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How I’m Using Frozen Foods to Help Our Clean Eating Journey

June 18, 2014 · by Tiffany Merritt · 2 Comments

This post brought to you by American Frozen Foods Institute and the Frozen Food Roundtable. All opinions are 100% mine.

“Clean eating” is a bit of a buzz word these days, and it might come across as the latest diet fad to some. But in reality, it’s a lot like eating the way our grandparents did when they were growing up: fresh, in season products, food close to its source of origin (so whole wheat instead of enriched wheat, for example), and cutting out excess sugar, as well as other ingredients that are really hard to read (that’s on over-simplification, but you get the idea).

My family goes back and forth between clean eating and “not so clean” eating, and we have found the following two things to be true:

1. We feel significantly better when we eat clean

2. We get overwhelmed after a few weeks in the attempt because it seems to require two trips to the grocery store each week for all that fresh food, and also a trip to the farmer’s market. It’s hard to keep up!

Don’t Forget the Frozen Section

But recently I realized that one piece of advice I had received when attempting clean eating was incorrect. That advice was to avoid the frozen food section altogether. After all, fresh was much better, right? Well, the fresh vs frozen debate I originally heard left out some very important information. Did you realize, for example, that frozen fruits and vegetables have been picked at their peak and by being frozen, it’s like the pause button has been hit for them, and all those nutrients have been locked into place (as well as the great flavor!) until you are ready to consume them. In the produce section, you’ll often be choosing from produce that was picked before it was actually ripe.

I’ve wondered about How Fresh Stays Fresh and my research on the topic has taught me some things that I want to pass on to you. Did you know that freezing food actually takes place is just seconds, at temperatures well below zero? It’s not at all the same process as if you were freezing something in your own freezer. That quick freezing is what locks all the awesome in.

How We Use Frozen Foods to Eat Clean(er)

Every time I go “all in” on the clean foods attempt, I get frustrated and quit. This time around, I’m taking a much more practical approach and striving for around 80% clean eating. Some enriched flours are going to occasionally land on our table, and so is some corn syrup. But I’m getting better at reading labels and I’m pleased to say that while there have been many (MANY) items in the grocery store that I’ve had to put back after reading ingredients, there have also been many great finds, especially in the frozen food section!

There are many benefits of frozen foods, not the least of which is their convenience. I’m sure you can relate to having such a busy day that dinner time rolls around and you realize that you haven’t given a second thought to what you’ll be making. That’s when it is SO nice to be able to pull something out of the freezer that can be on the table in anywhere from 2-15 minutes. I want to show you some of the great food we’ve been eating during an especially hectic week here. Frozen foods helped us spend less time in the kitchen, but we didn’t have to let go of our wish to eat cleaner, either.

Breakfast

One morning this week I had to get up really early to work on some blog posts. I worked until my oldest woke up and came downstairs. Her greeting to me wasn’t, “Good morning!” Or, “So happy to see you, mom!” Instead it was, “My tummy is growling with hunger. Please fix it now.” At least she said please…

My kids like hot breakfasts, and of course I hadn’t even thought about what they would be eating. No biggie…I just headed to the freezer where I had some whole grain waffles, oatmeal made with steel cut oats, and a healthy breakfast sandwich for Tim waiting to be heated up. I added honey and bananas to the waffles and served banana chunks to everyone for a serving of fruit. We also had small glasses of orange juice. Basically, it felt like a super nice breakfast and it took me just a few minutes to throw together. #Winning.

Lunch

I have two days a week that are true “work days” for me. The girls are in school from 9:30-2:30, and I try to work up until the moment when Tim walks in the door for lunch without a break so I can maximize my “kid-free” time. And then I always feel guilty that we have to spend part of his lunch break figuring out what to eat. This time, though, I was ready!

I had a Lean Cuisine salad additions, which just required a wee bit of time in the microwave and some lettuce. I also had some veggie patties made with chick peas and added some tomato slices and lettuce to whole wheat buns. Mercy, you guys, this was a great lunch! Tim said, “My body feels SO happy with this meal!” We also had more time to hang out with each other (just the two of us since the kids were away!). It was a beautiful thing, friends.

Dinners

On a recent weekend night, I had the time to prepare a whole chicken (never done it? I was 32 before I attempted it…it’s embarrassingly easy, you guys). I paired it with some delicious french fries (ingredints: potatoes, olive oil, salt) and some frozen broccoli (ingredients: broccoli). And we had some watermelon left over from a picnic the day before. The meal came together beautifully!

The following night I put the leftover chicken to work by adding it to a stir fry. I was SO pumped to see this HUGE bag of cut up veggies in the frozen section. It also came with sauce packets that I opted to use (and heavens, it was good) but you could also add your own sauce if you preferred. Every single person in my family DEVOURED this meal, and my oldest in particular can be quite picky, so this was a major victory to get so many veggies (and some protein!) in her body. I also loved how easy it was to use up some leftovers! I added some yummy frozen sides that had simple ingredients in them, and we had a true feast with precious little effort.

A Note on Portion Control

Tim commented to me a few days ago that one of his favorite things about the frozen meals I had selected for our busy week was the portion control, as well as the portion customization options. I typically make meals for 4 when I cook, but if our kids don’t like what I made, we have a significant amount of leftovers. And we are not as awesome as I wish we were about eating leftovers (I’m the worst!). When we made our stir fry, though, we only cooked half the bag. We still had leftovers, but it was only enough for 1 person, which was perfect, because it actually got eaten! And we still have half the bag waiting for us for sometime in the next few weeks when we need a helping hand in the kitchen again. We also had half of our yummy sides left over to prepare again next time. So easy!

The single serve items we used were also in a reasonable portion size. I personally struggle with putting too much on my plate at times, and found that not to be as much of a problem when eating something that was already portioned for me.

Frozen Foods are Part of Our Journey

Normally a busy week like the one we’ve had would have been enough for me to totally fall off the clean eating wagon again. We all know what it feels like for the hours in the day to simply not be enough. Something’s got to give, and picking up some takeout often seems like the path of least resistance. But now that I’ve scoped out the frozen food aisle for items that work with the eating habits we want to cultivate in our home, I realize I’ve got plenty of great options that I can put together in less time than it would take to go pick up some fast food. We are eating an awesome variety of proteins, veggies and fruits. We are cooking on our own when we can, and we are accepting help from our friends on the frozen aisle when we need it, too! If you are trying to eat cleaner, don’t by-pass the frozen section on your next trip. Take a look around; I think you’ll be really excited by some of the thing you’ll find there that can help make eating clean easier!

The Best Price on Chicken Ever! Zaycon Foods

August 29, 2011 · by Tiffany Merritt · 1 Comment

Do you eat chicken? It’s the most popular meat in the United States, so unless you are a vegetarian, the odds are REALLY good that you do! What’s the very best price that you can find for chicken in your community? Around here, it’s $1.99/pound, and it happens not all that often (maybe once every 2 months). When I see it at that price, I try to stock up.

Have you ever thought about how long it took for your chicken to go from living and breathing to being in the store ready for purchase? Most of us don’t like to think about that, but it’s a truth that chicken was once alive! The average time it takes for the chicken to be available to you after being killed is 13 days. So if you pick up something that the supermarket just put out that day, it’s probably been dead for about 13 days. Which is kind of gross.

Have you ever had fresh chicken? I have no idea if I have before, but I recently got to prepare some chicken that had been alive just 3 days prior. I was told that I would be able to taste a difference, which I thought was unlikely. But I have to tell you, this chicken was AWESOME! It was juicier and more flavorful!

This chicken I had was not only fresher, but also significantly cheaper than my “rock-bottom” price I look for in the grocery store. It came in around $1.67/pound.

I’m here to tell you the secret to fresher, cheaper chicken. It’s called Zaycon Foods and you have GOT to check them out!

This is the basic idea of how Zaycon Foods works:

1) COMBINED BUYING POWER	2) DIRECT FARM-TO- CONSUMER	3) SOLD BY THE CASE	4) SELECT PRODUCTS	5) SALES EVENT MODEL
We combine the buying power of many families together, enabling us to negotiate huge savings on food purchases for your family	We bring products direct from the farm / processor (or as nearly as direct as possible). The products are as fresh as if you had your own farm, but without all the chores	We sell food products only by the case. No extra costs for handling. And no more empty shelves in your pantry	We sell only what we eat ourselves—high quality, healthy food. Our focus is on a select number of commonly consumed food items such as fresh meats like chicken, beef, turkey, pork and fish	Our unique sales event approach turns traditional food purchasing on its ear. Convenient, quick, organized—about 2 minutes and you never even need to get out of your car

Zaycon Foods is already scheduling events all over the country, so you should definitely log on and see if your nearest city is on their radar. If it isn’t, you can change that! Seriously! Sign up and let them know where you live and where you are willing to go to pick up an order (for example, maybe you live 45 minutes outside of a significantly larger city and you would be willing to go to that city for a pick up). In addition to having special sales on chicken, they also sell other meats such as bacon and ground beef. They are also testing different markets for fresh produce!

In addition to getting yourself signed up, spread the word to your friends. If Zaycon Foods sees that there is a critical mass of people in a city that want to get a great deal, then it will happen! That’s the beauty of a business that has a truck as a store front…it can go ANYWHERE!

We recently got a 40 lb box of chicken. That was 52 chicken breasts. Yes, that IS a lot of chicken. But we had been eating out of our freezer for a few weeks to make room. The next time we order from them, I think we might find another family to split the package with so that someone else can enjoy the great savings, as well. Let me show you what we got!

The chicken comes in a big box, and the chicken is split into 4 packages. So you could even go in with 3 other people and still be able to easily split up a box. There is a little bit of work involved in getting the chicken ready to store, but if you have a pair of kitchen shears, it doesn’t take all that long. You are basically doing the work that the folks in the back of the supermarket do for you and then charge you for. You just need to trim a bit of fat off the chicken and split the breasts. Then you’ll want to put them in storage bags. We opted to put between 5 and 6 breasts in each storage bag.

We found that getting the chicken into these storage bags resulted in the chicken not taking up nearly as much space as it would have if we had left it in the big box. If you have a deep freeze, I think buying from Zaycon Foods is a no-brainer. Even if you don’t (we don’t), I promise you that you can fit 40 lbs of chicken in your freezer and still have room for other stuff.

I’ve had the Zaycon Foods experience, and I can say with confidence that it is one I want to have again! The quality of meat is outstanding, the work required to store the food is not overwhelming, and the price is most definitely right. I really hope we can get the word out in Chattanooga so that the truck will make a stop here in the future!

Does Zaycon Foods come to your neck of the woods? Ever tried it?

Disclosure: I received a complimentary box of chicken in exchange for my honest opinion, which I have provided. This post contains a referral link. I firmly believe in this company and am proud to recommend them for your business!

Best Frozen Food Ever? Maybe!

August 19, 2010 · by Tiffany Merritt · 1 Comment

Several years ago, I didn’t think twice about stocking my freezer with convenience foods such as hot pockets, pizza bites, frozen pizzas, etc. They were SO easy to prepare, they were tasty (thanks to mountains of sodium being added) and they were reasonably inexpensive, especially if you watched for sales.

But as I’ve gotten a bit older (and arguably, wiser) I’ve realized that those things are SOOOO bad for you. Terrible, even! They are loaded with sodium, preservatives and other questionable chemicals. Very few frozen food items have much nutritional value to speak of, and make you feel gross after you’ve eaten them. While we break down every once in a while now for a frozen pizza, on the whole, we just don’t have frozen convenience foods in our freezer (ice cream aside, obviously…I’m not yet ready to acknowledge how bad ice cream is for me…)

But I do miss being able to “prepare” dinner in 3-5 minutes, start to finish.

Enter Amy’s, a fabulous company that makes wholesome organic foods that taste great and are a snap to prepare. Amy’s also offers types of foods that you don’t traditionally find in the freezer aisles (hello there, Indian cuisine!).

We had the opportunity to try out a few different foods from Amy’s, and we loved every single thing. LOVED, I tell you!

The Paneer Tikka was some of the most outstanding frozen food I have ever had. Seriously. Every thing about it was delicious, and I cleaned my plate. Most of the time when I crave Indian food I go to a buffet here in town. For $10, I get some fantastic food, but I ALWAYS eat way too much. After I finished this food, I realized that I was full, but in a comfortable way. No unbuttoning my pants this time (am I the only one who has had to do that?). I will absolutely be stocking my freezer with this dish so that when the Indian craving hits, I’ve got a simple solution that won’t cost as much money or take up as much space on my waistline!

Tim had the honor of trying the burritos. He thought they were fantastic. He commented to me that they were the best frozen burritos he has ever tasted (and he’s tasted LOTS of different frozen burritos, folks). Here’s the really awesome thing about these particular burritos: they are gluten-free! This is great news for folks like my mother-in-law who have wheat allergies! We are going to be sure we have some on hand for her the next time she visits us.

Finally, we got to try a pizza, the classic frozen food. We got the broccoli and spinach pizza and it rocked! I thought it was really flavorful, and I felt good knowing that it is made of organic ingredients. Can you say that, DiGiorno? Don’t think so!

So my experience with Amy’s products was completely awesome. I didn’t know frozen food could taste so yummy, and I’m thrilled to discover that there are terrific options out there for people who might need something super fast AND healthy. Thank you, Amy’s!

Buy it!: Amy’s products are available at major retailers nation-wide. Find your local store now!

Do you have a favorite Amy’s dish? Tell me what it is; I’d like to try it!

Disclosure: I received complimentary products for review purposes. The opinions expressed are strictly my own.