frozen food

All but the most organized cooks have been there: the dreaded "I forgot something" rush back to the grocery store. Luckily, with a little strategizing, much of the frustration and panic can be circumvented. While we'll often hack an ingredient substitution in a pinch, some foods have no analogue. In those cases, the freezer aisle (or your home freezer) can be a real savior.

Foods to Buy Frozen:

• Fruit: Stock frozen berries, mango, and cranberries for morning smoothies, out-of-season pies, and fruit-studded pancakes. Just keep in mind that freezing fruit damages some of its structure, so employ these only in cooked or pureed applications.
• Shrimp: Due to its highly perishable nature, most commercially available shrimp is sold frozen or previously frozen. Not only is this briny nibble great to keep on hand for last-minute dinners, but also, it's often more economical to buy from the freezer case.
• Phyllo and puff pastry: Keep these fussy-to-prepare pastry bases stocked so that a rustic tart or spanakopita is quick to whip up.
• Vegetables: Peas, spinach, edamame, artichoke hearts, corn, broccoli, and black-eyed peas are all good bets for adding fresh flavor to vegetable sides and pasta dishes. Like fruit, vegetables' high-water content means that once frozen, they won't retain quite the same snap as their fresh counterparts, so save these for cooked dishes only.
• Rice: Sure, freshly steamed rice wins out on the texture front by a hair, but frozen rice is an excellent substitute in a pinch and a quick way to round out a meal.

Keep reading for five foods worth freezing yourself.

We are pumped to share one of our fave stories from Self here on FitSugar!

Shopping for a few quick dinners? The items in the frozen food aisle are more often bad than good, but that doesn't mean you should avoid the freezer completely. You just need to be sure you're making the smartest choices.

After an extra-long shopping trip (the guy stocking the shelves officially thinks we're totally psycho!), we came up with this list of 4 healthy frozen dinners. They're low in calories and high in nutrition and satisfaction — no cardboard burritos here.

Kashi Chicken Florentine
With grilled chicken, spinach, red peppers and baby portobello mushrooms over orzo pilaf, this meal has 22 grams of fiber to keep you full and satisfied. And it won't cost you much in terms of calories. You're looking at 290 calories, 9 grams of fat (4 saturated grams) and 550 mg sodium. Bonus: The white wine garlic sauce is delicious.

Lean Cuisine Santa Fe-Style Rice & Beans
This meal gives you two servings of veggies — so you're well on your way to the daily 3 to 5 servings recommended by the USDA. Though it feels indulgent and fills up your belly (mmm . . . cheese and sour cream!), this dish only has 290 calories, 5 grams of fat (2 grams saturated fat) and 590 mg sodium.

Read about the other two options after the break.

What's the deal with frozen green beans? Last Fall, a New Zealander discovered a shrunken mouse's head in hers, and, proving we're just as prone to the situation stateside, a Texas woman reportedly opened a bag to find a frog's face staring back at her.

Chasity Erbaugh from Tyler, TX, went to stir butter into her green beans and encountered the whole front end of a frog, spinal cord attached, with its tongue hanging out. Horrified, she notified county health inspectors, who got in touch with the Wal-Mart where she purchased the beans to have the rest of the lot pulled from shelves. Although the county health department filed a complaint with the FDA, it also urged consumers to look closely at their food before eating it. But Erbaugh has lost her confidence with frozen foods. Moving forward, she vows to only buy fresh vegetables, even if the measure is at her expense. "Do you know how much my grocery bill is fixing to go up?" she said.

After hearing about a shopper who — almost literally — got a frog in her throat, are you less likely to buy frozen fruits and vegetables? Do you agree with the health department, which insinuated that the responsibility lies with each diner to ensure he is eating safe food? Have you ever found something that's less than kosher in your frozen produce?