Cold comfort: healthy frozen organic meals - food

Cash-strapped college kids and busy families alike often dig into their freezers at mealtime. Frozen organic foods offer no-fuss nutrition--no ingredients to hunt down at the store, no complicated recipes to follow. And with the growing number of healthy frozen food options, they're not only convenient, they're often even healthier than fresh foods.

The average American eats a frozen meal about six times a month, according to a survey by the American Frozen Food Institute (AFFI). Fortunately, it's not all artery-clogging pizzas and rich ice creams. Take Cascadian Farm, a company in SedroWooley, Washington, that sells a variety of organic frozen foods. Company spokeswoman Susan Schneider says she's happy to be celebrating Cascadian Farm's 30th anniversary this year, as the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) rolls out its guidelines for organic foods--finally taking steps to standardize the organics industry in the United States. She says the new standards will make it much easier for consumers to tell which products contain totally organic ingredients.

In addition to its line of frozen organic produce, Cascadian Farm also sells heat-and-serve entrdes such as chicken enchiladas, as well as several vegetarian offerings. Dessert lovers haven't been left out in the cold, either--there's premium ice cream, sorbet and frozen yogurt. The company markets more than 160 organic food items, all produced without synthetic pesticides, antibiotics, genetically modified organisms, hormones or other harmful chemicals.

Schneider says it isn't possible for all of Cascadian Farm's frozen foods to be labeled as 100 percent organic because some of the ingredients in its entrees--salt, for instance--don't come from organic sources. However, the products themselves haven't changed since the new organic standards went into effect. Organics still make up 95 to 99 percent of ingredients, Schneider says--only the labeling has changed.

Organic frozen foods are popular buys at Jandi's, a natural foods store in Oceanside, New York. Manager Howard Chasser says the main reason his customers often choose frozen produce over fresh is the convenience.

Fresh fruits and vegetables aren't always in season, but frozen produce is good year-round, he says. Chasser has noticed a trend with his customers: They'll gladly buy organic frozen foods over fresh non-organic foods, even when fresh may cost less. "People are willing to pay more," Chasser says, "if they're certain that they're buying organic."

A survey of organics suppliers conducted by the Organic Trade Association (OTA) shows that sales of frozen organic foods increased by 22 percent from 1999 to 2000. Sales of frozen organic entrees led. the trend that year, growing by 24 percent. Organic foods still make up a small percentage of the multibillion-dollar US frozen food industry, but OTA spokeswoman Holly Givens says organics are steadily growing more popular.

The USDA's move to standardize organics will give the industry a boost. The shift toward healthy frozen foods began in 1998, when the US Food & Drug Administration (FDA) approved a petition from AFFI that 'sought to allow frozen produce manufacturers to label their products "healthy."

In its final ruling, the FDA concluded that frozen produce is just as healthy as fresh produce, and it's often healthier since the levels of nutrients in fresh produce can actually decrease during the long trip from the farm to the produce aisle.

"Freezing gives the consumer a consistent, high-quality product every time," says John Rowland, vice president for product and program development at St. Augustine, Florida-based organics producer Tree of Life. "Left as fresh, those fruits and vegetables are susceptible to rotting over time. And time is the one element that's most difficult to control in the handling, distributing and selling of food products."

Tree of Life markets a variety of organic products--from pasta to peanut butter. Its selection of organic frozen produce includes peas, broccoli, corn, green beans, spinach, mixed vegetables and french fries. The only added ingredients are a pinch of salt and, on the french fries, canola or soybean oil and citric acid.

On the sweeter side, consumers can choose from packages of frozen blueberries, strawberries, raspberries or an assortment of all three. There's no added sugar, either--another healthy benefit.

Frozen foods have come a long way since the 1930s, when the Birdseye Frosted Food Co. began selling frozen foods in select grocery stores in the eastern United States--or since the 1950s, when Swanson introduced the first "TV dinners." The AFFI reports that Americans spent some $26 billion on frozen foods in 2001--an increase of 6.1 percent over the previous year, and over $1 billion more than in 1999.

Frozen foods aren't simply more convenient than meals prepared from scratch. While there's something to be said for good old-fashioned home cooking, eating out of the box can be healthy, too, if you look for products with the USDA's organics seal.

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