at the cost of high fat. Studies have shown that eating 6 fish balls is equivalent to the calories of a bowl of rice.