"frozen foods" news and stories

There's no doubt that parents are more and more feeding their babies organic foods. The question now isn't whether or not the food should be organic, but how that organic food is packaged -- glass jars, directly from the vegetable bin, or frozen. With no kids of my own, and basically no knowledge of this part of the kitchen, I'm looking at Cookie Magazine for advice. Cookie Magazine writers Deirdre Dolan and Alexandra Zissou say that while jarred foods are probably the most convenient, they're not the most nutritious because the foods are heavily cooked and many have preservatives to prolong shelf life. They taste tested organic baby foods on their own kids and highlighted these seven, most frozen:

• Bobo Baby
• Mom Made Scoops
• Taste Bud
• Bohemian Baby
• Plum Organics
• Happy Baby
• Baby Cubes

Come on, you just knew that this was going to happen sooner or later: Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia has reached a deal with Costco to offer frozen and fresh refrigerated foods for customers. The items will start showing up in Costco locations in 2008.

This article makes a good point about how this will affect Martha Stewart's image. It's one thing for Martha to tell us how to make neat crafts and how to clean our homes and where to vacation and how to decorate, and give us recipes and kitchen tips, but what if we try these foods -- foods that the company has made, supposedly -- and we don't like them, or they're just "typical grocery food?" As the piece says, drapes and paints cannot spoil in the refrigerator."

But they'll probably be fine. But I wonder what foods she'll offer? Probably something a little fancier than corn dogs and Salisbury steak.

Who says you have to wait til January 1 to make resolutions?

Below are eight foods I resolve to eat this summer (and beyond) and stuff I resolve not to eat. Some I've chosen because they're good for me (like #1), some I've chosen because, well, I just want to eat/drink them (#8). What about you?

1. Water. Believe it or not, I don't drink that much water, one of the healthiest things you really need. I drink it, but it's usually in the form of tea, diet soda, or fat free milk. It's time to get back to drinking water straight. It's good for you.

I live by myself, so having a stocked freezer isn't something to which I am accustomed, but I do know that for large families, keeping track of a well-stocked freezer is a necessity. Otherwise, during that regular freezer clean-out, they'll find fish fillets from 1986.

Lunch in a Box has a neat way of keeping track of things in the freezer -- make magnets out of cutouts of food from the weekly circulars from the market and put them up on the freezer/refigerator door to indicate whether it's something you've got inside. Pretty cool idea!

I hardly ever freeze anything. I mean, yeah, I freeze that I buy frozen and are supposed to be put in the freezer, like ice cream, frozen dinners, and, um, ice. But I've just never been the type of guy who freezes leftovers or freezes foods to be used for another day. I guess I'm a cook-it-and-eat-it guy.

AOL Food has a guide to everything you need to know about freezing though, including tips on how to prevent freezer burn (you can eat food that has freezer burn, just make sure you cut off the part that has the discoloration).

They also have a list of foods that should never be frozen, including cake batter, raw celery, corn on the cob, garlic, and mayonnaise. Though I can't even think of why you'd want to freeze mayonnaise. "Frozen Mayo" is a great name for a band though.

Want more freezing tips? Try KitchenDaily's guide to freezing fruits and vegetables.