Webinar Recap: The Power of Freezing to Reduce Wasted Food

Nearly one third of food in the United States goes unsold or uneaten, and half of that waste is generated by consumers at home and in restaurants. While many strategies around cutting down on food waste focus on purchasing, planning, or redistribution, one powerful tool is often hiding in plain sight: the freezer.

In a recent webinar hosted by ReFED and the American Frozen Food Institute (AFFI), “Ice Out Food Waste: Leveraging the Power of Freezing to Reduce Wasted Food,” experts from across nutrition, sustainability, and the frozen food industry explored how freezing food can help households and businesses extend shelf life, preserve nutrients, and ultimately reduce food waste. This discussion featured:

• Dana Gunders - President, ReFED

• Liz Weiss, MS, RDN - Founder, Liz's Healthy Table

• Kai Robertson - Senior Corporate Sustainability Advisor, KOR Consulting

• Danielle Reid - Senior Sustainability Manager, Nature’s Touch Frozen Foods

The timing of this conversation was particularly notable. In early January, the USDA Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion and the HHS Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion released the 2025–2030 Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGAs), which explicitly recommended frozen foods as a practical way for households to access nutrient-dense ingredients year-round. As the DGAs recognize, frozen fruits, vegetables, and meals can help families maintain balanced diets while also reducing spoilage and offering convenience.

To help you take action on the insights shared during this webinar, which ranged from the sustainability trade-off’s of freezing versus fresh to tips and tricks for using frozen food, we’re sharing a few additional resources, as well as a couple of key clips.

• The American Frozen Food Institute put together an FAQ document that answers a lot of the questions raised during the webinar on topics like packaging, frozen food lifecycle analyses, and nutrition.

• Liz Weiss of Liz’s Healthy Table wrote a special recipe that leverages frozen ingredients to create a delicious shrimp fried rice with vegetables.

• We pulled a few different video clips from our favorite moments:

  • Frozen Food Hacks

  • Frozen Food Nutrition Facts

As the food system continues to seek food waste solutions that are practical, scalable, and aligned with consumer behavior, a main takeaway from this webinar is that freezing stands out as an underutilized and highly cost-effective lever. From extending shelf life to supporting healthier diets, it offers benefits across environmental, economic, and nutritional dimensions.

Want to further explore the insights and guidance shared during the discussion? Watch the webinar recording below: