Foods

Take a quick peek inside the average American’s freezer and you’re bound to find some sort of frozen food ranging from simple vegetables to elaborate meals. Frozen foods make cooking easier by eliminating the work of dicing and chopping, saving time when preparing dinner for the family. They also make for tasty alternatives to bringing lunch to work or school. But as you’ll see, some kinds of frozen foods just can’t hold a candle to freshly made and are best left at the store.

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The best frozen foods are those that freeze quickly or have enough moisture to make up for that loss post-freeze. Leafy greens, such as kale, are too delicate. “The freezing process destroys the cell walls, leaving you with limp produce,” says Jim Mumford, a chemical engineer who runs the website Jim