The Worst Food in Your Freezer You Need to Throw Out
The freezer is hands-down one of the most important parts of any kitchen. It's the appliance that many might not think twice about, as it's always there, attached to your fridge, housing any frozen fruits for those morning smoothies, alongside those bags of frozen veggies. But your freezer really does a great service, as it allows you to store sauces and even full meals you prepared in advance for quite some time. That's why we want to fill you in on the one food you'll want to make sure never makes it way into your freezer.
See, while there are plenty of great freezer foods out there, there's are just as many that if you happen to come across as you're walking down the freezer aisle in the supermarket, you should just leave it alone and keep it moving. (And to help keep you on track, go ahead and try out any of these 21 Best Healthy Cooking Hacks of All Time!)
So, what exactly is the worst freezer food you shouldn't ever buy?
Peanut Butter Ice Cream
Peanut butter and ice cream are a truly heavenly combination for your tastebuds. Sadly, it's just bad news for your waistline.
Ice cream is obviously not really the healthiest of snack options, but peanut butter actually has plenty of health benefits that perfectly justify why it's a staple in your diet. (As long as you stick to those recommended serving sizes!) So peanut butter ice cream would seem like a not-so-bad option. But no so fast. See, if you take a look at the nutrition breakdown of these pints, you'll see they're high in calories, fat, and sugar.
Take for example Ben & Jerry's beloved Peanut Butter Cup flavor. One container serves up 1,400 calories, 98 grams of fat, 54 grams of saturated fat, 550 milligrams of sodium, and 96 grams of sugar, 76 of which are added. Keep in mind that The American Heart Association recommends men should consume no more than 36 grams of added sugar per day, and women shouldn't have more than 25 grams per day.
And this flavor is not the only culprit. Tillamook's Double Nutty Peanut Butter ice cream comes in at more than 1,3o0 calories per pint, and a whopping 102 grams of fat. It has more sugar in one pint than you would get if you ate eight Original Glazed Krispy Kreme donuts! Then there's Häagen-Dazs' Peanut Butter Salted Fudge ice cream. This has as many calories as two McDonald's Quarter Pounders with cheese.
Essentially, foods that are high fat and sugar like ice cream can have negative impacts if they're eaten often. It's no secret that tons of studies have linked high sugar consumption with weight gain. This weight gain from these highly sugary foods then puts you at a much greater risk of developing more serious conditions such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and even cancer. Plus, a review in the journal Nutrients found that saturated fat and high-sugar diets can actually harm your cognitive skills and memory. Big yikes.
So the moral of the story here? You'll want to keep your freezer free of these scary offenders. And peanut butter ice cream shouldn't find its way on your food shopping list.
Looking for more helpful tips? Your ultimate restaurant and supermarket survival guide is here!
