1
00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:02,000
Speaker 1: Welcome to Healthy Ish. Thanks for joining us on the

2
00:00:02,040 --> 00:00:04,560
Speaker 1: daily podcast from body and Soul. I hope you are

3
00:00:04,559 --> 00:00:07,160
Speaker 1: feeling healthy and also living the ish. I am your

4
00:00:07,160 --> 00:00:10,319
Speaker 1: host of Felicity Harley. The cost of living is no

5
00:00:10,400 --> 00:00:13,920
Speaker 1: doubt hurting most of us, especially as we hurtle towards

6
00:00:14,040 --> 00:00:16,840
Speaker 1: Christmas and the festive season. It seems to cost a

7
00:00:16,880 --> 00:00:20,160
Speaker 1: bit more to live. So one way we can save

8
00:00:20,239 --> 00:00:22,960
Speaker 1: money is with frozen food. Oh well that's what the

9
00:00:23,040 --> 00:00:26,639
Speaker 1: experts tell us, so is it actually healthy? I'm joined

10
00:00:26,640 --> 00:00:29,400
Speaker 1: today by nutrition and public health expert Louise Rubik. She

11
00:00:29,520 --> 00:00:34,160
Speaker 1: is a Senior Learning Facilitator of Nutrition at Torrens University, Australia,

12
00:00:34,200 --> 00:00:37,559
Speaker 1: and she shares her advice around using frozen food as

13
00:00:37,560 --> 00:00:40,880
Speaker 1: a replacement for fresh food. Now make sure you're listening

14
00:00:40,960 --> 00:00:43,520
Speaker 1: to our sister podcast, Extra Healthy Ish, where Louise gives

15
00:00:43,520 --> 00:00:46,720
Speaker 1: a rundown of the essential vitamins every woman, no matter

16
00:00:46,760 --> 00:00:49,280
Speaker 1: what life stage, needs to be eating. You can grab

17
00:00:49,400 --> 00:01:06,880
Speaker 1: that episode wherever you get your podcasts. Louise, thanks for

18
00:01:06,959 --> 00:01:09,600
Speaker 1: joining us on healthy Is today. How are you healthish?

19
00:01:09,600 --> 00:01:13,520
Speaker 1: I hope yes, indeed, Thanks Felicity really glad to be

20
00:01:13,600 --> 00:01:17,080
Speaker 1: here with you. Now, this is an interesting topic because

21
00:01:17,520 --> 00:01:20,240
Speaker 1: frozen food is it healthy? I mean, we've got the

22
00:01:20,240 --> 00:01:22,520
Speaker 1: cost of living crisis. We all know that when we

23
00:01:22,560 --> 00:01:25,240
Speaker 1: look at our bank accounts and our budgets and so

24
00:01:25,319 --> 00:01:28,680
Speaker 1: much wisdoms out there encouraging us to buy and try

25
00:01:28,800 --> 00:01:33,440
Speaker 1: frozen over fresh. So what are the benefits of eating frozen, Well, there's.

26
00:01:33,280 --> 00:01:37,479
Speaker 2: Lots of different benefits of frozen foods that people may

27
00:01:37,520 --> 00:01:40,720
Speaker 2: not have considered aside from the cost. Obviously that's a

28
00:01:40,760 --> 00:01:44,000
Speaker 2: really big challenge for people at the moment. But a

29
00:01:44,000 --> 00:01:47,920
Speaker 2: lot of people don't think that frozen foods are necessarily.

30
00:01:47,520 --> 00:01:49,480
Speaker 3: As healthy as fresh.

31
00:01:49,720 --> 00:01:54,240
Speaker 2: We're always told to eat fresh foods where possible, but

32
00:01:54,320 --> 00:01:58,440
Speaker 2: the nutritional value in frozen foods is still just as

33
00:01:58,560 --> 00:02:02,640
Speaker 2: comparable as you would with fresh food, And particularly when

34
00:02:02,640 --> 00:02:05,840
Speaker 2: you think about it, sometimes you've got great intentions of

35
00:02:05,880 --> 00:02:09,919
Speaker 2: buying fresh food and might sit in the rotter as.

36
00:02:09,760 --> 00:02:12,760
Speaker 3: We might call it, in the bottom of the fridge.

37
00:02:12,639 --> 00:02:16,880
Speaker 2: And you'll actually lose a lot of nutrient values, particularly

38
00:02:17,240 --> 00:02:20,560
Speaker 2: some of those water soluble vitamins like vitamin C, some

39
00:02:20,639 --> 00:02:22,040
Speaker 2: of the big group vitamins.

40
00:02:22,440 --> 00:02:24,600
Speaker 3: They're lost within about twenty four hours.

41
00:02:25,040 --> 00:02:31,320
Speaker 2: Frozen foods can actually be picked and frozen at the site,

42
00:02:31,560 --> 00:02:35,560
Speaker 2: so they kind of lock in the nutrients. It does matter, though,

43
00:02:35,639 --> 00:02:38,080
Speaker 2: how you cook them. So if you then just throw

44
00:02:38,200 --> 00:02:41,640
Speaker 2: your frozen food straight into a pot of boiling water,

45
00:02:42,240 --> 00:02:45,120
Speaker 2: you're still likely to lose a lot of those water

46
00:02:45,200 --> 00:02:48,600
Speaker 2: soluble nutrients and they'll just get thrown down the sea.

47
00:02:48,680 --> 00:02:51,680
Speaker 1: Interesting. That's actually a really important point because I'm sure

48
00:02:51,720 --> 00:02:54,880
Speaker 1: people come home late throw the frozen vegetables straight in

49
00:02:54,919 --> 00:02:56,720
Speaker 1: the pot of boiling water, and they think, oh, yeah,

50
00:02:56,720 --> 00:02:59,280
Speaker 1: I'm just getting as much nutrients as I would be

51
00:02:59,320 --> 00:03:00,560
Speaker 1: if I cut a carrot put it in.

52
00:03:00,880 --> 00:03:04,800
Speaker 3: That's right. So it is cost effective and it's convenient

53
00:03:04,880 --> 00:03:05,640
Speaker 3: for the fact.

54
00:03:05,360 --> 00:03:09,160
Speaker 2: That it's also something that is already pre cut, which

55
00:03:09,200 --> 00:03:13,680
Speaker 2: is really handy, and you know, obviously in smaller portions

56
00:03:14,120 --> 00:03:16,160
Speaker 2: that might be really easy when you're cooking for a

57
00:03:16,200 --> 00:03:20,040
Speaker 2: family or even if you want something smaller. So in

58
00:03:20,040 --> 00:03:24,000
Speaker 2: that sense, it's also helping to reduce food waste as well,

59
00:03:24,639 --> 00:03:27,920
Speaker 2: which is really important because a lot of people don't

60
00:03:27,919 --> 00:03:31,120
Speaker 2: have the facilities to do composting or anything like that,

61
00:03:31,200 --> 00:03:33,959
Speaker 2: and we're really trying to minimize how much fresh food

62
00:03:34,000 --> 00:03:35,400
Speaker 2: waste goes into.

63
00:03:35,200 --> 00:03:36,240
Speaker 3: Our red bins.

64
00:03:37,280 --> 00:03:41,200
Speaker 2: But the availability is there and That's the other great

65
00:03:41,240 --> 00:03:44,160
Speaker 2: thing about frozen foods is there can be available all

66
00:03:44,320 --> 00:03:48,080
Speaker 2: year round, although we like to encourage people to eat seasonally,

67
00:03:48,240 --> 00:03:52,440
Speaker 2: so you're still eating within the seasons and with whatever

68
00:03:52,680 --> 00:03:57,400
Speaker 2: produce might be normally available for you throughout the spring

69
00:03:57,600 --> 00:04:01,600
Speaker 2: or throughout the summer, et cetera. We don't always have

70
00:04:01,800 --> 00:04:05,000
Speaker 2: the availability or accessibility to go to, say up a

71
00:04:05,000 --> 00:04:08,400
Speaker 2: great farmer's market, for instance, where you would be getting

72
00:04:08,600 --> 00:04:13,800
Speaker 2: really nice, fresh, freshly picked, in seasoned vegetables.

73
00:04:14,160 --> 00:04:17,240
Speaker 3: So frozen gives you a really good opportunity to do that.

74
00:04:17,520 --> 00:04:20,400
Speaker 1: Are you talking specifically about veggies and fruits, What about

75
00:04:20,480 --> 00:04:24,440
Speaker 1: other frozen foods like the fish and the things like that.

76
00:04:24,480 --> 00:04:26,440
Speaker 1: What's your take on that.

77
00:04:27,400 --> 00:04:31,440
Speaker 2: So proteins can do freeze quite well, and again that

78
00:04:31,480 --> 00:04:36,559
Speaker 2: would bring much more accessible nutrition if we're talking about fish,

79
00:04:36,600 --> 00:04:40,360
Speaker 2: for instance, with all the lovely amiga threes that that contains,

80
00:04:40,440 --> 00:04:44,240
Speaker 2: and the extra zinc and some of the b twelves

81
00:04:44,520 --> 00:04:47,080
Speaker 2: that you would get in those sorts of proteins. That

82
00:04:47,160 --> 00:04:50,480
Speaker 2: also makes it really accessible for people to get frozen

83
00:04:50,560 --> 00:04:54,400
Speaker 2: as opposed to fresh, where again that may not be

84
00:04:54,640 --> 00:04:59,159
Speaker 2: as accessible and even the cost of buying fresh food

85
00:04:59,360 --> 00:05:02,920
Speaker 2: or fresh fish and meat might also be quite challenging

86
00:05:02,960 --> 00:05:05,159
Speaker 2: as well, and it means that you can portion it

87
00:05:05,279 --> 00:05:09,159
Speaker 2: up a lot easier freeze it for another day. Fresh

88
00:05:09,160 --> 00:05:11,440
Speaker 2: fish doesn't last very long. You will really have to

89
00:05:11,440 --> 00:05:13,440
Speaker 2: cook it on the day that you buy it, or

90
00:05:13,440 --> 00:05:17,920
Speaker 2: at least within twenty four hours. So buying frozen is

91
00:05:18,040 --> 00:05:21,400
Speaker 2: a really good, viable option, and it's quite safe in

92
00:05:21,440 --> 00:05:24,800
Speaker 2: the freezer. The only issue is when it comes to

93
00:05:25,360 --> 00:05:28,600
Speaker 2: preparing it and defrosting it. You have to be very

94
00:05:28,720 --> 00:05:34,080
Speaker 2: very mindful to defrost in the fridge, preferably not on

95
00:05:34,279 --> 00:05:39,800
Speaker 2: the kitchen bench, because the uneven defrosting of the food

96
00:05:39,920 --> 00:05:45,320
Speaker 2: can actually harbor or promote an environment that might harbor bacteria.

97
00:05:45,800 --> 00:05:50,039
Speaker 2: You can really only cook food from a completely defrosted

98
00:05:50,080 --> 00:05:53,479
Speaker 2: state so that it cooks really evenly and you lose

99
00:05:53,520 --> 00:05:55,960
Speaker 2: any possibility of bacteria.

100
00:05:56,040 --> 00:05:58,040
Speaker 1: I think this is a great reminder that the freezer

101
00:05:58,120 --> 00:06:02,599
Speaker 1: is there. It's there. Cook double the I mean, double

102
00:06:02,640 --> 00:06:05,520
Speaker 1: the portion size, batch it off, freeze it. I mean,

103
00:06:05,600 --> 00:06:07,919
Speaker 1: it's a great way to instead of I don't know.

104
00:06:07,960 --> 00:06:10,320
Speaker 1: Sometimes in our household, leftovers get stuffed in the fridge

105
00:06:10,320 --> 00:06:12,560
Speaker 1: and then four days later everyone's like, oh, when was

106
00:06:12,600 --> 00:06:16,200
Speaker 1: this cooked? Can I eat this now, No I've frozen it.

107
00:06:16,800 --> 00:06:19,960
Speaker 2: No, yes, yeah, let it cool to an extent, but

108
00:06:20,000 --> 00:06:23,839
Speaker 2: then freeze it as soon as practical. And if you

109
00:06:23,960 --> 00:06:29,479
Speaker 2: can freeze fresh vegetables that you've brought home, you just

110
00:06:29,560 --> 00:06:32,200
Speaker 2: need to put them in a single layer and then

111
00:06:32,279 --> 00:06:35,680
Speaker 2: freeze them. You can do the same with berries and

112
00:06:35,720 --> 00:06:38,839
Speaker 2: things like that, but with leftovers with food, perfect to

113
00:06:39,000 --> 00:06:41,760
Speaker 2: be able to freeze them up into smaller portions, because

114
00:06:41,920 --> 00:06:45,720
Speaker 2: again we're saving food waste, and you're also making it

115
00:06:45,800 --> 00:06:49,200
Speaker 2: really inconvenient for the week to des Grab a nice

116
00:06:49,200 --> 00:06:52,080
Speaker 2: little portion of a meal out of the fridge and

117
00:06:52,160 --> 00:06:55,800
Speaker 2: just make sure it's effectively defrosted and then heat it

118
00:06:56,400 --> 00:07:00,200
Speaker 2: appropriately to make sure that it's safe to eat.

119
00:07:00,200 --> 00:07:02,960
Speaker 1: Any other tips or advice, I mean, we're going into Christmas,

120
00:07:03,040 --> 00:07:05,919
Speaker 1: many of us looking at our budgets. You know, suddenly

121
00:07:05,960 --> 00:07:08,880
Speaker 1: we spend more money around this time. Give us some

122
00:07:08,880 --> 00:07:11,040
Speaker 1: tips on how we can save money on our weekly

123
00:07:11,360 --> 00:07:14,880
Speaker 1: grocery bill, which we also spend more money on at Christmas,

124
00:07:15,440 --> 00:07:16,200
Speaker 1: oh don't we.

125
00:07:16,720 --> 00:07:19,680
Speaker 2: And this is where planning ahead can be really important.

126
00:07:19,960 --> 00:07:24,960
Speaker 2: So you could buy frozen vegetables in advance, or you

127
00:07:25,000 --> 00:07:28,720
Speaker 2: could even spend some time leading up to Christmas with

128
00:07:28,960 --> 00:07:33,640
Speaker 2: preparing fruits and vegetables, cutting them up, freezing them in

129
00:07:33,680 --> 00:07:37,760
Speaker 2: that way, foods can also be partially cooked and then

130
00:07:37,840 --> 00:07:40,120
Speaker 2: frozen too, and that also saves you a lot of

131
00:07:40,160 --> 00:07:43,760
Speaker 2: time on Christmas Day or for those Christmas events when

132
00:07:43,800 --> 00:07:46,960
Speaker 2: you you can then pull out sort of par cooked foods,

133
00:07:47,320 --> 00:07:50,480
Speaker 2: again making sure they're defrosted properly before they're cooked. But

134
00:07:50,680 --> 00:07:54,520
Speaker 2: it's not a good idea to defrost foods and then

135
00:07:54,640 --> 00:07:58,920
Speaker 2: refreeze them either, that's not advisable at all.

136
00:07:59,520 --> 00:08:03,760
Speaker 3: But of planning and saving time, that's where.

137
00:08:03,560 --> 00:08:07,160
Speaker 2: The freezer is a really very very helpful tool to

138
00:08:07,240 --> 00:08:08,080
Speaker 2: have in the kitchen.

139
00:08:09,240 --> 00:08:12,360
Speaker 1: Great tips, Louise, Thanks for coming on Healthy Ishn't can

140
00:08:12,400 --> 00:08:14,040
Speaker 1: I say Happy Christmas? I feel like we just talked

141
00:08:14,040 --> 00:08:15,760
Speaker 1: about it. It's not that far away. Have a great

142
00:08:15,800 --> 00:08:16,560
Speaker 1: Christmas period.

143
00:08:16,840 --> 00:08:18,760
Speaker 3: Thank you very much, Felicity.

144
00:08:24,840 --> 00:08:27,360
Speaker 1: Well, thank you listeners for tuning in to this episode

145
00:08:27,480 --> 00:08:29,800
Speaker 1: with Louise and I hope it was a nice and

146
00:08:29,840 --> 00:08:33,120
Speaker 1: sweet reminder to use your freezer to not only save money,

147
00:08:33,240 --> 00:08:35,680
Speaker 1: but save you time and stress and encourage you to

148
00:08:35,679 --> 00:08:39,439
Speaker 1: eat healthier anyway. Thanks for tuning in. Body and soul

149
00:08:39,480 --> 00:08:41,679
Speaker 1: dot com that are us a place to go follow

150
00:08:41,720 --> 00:08:44,199
Speaker 1: US on socials. You can DM me at Felicity Harley

151
00:08:44,240 --> 00:08:46,640
Speaker 1: with any feedback. Grab our print edition, which is out

152
00:08:46,640 --> 00:08:49,559
Speaker 1: in your local Sunday paper, and until tomorrow, stay healthy

153
00:08:49,600 --> 00:08:49,720
Speaker 1: ish