will refreezing vegetables destroy the nutrients?

for context, these vegetables are for my parakeet. he’s tiny and can only fit so much in his little stomach, so i buy him frozen vegetables. i take out like one piece of broccoli, cauliflower, carrot slice, whatever else is in the frozen veggie pack and microwave them then chop them up very finely. i then put them in a small container and every day give him a small amount. but they tend to go off in the fridge before i finish it. if i were to refreeze some of them, then defrost those out again, would nutritional content be lost?

Answer

Sorry if this sounds obvious, but why don’t you just take a smaller amount from the freezer? Or cut the single piece of broccoli, etc., in half (if you’ve got a good knife)?

Also, as much as I hate to waste food, you are basically throwing away what amounts to a single or half a hunk of broccoli every few days. It’s not a huge amount and not at all significant in the grand scheme of food waste.

Answer

contrary to popular belief, freezing them preserves the nutrients! The nutrients in fresh produce will eventually break down as they sit out, but freezing essentially puts a pause on that nutrient breakdown. This varies depending on how long you wait to freeze the produce, and of course how long you keep it frozen (but that won’t matter until you reach about a year).